Five Transferable Skills That Can Help When Changing Careers

Guest Article by Kevin Denholm, founder of NextAdvocate.com

This week, I’m happy to feature an article written by Kevin Denholm, founder of NextAdvocate.com. Be sure to check out the links to helpful articles on his website that are geared towards helping individuals gain education and jobs while overcoming barriers such as time and cost.

There are few things in life that can be as stressful as changing careers. We’re not talking about a job change within the same or similar industry, but a true reset on your career. There are more people today than ever in mid-career who find they are completely dissatisfied. If you’re reading this, that’s likely where you are. So first, don’t panic, career change later in life is common, and it can be a great improvement to a person’s overall health and happiness.

In life we are continuously learning, and the chances we make the right career choices right out of the gate are low. A recent Pew Research Article shows only 49% of Americans are very satisfied with their career. That’s proof you’re not alone if you are considering a career change.

So, what do we do about it? First, we recommend taking stock of the things you are passionate about. It’s highly recommended you look for a new career in a space you love working. Hopefully, now that you’ve had some time in the workforce, this is a little clearer to you. Next, start thinking about transferable skills that might help when starting to interview for careers in a new industry. While it’s possible you’ll need to go back for some additional training, it’s also possible you have enough transferable skills that you can get hired without additional schooling. Let’s go through some skills you can highlight to potential employers that transfer easily across industries.

Project management

You’d be hard pressed to find an industry that doesn’t value the skill of project management. If you have done this, or have a PMP certification, it’s one of the most sought-after skillsets. Even companies who outsource a lot of their work, tend to keep project management in-house. Project managers oversee critical pieces of work for many companies and having someone on the ground who’s often tracking multiple work streams is essential to project success.

Data Analytics

Data is one of the hottest topics in the world today. Whether we like it or not, companies across the board are trying to analyze customer data to increase sales and efficiencies. Big tech companies have led the charge, but legacy companies are now following suit, realizing the benefit of customer data to target and sell new products and services. If you have skills in Data Analytics, whether that’s simple excel skills, or more complex analytics software, it’s one of the most transferable skills in the world today.

Sales

This one seems obvious, but nothing can replace a great salesperson. Sales is the life blood of most companies. If you have sales experience and can show prospective employers that you’ve significantly increased sales at another company, they’re going to listen. With this one, you want to be able to show hard data. Detail what you were selling, and exactly how much you were able to grow sales in a previous job. Obviously, there are soft skills that go along with being a great salesperson and feel free to highlight those as well. But nothing can replace hardcore numbers.

Cost Control

I have a Supply Chain Management degree. It was all the buzz 20 years ago, but in college I didn’t quite understand why. After being in the real world for a while, I realized it was all about cost-cutting and efficiencies. Today, especially in manufacturing industries, the products have become commoditized. That leaves those businesses little room to increase price, so they have increasingly moved to cost-cutting to improve their bottom line. If you have any experience in cost control, highlight it on your resume. Someone who can decrease costs can easily pay for themselves in no time. Think about things you may have done like negotiate with suppliers, streamline a process, or anything that generally makes a company leaner.

Team Leadership

Every sizeable company has teams of people to either complete day-to-day work or projects. Regardless, having experienced team leaders is critical. Some companies will hire people for experience in a field alone, but great companies hire talented people who have shown success in critical roles like leadership. They know smart people can learn a new skill over time, but intangibles like being a person willing to take the lead, can’t be found in every applicant. So, find ways to highlight your success in leading teams, projects, or any initiative for that matter. Show potential employers that is something you will, and want to do, and it will greatly enhance your success rate.

Still Struggling?

But let’s say you’ve read this list and you can’t honestly say you have any of these skills. First, keep thinking because this list isn’t all-inclusive. Search Google and you will find plenty of lists to get your brain thinking about other transferable skills to highlight on your resume. Also consider talking to a career counselor because they have seen this situation many times. They understand what different industries value and can help you find the most transferable skills.

Also keep in mind that in today’s world of online education and the nanodegree, there are more options than ever to add new skills to your resume. Look at some of the most popular online course platforms like Udacity, Coursera, EdX, and Udemy. Even Google is getting into this space and coming up with short form courses that allow people to gain valuable skills in weeks to months of training. You may have to pay a little money, but it’s nothing compared to a college degree and it can significantly improve marketability.

This list focuses on hard skills most organizations need. Other soft transferable skills you should highlight are communications, creativity, problem solving, and organizational skills. Having examples of both hard and soft skills will give you the best chance of successfully changing careers. That said, most experienced workers can find a way to highlight soft skills. Having the concrete hard skills can really differentiate you from the crowd.

The Bottom Line

Changing careers can be a huge benefit to your overall quality of life. If you are stuck in a position that feels like a dead-end job, or is simply too stressful, consider a change no matter how old you are. People are working well into their seventies these days (by choice, not necessity), and the stereotypical retirement expectations have been thrown out the window. That’s to say you can make changes later in life and still have a long and rewarding career in a completely different industry.

Don’t settle for something that doesn’t bring you satisfaction. You likely have better perspective than you ever have in your life. Use that perspective to find a career you love and use the skills we discussed above to kickstart your move in another direction.

About the Author

Kevin Denholm is a serial entrepreneur, former business consultant, and the Founder of NextAdvocate.com, a company committed to changing our education system. By helping students earn degrees in less time without massive student debt we can change the future of millions for the better.