Yes, you DO have transferable skills!

© Copyright Roy Miller, All Rights Reserved.

I've lost count of the number of times I've heard people complain that they can't pursue job X because they lack experience, and they "don't have transferable skills."

Poppycock. Everybody has transferable skills.

The reason people think they don't is because they're mistaking transferable skills for transferable experience.

Transferable experience is usually direct. It allows you to say, "I've done this particular job (or part of this job) before." If you haven't, then you really don't have directly applicable experience. That's where most people give up and stay stuck.

They forget that many skills aren't necessarily job specific. If you have experience with a particular software program, or piece of machinery, or work process, you've got specific skills there.

But skills are skills are skills are skills.

Management skills in one context (say, a retail store) are a lot like management skills in other contexts. There are some contextual differences, of course, but you probably had to deal with many of the same things other managers in other industries have to.

If you focus on the similarities between what you've done and what a new job requires, you'll do well.

All skills have at least some transferable component or flavor to them. I can't even name a skill that doesn't have at least some transferable component. Not one.

Find your skills and map them to the requirements of the new job. The instruction manual for my Silver Bullet Resume tells you exactly how to do it.