How to Create a Transferable Skills Checklist for Boosting Your Career

In today’s very competitive hiring landscape, it is often extra challenging to stand out and land your dream job in Malaysia. Maybe you have been thinking about applying for a long time but feel you lack some skills or credentials. Or, perhaps you want to take a chance on a career change but still have to upgrade your current skills and competencies. To tackle these concerns, your best course of action is to create a transferable skills checklist — or review it if you already have one.

What are transferable skills?

Are you learning about transferable skills for the first time? These are various soft skills that you picked up from your education, internships, and work experiences. While they are not technical skills, they are just as valuable. In fact, they complement your technical expertise and make you a more well-rounded employee.

Given the global disruption that the COVID-19 pandemic brought, it has become even more challenging to stand out to employers. However, the workplace and approaches to work have also tremendously changed. Now, more than ever, Malaysian companies, organisations, and businesses are turning to creative, out-of-the-box solutions to the ongoing challenges. Your transferable skills will certainly come in handy at a time like this.

(Read more: 4 Job Searches Trends from 2021 You’ll Need in 2022 )

In a nutshell, transferable skills will make you prepared to take on different roles, explore various industries, or better navigate your current job. It can even future-proof your career, whatever industry or field you choose.

Top five transferable skills you must have

Now that you know what these skills are and why they are important, the next question is: What are the top transferable skills to have? For starters, here are the top five soft skills that will give you a competitive edge during your job search:

1. Interpersonal Skills

This might be a term that gets thrown around with the idea that it simply means being friendly with your peers. However, there is more to it than being well-liked in the workplace. Also called people skills, interpersonal skills involve knowing dealing with people of different backgrounds and personalities.

Human relations in the workplace can be tough sometimes. But interpersonal skills will allow you to better communicate with demanding clients or competitive co-workers.

2. Time Management Skills

Punctuality is important in every workplace. Being always late at work or habitually missing deadlines will never look good on you. It reflects a lack of commitment and poor time management skills. When you know how to manage your schedule so you always deliver promptly, you can easily position yourself as an asset to any team.

3. Problem-Solving Skills

When days at work are far from smooth-sailing, your problem-solving skills will be put to the test. This involves identifying the problem, understanding the cause, and coming up with solutions that will either address it or prevent it from happening again. Regardless of the industry or role, this analytical expertise will get you and your team through hardships at work.

4. Creativity

The past two years have pushed many companies and businesses to adopt unconventional solutions to the challenges brought by the pandemic. Being able to demonstrate creativity through out-of-the-box ideas and solutions will make you a valuable asset. Resourcefulness, inventiveness, and originality will take you far!

5. Leadership Skills

Do you think it is time to step up and take on a bigger role in your company? Leadership skills are one of the first things employers look for when hiring or promoting for management roles. While some individuals can be considered natural-born leaders, it is not impossible to learn to become one as well.

Picking up leadership skills will allow you to coach and motivate your team, bring direction to projects, and delegate tasks with ease. When challenges and setbacks come, you will also be more level-headed to take accountability and address them with confidence.

Start managing your transferable skills inventory

Now, you are ready to put together your transferable skills checklist. The first step is to assess your current transferable skills list. This can be part of your skills inventory management, which will provide a detailed overview of your strengths and areas for improvement.

Ideally, you should be making this assessment at all points of your career. Remember, as you progress in your career and gather different life experiences, you also pick up various skills. Think of it as a collection of skills that will give you a better idea about your value as an employee. It will also help you better see your potential for growth.

To begin, ask yourself questions like:

1. How well do I interact with my peers? Was there ever a time I found it difficult to approach, communicate, or collaborate with them?
2. Do I find it difficult to speak clearly and effectively during presentations?
3. Do I find it hard to write my thoughts and ideas for reports and other deliverables?
4. Have I ever been called to help solve a difficult problem or challenge at work? Did I come up with effective solutions or contributions?
5. Have I ever struggled with meeting deadlines or being punctual at work?
6. Have I ever been called to coach or train a fellow co-worker? How did it turn out?
7. Do I see myself leading my own team one day?
8. How good am I at spotting problems, discovering what caused them, and coming up with the best solutions?
9. Do I enjoy strategising and thinking about new ways or approaches to doing things at work?
10. How good am I at managing my schedule and stress levels?

Download a sample transferable skills checklist

No time to create your own transferable skills checklist? Not sure what you should write in it? To save you time, you can also check out JobStreet’s transferable skills list PDF download. It contains a checklist of the core soft skills you can start working on, whatever stage you may be in your career.

Remember, you can always tailor this checklist according to your career goals and job prospects.

To help you personalise the checklist, there is also a guide for evaluating your past experiences, goals and aspirations, and the transferable skills you need to make them happen.

The sample transferable checklist PDF file also has a dedicated space to help you identify your best soft skills and your areas for improvement. The former should be part of your career highlights in your resume. Meanwhile, the latter should give you an idea about the training, workshops, or seminars you may need to take to develop the corresponding skills.

(Read more: JobStreet’s Free Downloadable Career Planner Will Guide Your Work Life )

Are you ready to put those transferable skills to work and land your dream job? Create or update your JobStreet profile today and search for #JobsThatMatter. You can also check out our free resume templates to get you started on your career journey.

We, at JobStreet, are with you every step of the way. You can visit our ‘ Let’s Get To Work ’ page to find inspiring stories of professionals who found jobs they love. Don’t forget to check out the Career Resources hub as well for more tips on job searching, self-improvement, and career advancement!