‘Re-Inventing’ Yourself? Got Transferable Skills?

I recently finished a tedious telephone conversation while making a simple hotel reservation. The reservations clerk at the hotel had a very difficult time understanding my e-mail address. I could not believe how the reservation person was not able to understand my e-mail the address after three attempts, even when I used the standard phonetic alphabet. I fixed this by asking the reservation clerk to give his e-mail address to me and I would send him a message so he could capture my e-mail address.

This is a great example of a transferable skill most radio operators (both professional and amateur) possess: The ability to accurately hear, understand and transcribe specific information - especially letter and number combinations.

Everyone has a set of skills and expertise, no matter who they are or what they do. Think of your skill set as a collection of things you learned from your earliest memories to present day. I call this everyone's inventory of transferable skills.

This is especially important when contemplating your next career move: All of us can jump from one career or position to another, but the jump must be realistic and make sense to anyone looking at your profile and work history.

For example, Greg is a fry cook at a coffee shop but wants to become a sous chef at a big hotel. He must be able to demonstrate he is capable of creating much more than fast food items, and he must be able to prove he is able to effectively manage a kitchen as second in command. What fry cook skills can he mention to make people understand he’s much more than a burger-flipper at a fast food joint? How will people understand Greg has the skills and experience to make lobster bisque and manage a crew during the restaurant’s busiest times?

"Remember, it is not enough to simply say you have done or are doing these things. You must be able to prove you have this knowledge and experience."
Me

A great example of how not to do this exercise is the episode of Seinfeld called “The Revenge” where George thinks about what sort of job he would apply for. Although he has enthusiasm for doing a particular job, like baseball manager or sportscaster, he lacks the skills and experience to make this a reality.

Here’s a better and more practical approach for all of us. Let’s go back to our fry cook example. Hopefully, Greg has been practicing the art of making gourmet soups and sauces. Not necessarily at his current coffee shop job, but maybe at another venue, such as the annual fund-raiser banquet at the food warehouse where he is the volunteer chef, where he not only creates a full four-course meal based on available surplus items, he runs the entire kitchen staff of five.

So this is how Greg can help others “connect the dots” so they can understand Greg’s career move from coffee shop fry cook to fancy restaurant sous chef. So, what’s next? How does Greg let everyone know about the skills he has beyond what’s needed at the coffee shop?

Prove It
Greg Johnson and I use this phrase in our LinkedIn workshops:

“It’s no longer what you know,
It’s no longer who you know,
It’s who knows you.”Greg Johnson and Me

Use social media outlets to show everyone what you are doing. Post updates and publish articles on what you are doing. Create buzzes on beBee, publish long-form posts and updates on LinkedIn and include examples of what you’ve done in your LinkedIn Summary section. Create a portfolio of your success stories and accomplishments. Don’t forget other ways to demonstrate your skills: Try making videos and live buzzes. The fancy term for this is “personal branding.”

Take a close look at everything you do and everything you know, including any personal, time-off activities such as sports and hobbies. Make a list of your skills and knowledge, then think about how these elements can transfer to your next career move. You may discover more career possibilities as you compare your skills list to requirements for your next career move.

A Seasonal Example
While helping my friend Peter decorate his boat for a Christmas parade, we talked a little bit about work and career events over the last year. Peter’s extreme Christmas decor aboard his boat called D25 includes thousands of individual lights, four microcomputers, two generators and hundreds of feet of wire.

Connecting all of these elements together and making them work on a short schedule is a demonstration of Peter’s knowledge and skills. All of these skills are transferable to several career paths. Here are just some of the skills and expertise needed to create an award-winning Christmas boat entry, in random order:

• Project planning/project management
• Advertising and marketing
• Public information/public relations
• Computer/microprocessor programming
• AC circuitry
• Ocean navigation
• Electronics
• Programmable logic controllers PLC
• Electrical safety
• Electrical power generators
• Computer software and hardware
• Radio communication

The list is impressive, and it is even more impressive when you remember this is just a short list of things based on one hobby-type of activity.

Create Success Stories

Once this list is completed (and it should be a never-ending list), create success stories based on these skills. Use the quantified Problem-Action-Result (or Martin Yate's Problem-Solution-Result) or Result-Action-Problem construction technique for resume optimization to make them interesting and specific.

So as this year comes to a close, I encourage everyone to make a list of your transferable skills and expertise -- and remember to include both work and non-work activities. Construct a power story for each item, and think about how these skills can transfer to your next company and position.

Effective career management is much more than looking at job ads and sending out resumes and applications. Understanding yourself and assessing your inventory of transferable skills is essential to career survival. As you take stock of your skills inventory, you may notice some gaps that must be filled in order to make that next jump into your next position. This is a perfect time to fix this by getting the necessary skills and experience that will make you a valuable contributor to the next organization you work for.

By the way, this process of keeping track of your skills and constructing success stories should never stop. There is never anything wrong with continuously learning new skills and expanding your knowledge.

About Wayne Yoshida