Skills that you already have

They can include things such as team work, good communication, problem solving and time management.

You might have learned them from a previous job, from volunteering, in education or from other life experiences.

If you're looking for a job in a different sector, or trying to get your first career break then it can be helpful to identify your transferable skills. Use them to demonstrate how you have the right skills and experience for the job in your CV and cover letter.

After you have identified the skills you have, you can compare these to the ones listed in jobs you are interested in.

Examples of transferable skills

Experience 1

Working as a Customer Service Adviser on a station one of my responsibilities is to check customers' tickets and resolve any errors when they can't get through the gates, always ensuring that I give good customer service.

Transferable skills

• Attention to detail
• Excellent customer service
• Ability to influence difficult stakeholders
• Problem solving

Experience 2

In my military career I coordinated the training and deployment of over 250 personnel to operations abroad.

Transferable skills

• Team leadership
• Project management
• Resource management
• Resilience

Experience 3

At University I studied Psychology and had to write a number of essays on different topics. I also had to deliver a presentation to my seminar class.

Transferable skills

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Confident public speaker