Learning and growing is a vital part of any job and the skills this process brings can be transferred into new positions across a variety of sectors.  

 

Transferable skills apply in all professions and are interconnected but you can find certain key words will pop up in many job adverts: these include teamwork, communication, multi-tasking, creativity and problem solving.  

 

If you’re looking to change your career path, effectively developing these skills means you’ll gain greater control over what you can achieve and which roles you can aim for. 

 

Perhaps the most important of all the qualities employers look for are communication skills. Every professional job requires a good command of what you say and how you say it. 

 

This also means being able to provide clear written communication. And, in our digital age, a knowledge of technological channels such as social media can be a major boost when moving into a new area. 

 

In marketing and PR, for example, the backbone of the business is communication and being able to relate well to other people puts you ahead of the competition. This is equally true if you’re currently employed in social work or healthcare. 

 

Such jobs require excellent levels of communication in order to ensure everyone is linked in, ensuring the best schedule of care for patients or advice for clients.  

 

Having worked with the elderly, disabled or vulnerable in a personal or voluntary capacity means you can bring to communication skills to a new job that include empathy and heightened awareness of others’ needs. 

 

In retail, meanwhile, working with the public also creates a rewarding and people-centred environment that demands good communication, teamwork and multi-tasking. 

 

It’s also a sector that rewards with a whole host of transferrable skills for those who are flexible and open to working in areas such as customer service and project management. 

 

Working in retail helps enhance technical skills such as numeracy, by handling money and stock taking. In a world where technology is king – think interactive tills and computerised stock control systems – being knowledgeable and competent in IT will soon become a natural talent.  

If you’re just starting out on your first career path, many businesses offer in-house or online training to give you the opportunity to obtain skills that can be used in the years ahead.  

 

Admin is a great example of a workplace where skills such as communication, computer literacy, multi-tasking, proofreading and working to strict deadlines can all be learned and applied in different sectors in the future. A secretary could become a paralegal and an admin assistant move into HR. 

 

The truth is we never stop learning and with every new skill the job opportunities grow. The world of IT can certainly be thought of as an ever-expanding universe. Right now, you may be at the centre of it but to progress your career you need to ensure you’re staying on top of developments in software and tech innovations. 

 

Nurturing your creativity and problem-solving skills can ultimately take you into the worlds of manufacturing, aerospace or financial services. 

 

Financial services and accountancy are both areas that demand being good with numbers and technology – and when combined with top notch customer service skills, this makes number crunchers such as bankers and accountants ideal candidates for many other industries.  

 

So, if you have additional skills outside of the worlds of accountancy and finance – perhaps you have experience in HR, the legal world or IT – be sure to flag these up when eyeing up new career opportunities. 

 

They bring additional qualities to the role over and above your expected technical know-how. 

 

No matter which sector you’re in right now, should you desire change this year, highlighting your transferrable skills can help you find a role in many other sectors.  

 

And just one look online could open up a whole new world.