Over the years, you have developed many skills from coursework, extracurricular activities, internships, jobs and your general life experiences. These skills are not limited to any one academic discipline or knowledge area but are transferable to many occupations. A prospective employer expects you to apply the skills you have learned through your studies, work and life experiences to the work environment.
According to the 2021 National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Job Outlook Survey, the top 10 qualities/skills employers seek are transferable skills:
- Problem-solving
- Ability to work in a team
- Strong work ethic
- Analytical/quantitative skills
- Written communication
- Leadership
- Verbal communication
- Initiative
- Detail-oriented
- Technical skills
The table below provides examples of transferable skills that are developed from gaining experience within each of the five categories. To demonstrate how these skills can be marketed to an employer on a résumé, the bolded words are formed into résumé bullet points below.
| 👥HUMAN RELATIONS | 💡CREATIVE THINKING | 🗪 COMMUNICATION | 📋ORGANIZATION & MANAGEMENT | 🔍 RESEARCH & PLANNING |
| Counseling Advocating Coaching Providing care Empathizing Providing customer service Facilitating group process Active listening Motivating | Anticipating problems Creating images Designing programs Displaying Brainstorming new ideas Improvising Composing Thinking visually Anticipating consequences | Speaking effectively Listening attentively Expressing ideas Facilitating discussion Perceiving nonverbal messages Persuading Editing Promoting Working in a team | Making decisions Leading Solving problems Meeting deadlines Coordinating tasks Teaching Mediating Resolving conflict Organizing | Setting goals Critical thinking Analyzing data Defining needs Investigating Gathering information Formulating hypotheses Calculating and comparing Observing |
Developing Résumé Bullet Points
See here for more information on on developing bullet points to market your experiences.
- Transferable skill: Providing customer service
- Supporting experience: Server
- Résumé bullet point: Engaged with patrons to provide an excellent customer experience while managing a 3-5 table section in a popular family restaurant
- Transferable skill: Brainstorming new ideas
- Supporting experience: Event coordinator internship
- Résumé bullet point: Brainstormed innovative and cost-effective crafts for annual welcome week program and successfully implemented ideas in the following year.
- Transferable skill: Promoting and working in a team
- Supporting experience: Greek life
- Résumé bullet point: Collaborated with marketing committee of 5 members to promote fundraising events by creating eye-catching posters using Photoshop and tabling in high-traffic areas.
- Transferable skill: Leading and coordinating tasks
- Supporting experience: Group project
- Résumé bullet point: Led a team of 3 through semester-long project that required delegating weekly tasks, organizing and facilitating 8 meetings, and presenting completed product to faculty and students.
- Transferable skill: Analyzing data and gathering information
- Supporting experience: Student research assistant
- Résumé bullet point: Gathered information from 3 academic journals and analyzed outcomes data in each study to develop a research proposal.
REPRESENTING YOUR LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE ON A RÉSUMÉ
Student leaders gain skills in teamwork, advising, event/program planning, public speaking, leadership development and assessment among many others. Before you can articulate your leadership experience to others, it is necessary to review your experiences and to identify the skills you have gained and/or used through your leadership positions.
Step 1: Brainstorm what you do.
Step 2: What aspects of your leadership position are most important to you?
Step 3: Describe what you do.
- Leadership experience: Lacrosse team captain
- Highlighted skill: Organization
- Résumé bullet point: Utilize Google calendar to manage time and to record all games, practices, study hours and community service events required throughout the season.
- Leadership experience: Residential hall council member
- Highlighted skills: Gathering information
- Résumé bullet point: Discuss and informally survey residents to determine program and event topics of interest and relay feedback during monthly program planning meetings.
