Are any of my skills even relevant? How to find your transferable skills

2 minute read

Identifying your transferable skills when looking to change careers can feel pretty mystifying, but here’s a few strategies I usually suggest that do work:

Find the overlap

Dig up job ads, job descriptions and competency matrices for your target role, then compare them to your current one to identify similar themes.

Different fields might have different names for the same underlying competence, and it’s okay for you to “translate” these in your CV.

Get tailored advice

Work with a coach or mentor: they can help pinpoint your most relevant existing skills and help you reframe them. Don’t be shy to ask them for reflections on your strengths — it isn’t vain or self-centred at all to do so.

Also, if they’re not career changers themselves, tap into their network by asking if they know anyone who is.

Do targeted research

Search “[current field] to [target field]” – there’s a wealth of inspiring career stories already out there. People who made similar changes to you also had to figure out their transferable skills first… and if they didn’t, they definitely identified them with hindsight!

If you’re lucky, they already shared their learnings somewhere online, and if they didn’t, you can reach out to them and ask.

Spice it up with AI

…but take what it says with a pinch of salt. Ask “What transferable skills might I have as a [current role] transferring to a [target role]?” Identify overlaps by feeding it your CV as well as target job descriptions. You can even have it generate entire competency matrices and job descriptions for your target role. While some suggestions might be a bit off, it can spark lateral thinking and help you make connections you wouldn’t have otherwise.

Reach out and connect

Most importantly, when you find profiles of people who’ve made similar jumps to the one you’re hoping to tackle, don’t hesitate to approach them.

I always find that career changers are keen to pay it forward and help others make the jump, so they’ll very likely say yes to a short coffee chat! You have nothing to lose.