3 important transferable skills for your career

As a professional, it is crucial to continuously enhance your transferable skills, even if you are content in your current role or actively seeking a new position in the same field. In today's unpredictable job market, transferable skills are highly sought after by businesses. They allow you to adapt and thrive in new job environments, making you a valuable asset to any team.

With the pandemic causing layoffs, the talent pool is becoming more diverse and competitive. To stand out from the crowd, it's essential to demonstrate a strong set of transferable skills. According to Fast Company, several benefits come with hiring someone outside of your industry, so companies will undoubtedly take advantage of this when it's time for them to hire again.

Since studies have predicted that the average Australian will have 17 jobs across 5 industries in their lifetime, it's best to be aware of how your current and upcoming experiences at work will allow you to build solid transferable skills. Doing so will put you in a much stronger position for the future jobs you'll be applying for.

What are Transferable Skills?
Transferable skills are innate abilities you've acquired in work environments and non-work situations such as volunteering, additional study, education, groups, and clubs such as sports. They can also contribute to developing specific skills. Here are three essential transferable skills you should focus on:

Strong communication skills - verbal and written - are critical for success in any career. Whether you are conveying information internally or externally, being an effective communicator is vital to doing your job well. Essential communication skills to continually develop include active listening and reading, speaking and writing clearly and concisely, asking questions, and understanding non-verbal cues.

Most jobs will require some element of people management, so it's essential to develop these skills. Being a team leader means training, directing, and motivating staff members to reach a specific goal. It can help you manage different personalities, communicate with different work styles, delegate, supervise, problem-solve, provide feedback, and deal with conflict resolution. You'll also learn time management skills, how to be adaptable and flexible, and how to begin developing your management and leadership style.

Making business decisions based on solid research and data is becoming more and more expected of employees. Being able to interpret information to produce a well-researched outcome demonstrates that you have considered the factors that could risk failure. Therefore, research and analytical skills will set you apart from the competition.