In their article “The Role of Transferable Skills in Career Planning”, CareerPerfect define transferable skills (or competencies) as skills you have acquired from past experiences that are transferable to a different type of career, industry or environment. What is more exciting however is the way they apply plain English grammar to ‘drive’ this definition home. Just like a sentence a skill is made up of two parts; a ‘verb’ and a ‘noun’. The verb signals an action, an occurrence, or a state of being. It is the ‘action part’ of the sentence. In fact you cannot have a sentence without a verb. Some commonly used verbs include; ‘to walk, to speak, to write, to read’ etc. On the other hand a ‘noun’ is a word that identifies a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. The noun is the ‘identifier’ and is used to give a ‘name’ to what is done (action). You can ‘write’ (verb), a ‘book’ (noun). You can also ‘work’ with ‘office equipment’; you can ‘collect’ data or you ‘sell’ merchandise. Although both the ‘verb’ and ‘noun’ parts of a skill can be transferred, the ‘verb’ section is the more transferable of the two. For example the verb ‘to write’ can be transferred to ‘writing’ an examination if you are a student or ‘writing’ a research report if you are a researcher. Similarly the verb ‘to speak’ can be applied to a speech engagement, entertainment event, counseling session, or in a classroom. It is transferable. While you can move the ‘speaking’ from one situation or environment to another, it is not usually possible to move the situation or environment and match it to ‘speaking’. Similarly, if you are a teacher good at writing lesson plans, “writing” is the most transferable portion of your work. In this case ‘writing’ may be transferable to writing reports, presentations, or proposals in a business environment.
In career planning, it is important to identify skills you already have, and to determine if you can apply them in a new occupation, situation or environment. Skills you have acquired over a long period of time may need ‘sharpening’ or ‘polishing’ before they can be transferred to, or applied successfully on a new job, career, situation or in a new environment. You may also need training to successfully ‘match’ a transferable skill to the requirements of a new job or situation. If your new job calls for ‘writing project action plans’, a skill in ‘writing’ lesson plans for an Art class can be leveraged to justify your suitability for a new position in project planning.
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Related topics
Find related topics on careers and career enhancement below:
1 Getting to new heights in your career. 2. Still wanted: Career leverage by Katie Wacek
3 Critical success factors in your career. 4. Career growth: Is your attitude letting you down
5 Career Advancement: The warrior within you. 6. Career progression: lost at the top of the ladder
7. Developing a career: Just like fishing 8. Who wants to stay here: A tale of the disengaged employee
8.Want to find a job you love?
http://www.expressexpertise.com/career-advancement-project-critical-success-factors/