7 Examples of Transferable Skills for Your Resume

Job seekers need various skills listed on their resume, from hard to soft and even transferable skills. A transferable skill can apply to multiple roles or career paths. We’ll explain seven examples of these skills employers like seeing on resumes.

Let’s say you can type 200 words per minute. Maybe you can reassemble a carburetor blindfolded. Perhaps you’re considered the best children’s magician in your state. These are great. But each requires a specific skill set that doesn’t translate to the others.

Maybe you want to switch careers, a big change away from everything you’ve previously done. Sho Dewan , LinkedIn top voice: job search & careers, writes , “There is no such thing as too big of a career pivot.”

Defining your transferable skills make the job search easier.

Melanie Mitchell-Wexler , career coach and LinkedIn strategist, describes transferable skills as any skill that translates into your next role.

“For example, if you have a background as a business development manager but apply for a project manager position, even though those positions don't have the same job titles, you can look at the job description of that project manager position and see what skills you demonstrated that can transfer,” Mitchell-Wexler said. “You probably spent time planning, developing processes and timelines, organizing a team to reach certain goals — all of those are the transferable skills that can help you really pivot into different types of opportunities and to different roles.”?

However, your skills might not fit with the new position you’re considering. So, what can you do to land that new job? How do you break into an industry you’ve not yet been a part of? Simple: Emphasize your transferable skills.

“These can be things that people acquire through education, volunteer experience and professional experience and are basically the competencies that you acquire throughout your lifespan that can be carried with you from one role to another,” said Aileen Axtmayer, corporate wellness speaker and career coach.?

Mitchell-Wexler said the key with every skill is telling a story about where that skill has shown up, translating that with metrics, then showcasing it in your resume.?

7 Important Transferable Skills

1. Creativity

Creativity doesn’t necessarily mean you paint or draw or sculpt well, although that sometimes helps your resume stand out.

“Creativity in the workplace, in many cases, presents itself in terms of how you approach tasks and solve problems,” Mitchell-Wexler said. “Do you like to think outside of the box for solutions or stick to a planned system?”

Being creative offers abilities to employers. It shows that you can:

• Conceptualize problems and solutions
• Display foresight
• Make connections
• Make intelligent inferences
• Synthesize ideas and data

If you solve even the smallest problem at work, you’ve demonstrated creativity. This skill scales up: Big problems are enlarged small problems; they differ in degree, but not in kind.

2. Critical thinking

Creativity is valuable. But so is a careful, analytical mind.

Solving complex or abstract problems requires critical thinking , especially when the problems are critical. Not only that, but critical thinking skills also enable the discovery of the operational deficiencies that could distort results.?

“The ability to take a step back and look at things more critically and say ‘Where might we have to have gotten this wrong?’ or ‘How might we be able to improve this?’ is such an impressive thing to be able to bring to an organization,” Axtmayer said. “If you can articulate that you have that skill set and you can be thoughtful in the way you deliver your critical thinking analyses that really make you stand out as an applicant.”?

Critical thinkers head off problems before they arise. And if they do surface, they take them head-on. That isn’t to say that all critical thinkers stay calm under pressure. But thinking critically, even under extraordinary stress, is an asset.?

3. Communication

Effective communication is the crux of everything you do, at work and otherwise. It doesn’t matter how creative or intelligent you are, or how many computer languages you know: If you can’t communicate well, your other skills are meaningless.?

“One thing I'd recommend is for people to look at how they have worked over the last few years, as the way we work and where we work and where our teammates are has changed tremendously,” Axtmayer said. “I guarantee you that most people have had to develop more competency in communication and teamwork than they ever have before. I encourage people to talk about how they were able to bring their teammates together virtually and clearly communicate during these very unique times.”?

Let’s divide communication into four core parts:

• Verbal skills. How do you address an audience in terms they can understand.
• Listening skills. Learning and understanding without defensiveness.?
• Writing skills. You need to be able to write in such a way that non-experts will understand.?
• Technological communication skills. You should be able to discuss highly technical hard skills constructively.

Communicating well is a great addition to your resume. Especially if you’re making a major job change, since explaining why you should get the position without experience in the field requires rhetorical savvy.?

4. Leadership

Leadership isn’t a mentality — no one is a “born leader.” Leaders are big-picture thinkers who take various employees’ best interests into account when making major decisions. Leaders are responsible for:?

• Delegating responsibility?
• Demonstrating effective time management
• Initiating new ideas
• Major decision-making
• Managing conflict
• Managing groups
• Multitasking
• Selling ideas or products
• Teaching and mentoring

Mitchell-Wexler said transferable leadership skills include the ability to head projects.

“Leadership skills generally encompass communication, problem-solving and managing conflict, relationship building and being able to get people on your team on board with a mission or project,” Mitchell-Wexler said.

Leadership requires both creativity and critical thinking. It also demands top-tier organizational and communication skills, willingness to make hard decisions, and, most importantly, empathy. A good leader does all the good they can for their employees, company and has a strong work ethic .

5. Researching

Researchers are generally responsible for several things, such as:

• Analyzing information
• Brainstorming solutions
• Delineating needs and requirements
• Extracting information from data
• Gathering information
• Forecasting possible roadblocks
• Setting goals
• Solving problems

Research is not just an upstream process from which everything else your company does flows. Research occurs along the work lifecycle: Changing demographics, fluctuating metrics, and various roadblocks require research before anyone can take corrective action. Conversing with co-workers is a form of research: If you’ve asked a peer’s opinion on a professional matter, you’ve performed research.

6. Teamwork

“Works well with others” was an important category early in school. But it applies to adults and children. The workplace reality is you will have to work cooperatively in every industry.

Working in teams utilizes skills such as:

• Accepting responsibility
• Enforcing policies or established rules
• Making and implementing decisions
• Managing time wisely
• Meeting both short- and long-term goals
• Networking
• Organizing
• Setting and meeting deadlines

Yes, those are all transferable skills that apply to an employee individually. But they take on an additional dimension in a group context. While there is often a group leader who delegates specific tasks, everyone must work toward a single goal as an organic whole.?

Trust is the major difference between working alone versus working in groups. And trust can be hard: Some people are skeptical by nature or want to work through an entire project lifecycle solo. Others find it difficult to trust others.

But placing trust in an active, dynamic workplace ecosystem provides more than just project completion. Teamwork — a sense of community — elevates spirits and improves productivity .?

7. Technical?

We live in a tech-heavy world, and you need to understand the tech your company requires. This could range from Outlook and Microsoft applications to learning a task-management program.

You’re likely to need hard skills. But transferable skills help you attain hard skills: Being easy to work with, quick to learn, glad to learn even by failing and always willing to try new things will likely open new doors in case of a drastic career change.?

Mitchell-Wexler reiterates that you’ll need to display hard skills — but also that you’re up-to-date in the industry, and knowledgeable and ready to adapt to the ever-changing tech world.?

“You’ll need to make sure that you showcase that you're knowledgeable of what's happening on the tech side and that you're staying current with the many changes that happen with different softwares and platforms that you can knowledgeable speak to these things,” Mitchell-Wexler said.?

Why Are Transferable Skills Important?

“Transferable skills are important to frame how your past experience relates to your ability to perform in a prospective role,” Axtmayer said. “It's particularly important to showcase transferable skills if you’re looking to pivot careers, or pivot industries because these are the qualities that even though your background may be atypical can help convince and persuade an employer to see your ability to contribute to their mission and bottom line.”

Broadus Palmer , a LinkedIn tech blogger, reassures those who think they have no transferable skills by saying : “During the pandemic, a lot of companies were forced to adopt cloud in some form…I bet most of you are using” apps and tools such as Microsoft 365, Teams, Kaep and Zoom. “You use them every day!” he shares.?

If you are having trouble pinpointing transferable skills for a job, Axtmayer recommends “reverse engineering” the job description to determine your most-applicable skills.??

“There's probably going to be some transferable skills that are relevant and important no matter what, but you want to see what the employer is saying in the job description that is really important, and then match the language and language you use to describe your skills and experience in your resume,” Axtmayer said. “Always use that as your guiding point to know what about your background and which of your skills are most important — because it can vary organization to organization.”

Once you understand your transferable skills for a job you're applying for, Mitchell-Wexler explains that you can then demonstrate a strong background — even if it is not a linear match with the job title. You can show the necessary skills by deep diving into your background and experience.

Transferable skills aren’t necessarily teachable. Consider this: An expert developer can teach you how to code, but an artist can’t teach you how to be creative. Empathy isn’t taught in a series of seminars.

And remember, these aren’t innate skills for everyone. Some you either have or don’t; others you develop on the job. Regardless, listing transferable skills makes resumes shine.?

“Transferable skills are about telling a story,” Mitchell-Wexler said. “You have to go beyond the surface, pull examples and showcase your skills.”

(Reporting by Helen Harris and NPD)