Recently in Transferable Skills Category

Sharnjit writes: Hello! I need to apply for a position as a staff accountant, but many firms are looking for applicants with prior experience. I have very little experience. About 6 months is max.

Also, what is the best way to write a general cover letter?

The Career Doctor responds: A two-part question, so let me answer in two parts.

First, the experience issue. One solution may involve using transferable skills from your past jobs and education to show that you indeed have the critical experience. Read: Strategic Portrayal of Transferable Skills is a Vital Job-search Technique. Another solution is get the experience now through volunteering your accounting services to local non-profit organizations; you help a worthy organization and gain the experience you need to move to a better job.

Second, the cover letter issue. I know you didn’t mean it, but your question is one of the biggest problems we see with cover letters. There is NO such thing as a general cover letter; well, there is, but we call it a BAD cover letter. Cover letters are all about specifics — about showcasing how you can make a difference to the company. You really need to read Cover Letter Success is All About Specifics, written by my partner, Katharine Hansen.

Anonymous writes: Hello, I am a recent graduate with a degree in economics from a major university and a GPA of 3.4/4.0. I am trying to find an entry-level analyst position, but I am running into problems with lack of experience. I worked odd jobs through my college career to be able to afford tuition, but I can’t seem to find a job because I could not afford to do any internships. I was wondering what advice you could give me. I am really at a loss, and I am beginning to get frustrated.

The Career Doctor responds: You have a very common problem of many college grads, especially those from the liberal arts. Employers are demanding experience from all job-seekers, including those “entry-level” positions that college grads fill. Why the trend? Because these so-called entry-level jobs are no longer training positions; employers want employees who can make an impact from day one.

What can you do about it? You need to position yourself as having the key skills that employers seek in job candidates. You need to identify those key skills you gained from your educational experience as well as from those odd jobs while in college. And don’t put down those odd jobs; while they may not have been in your field, you still gained valuable business skills and experience while working them.

My partner, Katharine Hansen, talks a lot about these transferable skills — and how college grads especially can take advantage of them — in her book, Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates.

We also have a growing section on transferable skills at Quintessential Careers.

Once you’ve identified those transferable skill sets that you have mastered, you can then go about experimenting with a chrono-functional resume. Read our article, Should You Consider a Functional Resume? Keep in mind that many employers don’t like any kind of functional resume, so have a chronological version ready in case the chrono-functional version isn’t working for you.

Christina writes:

Please help me out. I recently graduated from a local travel agency course. I have no experience in the field. All of my work experiences have been in dead-end fast food jobs. How to I work my resume for my new travel career without making it look empty?

The Career Doctor responds:

Experiment with a chrono-functional resume, which is organized around skills clusters. What you need to do is examine the skills you’ve acquired through all your experiences (and not just the fast-food work) and determine which ones are best transferable to your new career as a travel agent.

We usually talk of transferable skills as falling into five major categories: communications; research and planning; human relations; organization, management, and leadership; and work survival. The key is identifying those key skills. I suggest you read the article, Strategic Portrayal of Transferable Skills is a Vital Job-search Technique.

Once you’ve completed the analysis of your transferable skills, the next step is developing your chrono-functional resume. A good article for you to read — including links to some sample functional resumes — is this one: Should You Consider a Functional Resume? One caution: Many employers don’t like any type of functional resume, so plan to have a chronological resume available if the chrono-functional version isn’t working for you.

Deborah writes:

I’m in the process of a career change going from foodservice to project management and will be getting my PMI certification soon but realize that at this time I am still out of my league for any of the jobs that I seen so far — so what would be the best course of action for me to take at this time as I further my education? Thanks.

The Career Doctor responds:

I would recommend going to the Project Management Institute’s site and spend some time looking at their career and education resources. There are also about 160 chapters of PMI in the U.S. and abroad, so I would strongly encourage you to locate one near you and start doing some networking.

You will also need to retool your resume, which may involve totally reformatting it, as well as trying to gain some project-management experience. Take a look at your transferable skills, and the overlap between food services and project management. You should then consider experimenting with a chrono-functional resume, but also have a chronological version ready if the chrono-functional format doesn’t seem to be working for you (many employers disdain any type of functional format)

The key to success career change is planning and execution, and you seem to be on the right path so far, but you need to get networking and revamping your resume.

Anonymous writes:

I am 30 years old and for the past five years have worked as an exotic dancer to put myself through college. I am gradating with honors this summer and want to get a “legitimate” job now; however, I don’t know what to tell potential employers about what I’ve been doing for the past few years (afraid I’ll be stigmatized). Help!

The Career Doctor responds:

Sometimes the Career Doctor feels a little like Dear Abby and wonders when people are pulling a prank on him or whether the email is legitimate… for sake of my answer, I will assume your email speaks the truth. You should be proud and feel a sense of great accomplishment rather than feeling afraid — you’ve done a great thing in working to put yourself through school!

First, some questions for you. What jobs did you hold before the exotic dancing — where they more “legitimate,” as you put it? Did you complete any projects/internships/co-ops while in college?

Second, some advice for you. I would advise trying a chrono-functional resume. On your resume, I would list your education first, since that is the most recent event happening in your career and your best selling point. Of course, state that you are graduating with honors — and add any other honors you’ve earned. Then, as with any chrono-functional resume, I would concentrate on the transferable skills you’ve attained from all your school and work experience. Finally, I would list your actual work history, but come up with a more tame title for your job — perhaps just dancer, perhaps entertainer or performer. You might be able to think of a better job title. Be aware that many employers don’t like any type of functional resume, and you may have to revert to a chronological version if the chrono-functional isn’t working for you. I suggest you spend some time with the Quintessential Careers: Resume Tutorials, where we provide a more detailed explanation of chrono-functional resumes — along with samples.

You should do great. Just remember to have the poise and confidence in the job market that you’ve had for the past five years in accomplishing all that you have.

Linda writes:

I am desperately looking for a job that will hire me, but I am afraid they will not even look at my resume since I don’t have any experience. The only thing I can really mention is my having worked as the assistant registrar at my high school during my last three years there. During college I held no jobs, and I am very worried I will never find a job because of my non-existent qualifications. I am very good with people, but I will never get an interview when they look at my resume. I graduated from college a year and a half ago. I am not expecting to start off with a very high paying job, just something that will get my foot in the door.

The Career Doctor responds:

Are you working now? What have you been doing for the past year and a half?

Regardless of your answers to those questions, what you need to do is take a hard look at what you did in college. Yes, part-time jobs and internships are obvious places where you could have gained valuable work experience, but instead of focusing on the negative, we should look at the positive.

As you examine your college career, I want you to focus on any kind of extracurricular activities you may have participated in as well as the specific assignments and work you completed in your classes. Surely you were a member of one or more groups in college — did you hold any offices or perform any duties as a member? As for your classes, did you complete any large projects and analyses?

I suggest you read Quintessential Careers: Fundamentals of a Good Resume, along with a related article on transferable skills. From these two articles, you should be able to build a fairly strong resume, even without a lot of “real world” experience.

Jill writes:

I recently graduated with a BS in social psychology at 41 years of age. The past 10 years I have been in the clerical field and now more than anything want to work with teenagers. In my cover letter and resume how do I relate my past experiences with the changing career choice I would like to make? Any information would be appreciated.

The Career Doctor responds:

There are a few keys to making the successful transition. In terms of your cover letter and resume, you need to sit down and think about the skills you have learned and used and how they can apply to your new career field. For example, organizational skills are extremely important in the clerical field, and working with teens requires organizational skills as well. Read more about the topic by visiting Quintessential Careers: Transferable Skills.

The next key to success is to review the job descriptions of the types of jobs you are considering. How does your education and experience match up with the requirements? Can you position yourself to fit these requirements? If not, you may need to take some additional courses or look at different types of jobs.

Finally, I would encourage you to talk with people who currently have jobs that are similar to what you want to be doing or are supervising people who are doing the type of job you want to be doing. We call these informational interviews, and they are an extremely valuable resource for gaining knowledge, making contacts, and networking. Get the scoop by visiting Quintessential Careers: Informational Interviewing Tutorial.

Cassandra writes:

I currently work with an insurance company. Five years ago, I received my BBA, with a major in finance. I am looking and have been looking for a job that will utilize what I learned during my four years at a higher-ed institution. Everything I come across requires that you have job experience. How am I going to get the experience if no company will give me a chance? Most of the positions that I am interested in are financial analyst positions.

The Career Doctor responds:

I’m a little confused Cassandra. If you are currently working, don’t you have experience? You don’t say what kind of work you are currently doing at the insurance company, but I bet you could develop a set of transferable skills that you do in your current position that would be valued in a financial analyst position. What you should do first is determine the key skills needed to be a financial analyst. You can develop a list of these skills — if you don’t already know — by looking at job descriptions for financial analysts, going to finance-related Web sites, or asking one of your old college professors. Once you have that list, examine what you do in your current job and see how many can apply. My guess is that with your finance degree and five years of business experience, you should be able to polish your resume and find yourself a new job.

Go to Quintessential Careers: Transferable Skills for a good article — and many other resources — on transferable skills.

Arlene writes:

I’ve read and enjoyed the information you provide on job-hunting for students; but I have what may be a unique set of circumstances for which I would greatly appreciate your advice.

I am married, fit, and 50; I have been a stay-at-home mom of one; I am educated and currently a non-degree-seeking student of Web design. I have an MBA in electronic business, B.S. in communications. My GPA is 3.9. Here’s the good part — my recent job history as a small-business owner is undocumented. I owned a start-up, online relocation service. My company taxes for the 3+ yrs. in business showed losses and no income. Although the company was successful in terms of surviving more than three years in a volatile .com environment and in providing a service that was well used, I cannot prove it, and it does not show up on background checks.

Further, the small jobs I’ve held were low paying.

You may have guessed that my job search has been unsuccessful. I don’t know how to make my skills attractive to employers and how to diminish my shortcomings. Can you provide any insight in terms of marketing myself, downplaying my age, low wages, and little-to-no job history?

I would truly appreciate any feedback or advice.

The Career Doctor responds:

Probably my best advice to you would be to read our article on positioning yourself when you are underqualified.

As far as documenting your entrepreneurial experience, try focusing on the “well-used” aspect of the business and talk about satisfied customers. Perhaps you could even get testimonials from some of them.

I would also recommend informational interviewing, a networking technique that enables you to get your foot in the door with employers, sometimes resulting in job offers and certainly resulting in more contacts for your network and knowledge about employer needs. Read more here.

You probably also need a professional resume writer to position you.

I can recommend either our partner, About Jobs.

OR

a practitioner from the professional organization we belong to. You can search current members of the organization here OR complete a form specifying what you’re looking for and be matched with appropriate practitioners.

You’ll find that many resume-writing services offer no-cost critiques.