Transferable skills are your key to career success

Want to make a career change? Leverage your transferable skills across sectors in the Canadian job market. When it comes to finding a new job in Canada, letting employers know what you can offer to help them is imperative. But it’s also important to understand what skills Canadian employers value. Often, such skills are valued no matter what field you are in — they transfer across positions and sectors.

If you’re looking for a change in career or industry, there are some “transferable skills” that can be your best assets in today’s rapidly changing job market.

Transferable skills, also referred to as “skills for success,” can include both hard and soft competencies. Hard skills are considered those you may need to complete a specific job while soft skills are synonymous with personality or leadership traits. Some common transferable skills are:

communication (oral and written)
critical thinking
relationship building
leadership
collaboration
adaptability
analytical abilities
creativity and innovation
digital and numeracy skills

These skills can help you land a job in a new field, even if your technical or hard skills are not a perfect match for the job. From the employer’s perspective, technical skills can often be learned more easily than soft skills.

“While experience and qualifications are important, usually employers prefer to see applicants who can demonstrate key behaviours and core competencies that matter to them from a job perspective,” says Paula Calderon, national director, client success at Windmill Microlending.

Patrick MacKenzie, CEO, at the Immigrant Employment Council of BC, agrees. “We’re really seeing a shift toward skills and core competency-based hiring,” he says. “It’s been really interesting to see that shift in the Canadian labour market as employers look for skills for success rather than just technical abilities.”

How do you demonstrate these skills to an employer?
For many skilled immigrants, showing an employer you have these transferrable skills can be an unfamiliar practice. “The biggest challenge jobseekers face is effectively promoting these skills and personality strengths, which people don’t realize are really important,” says Calderon. “While experience and qualifications are also important, usually employers prefer to see applicants who can demonstrate key behaviours and core competencies that matter to them from a job perspective.”

MacKenzie advises that the best way to pinpoint what competencies an employer is looking for is to look carefully at job descriptions beyond the technical requirements listed. “A job posting is essentially a cheat sheet. They are telling you in very clear language what they are looking for,” he explains.

When preparing your resumé and cover letter, use the language found in the job description. While it will take extra work, MacKenzie says going that extra mile to make sure your resumé is job specific and highlights how your skills are a good match for the role is what is going to help you get an interview.
Then, at the interview, make sure to take time to describe how the skills you have accrued in previous roles or in your life experience transfer to this new role.

Building your personal brand
Calderon says skilled immigrants can showcase their transferrable skills by developing their personal brand. “This is something we all do without even knowing that we are doing it. Our personal brand is the way other people perceive us based on how we present ourselves to others. The key components for a personal brand are your passions and interests. What gets you out of bed in the morning? What are your skills and strengths? It also includes your work experience and lived experiences.”

When creating a resumé, LinkedIn profile or other social media profile, this means being mindful about how we present ourselves publicly and ensuring it’s consistent across platforms, so that prospective employers can see who we are and what we represent.

Developing your skills
When it comes to leveraging transferable skills on your path to career success, Calderon says skilled immigrants need to be honest about what skills they have and where they might need some help.
“Be a big picture thinker about what skills you need to work on,” says Calderon. “Then find ways to develop those skills, from LinkedIn Learning courses to rapid micro-credentials that teach you specific hard and soft skills.”

There are lots of ways skilled immigrants can update and strengthen their transferable skills. “It is not only through education and training,” says Calderon. “Volunteering is another way to develop skills that may not be possible in your current job. For example, if you need leadership skills but you don’t have the chance to develop those skills on the job, a coaching role for your child’s sports team is a way to develop and demonstrate those skills. Many people don’t realize that a lot of activities they do are helping them develop skills that are transferable to the workplace.”

The Immigrant Career Planning Guide presented by Windmill Microlending shares how newcomers can reach their full career potential by taking advantage of in-demand areas and employment opportunities across Canada. Whether you’re just starting your career, looking to move up, or retrain for a new field, growing opportunities await you. Now is the time to accelerate your career in Canada. Windmill’s Career Success and Planning Centre offers tools, tips and online digital resources to help skilled immigrants and refugees reach their professional goals, sooner. Visit windmillmicrolending.org to take the next step in your career, today.

-CanadianImmigrant