The Power of Transferable Skills

Whether you’re a student preparing for your future career, or you’ve already been working for years, personal and professional development is a constant in your life… or it should be.

I’m not here to judge, as an undergraduate student I felt overwhelmed many times when people mentioned that I needed to be focusing on building skills for the future. I didn’t always understand just how important this was, but at the same time, it’s also not as complicated as I made it out to be in my head at the start.

What I came to learn was that each project and activity I got involved in helped me gain experience and skills, even if that wasn't my intention.

So, all I really needed, was to continue to get involved in the activities I enjoyed and later on, actually reflect on them.

Reflection in itself is also a skill you build with practice, so if you’re starting out and you find it difficult to reflect on yourself and your abilities, you just need to keep practicing.

First, though, you need to concentrate on developing your skills. Recently we published a new article on the STEAM in AI Blog that explores how the current state of our society is changing the job market and the importance of building our skill sets to increase employability.

One main point is that constantly updating your knowledge and skill set is absolutely essential, no matter what industry you want to work in or what path you end up following. In particular, you need to invest, not just in technical skills specific to your field, but also in transferable (or soft) skills.

These are essential for every role in every industry, so you should be focusing on these in particular as you’ll absolutely need them, no matter what job you choose to pursue.

While technical skills demonstrate to employers that you can logistically do the job you’re hired to do, transferable skills show how you’ll fit into the workplace, and how you’ll carry out your job and interact with others.

Most important of all, transferable skills can’t be taught. While someone can teach you how to code or to sequence DNA for example, soft skills can only be gained through experience. As such, even if you’re studying or working in STEM, it’s essential that you engage in activities that help you develop these skills.

What transferable skills do you need to learn?

There are various categories of soft skills that you should develop, though you’ll end up gaining skills from different categories through each activity and project you’re involved in.

First of all, you need to demonstrate that you’d be dedicated to your job and would carry out your work efficiently and to the highest standard. For this, you’d have to focus on skills such as initiative, punctuality, prioritization, organization and time management, attention to detail, responsibility, and a strong work ethic.

In general, these demonstrate that you’re reliable and that you’ll always strive to do the best work possible. Fortunately, getting involved in almost any type of project can help you demonstrate most of these skills.

Next, you want to show that you can deal with challenges by demonstrating that you can set goals, make decisions, think critically and creatively, and solve problems.

Of course, no matter what role you occupy, you’ll have to work with others, whether they be colleagues, superiors, or clients. When it comes to interacting with others you need to show that you’re a good listener and communicator and that you can collaborate with others, receive feedback (and also provide it), resolve conflicts, and perhaps even delegate and lead others.

Finally, as you’ll read in detail in our new article, one of the main attributes employers seek in workers today is adaptability. Being flexible, willing to learn, and open-minded is essential as you enter any new work environment and as changes occur in your workplace or your general field of work.

Nowadays, the job market is more competitive and complex than ever. While we can’t control every factor that plays into this, as professionals we need to focus on ourselves as that is the only aspect we can really begin to control.

One way to build your knowledge and skill set, particularly if you study or work in STEM, is to join the DataEthics4All Community, where you’ll be able to connect to our network and participate in our events.

Come join us!