Graduate Job Applications - Identify Your Transferable Skills
Getting into the labour market after school or college is a
daunting prospect and that's without the minefield of jargon,
overnight advances in technology and discriminatory attitudes.
OK - Let's bust a bit of that jargon! What exactly are
transferable skills? Quite simply, they are things you can do in
one area of your life which can be used somewhere else.
Let's take an example. As a student, did you get all your
assignments in on time? Were you able to set up extensions if
your work was late? Did you learn how to type quickly and use a
number of computer programmes effectively? Did you hold down a
part-time job and manage to juggle work with study and your
social life?
If you answered yes to all, or at least some of the above, you
have demonstrated an extensive range of skills, such as
effective time management, negotiating and good communication
skills. Now, you may not give them such grand titles, but if you
were filling in a job application form, that's exactly what
you'd call them.
You've been picking up skills from the moment you were born. The
problem is that you take most of your skills for granted. That's
something we've got to change! So grab a pen and paper, get
yourself a cup of coffee and let's get started.
Choose any role you've had in your life.
As a graduate, you'll have spent a large part of your life so
far as a student and so we'll use that in our example. Have a go
at brainstorming the skills you developed in your school or
student days.
What did you come up with?
Communication Skills
You had no chance of surviving as a student - and even less
chance of passing your exams - if you couldn't communicate the
knowledge and skills that you are at college to learn.
How did you communicate this information? By writing essays,
giving presentations or talks, delivering a lesson to other
students, answering questions, writing a thesis? You may have
devised questionnaires and interviewed members of the public,
written articles for on or offline publication or for a college
newsletter. You'll have taken notes and summarised information
from books and lectures. Think about each subject you studied
and write a list of the methods of communication you used, both
oral and written and write examples of each.
Teamwork
As a student you will have been exposed to group work of some
sort - I know, I'm a teacher! You may have had to research a
subject to make a group presentation or for a written
assignment, or perhaps you produced a class newsletter or were
involved in a community project with classmates. If you have
played any team sports in your spare time, you will know a lot
about what it takes to work as a member of a team.
Ability to work alone and on your own initiative
Much of the work you did at college was not group work, but
stuff you had to do alone and you probably had to motivate
yourself to get on with it. So, how good were you at getting all
the work done? You may not have liked it, but if it had to be
done, chances are you did it. How did you use your own
initiative? Did you devise ways in which to make remembering
information easier? Did you come up with creative ideas to make
your work different and interesting? Did you find a job which
you were able to fit in with your studies and which solved some
of your financial problems?
Ability to meet deadlines
Deadlines - You certainly had a few of these in your student
days. Did you meet them? You may have learned the hard way,
sitting up all night at the last minute, but most people manage
to get things in on time. And if you didn't, how well did you
negotiate an alternative solution?
IT Skills
As a student you will have used, at the very least, the
internet, email and word processing packages. Your college will
probably have provided free tuition in these and possibly also
in programmes like Powerpoint and Excel. You may also have
developed other skills in your own time or when you were at
school, such as web design or programming. Add all these to your
list.
Research skills
You will have had to do some form of research for your
assignments and for your thesis or dissertation if you went to
university. Write down the methods you used - internet,
specialist libraries, journals, interviewing, using
questionnaires, doing case studies.
Communication skills, teamwork, ability to work on your own and
to use your own initiative, ability to meet deadlines, IT and
research skills are all high on employers' lists of essential
attributes in a graduate employee. Your job is to provide
examples which prove that you have these skills. So, using the
information in this article, make your own list of specific
examples. They will help you shine both on paper and at the
interview.