Transferable skills

What are my transferable skills

Once you've made the decision to make a career change, you might feel worried that you don't have the right skills or experience. However, it's really worth thinking carefully about the skills you already have, from work and your day to day life. You may find that you could use those skills across a variety of different jobs and situations.

These kinds of skills are called 'transferable skills'. We've listed a few transferable skills below, as an example, to help get you started when thinking about your own.

People Skills

  • Leadership
  • Teamwork
  • Communication
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Customer skills

Personal Skills

  • Commitment
  • Organisation
  • Initiative
  • Driving

General Skills

  • IT
  • Maths
  • Problem solving
  • Flexibility
  • Presentation Skills

Some of these skills you might not even realise you have. For example:

  • If you've ever worked at a check out or a till then you'll have some experience with customer skills and also maths.
  • Perhaps you've coached a local sports team or helped out with a youth club then you'll have worked on your leadership and communication skills.
  • If you've achieved a qualification since leaving school then you'll have gained really valuable commitment and organisation skills.
  • If you work really well with other people and make lots of friends in the workplace then you could have good interpersonal skills. Not only that but working together to achieve something, maybe as part of a sports team, shows you can do teamwork.

Transferable skills are brilliant things to mention in a job interview, or on your CV. If you'd like to get an even better idea of when you might have used some of these skills, read some more of our examples.