Are you...
Retrenched and need to find another career path to pivot onto?
A mid-career shifter?
An individual contributor but aspiring to be a people leader?
A recent graduate in a discipline that you do not intend to pursue career-wise?
Whichever scenario that may describe you, remember never to throw away anything from your existing skillsets that are transferable. They are your greatest assets!
A transferable skill is an ability or expertise which may be used in a variety of roles or occupations, says Wikipedia.
This typically refers to soft skills or non-technical skills.
Soft skills
100% of jobs today require soft skills. In fact, jobs that doesn't require them are fast being replaced by robots and automation!
If we don't have the necessary soft skills, how are we different from the robots that are making us redundant?
Coupled with government-mandatory and company-directed measures pushing for remote work arrangements (thanks to COVID-19 and its deadlier variants), importance of soft skills is now all the way at the forefront for most hiring and recruitment decisions.
Soft skills aren’t as soft as they sound. In fact, they can make or break your career—especially when it comes to remote work. - Forbes, 2021
Soft vs. Hard skills
In the Singaporean context, there used to be a time hard skills were the rage. It used to provide job security and put food on the table.
Today, pursuing paper qualifications (which are often tied to hard skills acquisition) is no longer sufficient nor the best bet against employment redundancy.
Hard skills are picked up through formal classroom training, apprenticeship, books or training materials. That's how we obtained our diplomas, degrees, learning certificates, masters and even PhDs. They are easily quantifiable.
Sadly, I have seen too many well-educated people being retrenched over the years across sunset, disrupted and COVID-stricken industries.
Some examples are traditional printing, oil & gas, aerospace, ship-building and traditional retail industries, just to name a few.
Soft skills, on the other hand, are subjective and much harder to quantify. It refers to how you relate to and interact with others (The Balance Careers, 2021).
Both skills are important, but someone with better soft skills will become more successful in climbing the career ladder.
Nowadays, there is a growing number of jobs that requires a hybrid of hard + soft skills.
Hybrid jobs and skills
Hybrid jobs are on an exponential rise, and if you can land yourself in one, you will be in the best position to future-proof your employment.
In my opinion, hybrid jobs will eventually become the norm.
Before that day comes, such roles will continue to pay very well, i.e. much higher than the market average.
This is in recognition that the present supply of hybrid-skilled candidates are lower, in comparison to the demand coming from employers.
Many employers face global talent crunch today because their growing business needs demand for talents with such unique blend of skillset.
Employers often times have to pay MORE in order to incentivise the best fit candidate to join them, instead of their competitors.
Read about hybrid jobs and skills here.
How to pivot well using transferable skills?
Regardless whether you're a mid-career shifter, retrenched, aspiring people leader, or a fresh graduate, you must utilise and develop your transferable skills well.
1. The mid-career shifter
If your soft skills are well-developed and relevant for your new career path, what's left is simply to close your hard skills gap.
Hard skills are easier to acquire than soft skills as they can be learnt from going for upgrading courses via upskilling or reskilling, achievable within a quantifiable time frame.
Whether to upskill or reskill, click here to understand the key differences.
On the other hand, if you lack certain soft skills that the new career path requires, that is something you have to work on diligently in order to have a successful shift. However, there is no guarantee that you will eventually be good enough at it.
Excelling in a certain soft skill from 0 to 100 (e.g. resilience, adaptability, time-management, conflict management) has to come from a deeper transformation within, which can become a very personal journey for most.
This is usually the greatest stumbling block.
What may help to close the soft skills gap more effectively, in my opinion, is engaging career coaching services, personal growth mastery coaching, etc. to help you identify blindspots and self-limiting beliefs. Blindspot and self-limiting beliefs are the usual suspects impeding our personal growth journey.
Do you know that LinkedIn has a free career explorer tool? You can use it to map out what your current skillsets are, and the roles you're potentially suitable for: https://linkedin.github.io/career-explorer/
It gives a good glimpse of the skillset you currently possess, based on your current job title, and how you can potentially match your skills to the new career path. But...I think the matching part is not as helpful. Do try it out and let me know your experience!
2. The retrenched
Similar to the mid-career shifters, it is important that you explore and find out what are the hard and soft skills required in your next career option(s). The higher the match, the more successfully you can pivot yourself into a different role.
If you are a Singaporean or Singapore PR, know that you are blessed with publicly available Skillsfuture framework put together by the government. It is a treasure chest!
Other noteworthy Skillsfuture initiatives you should consider engaging:
Do you know that you can arrange for a free 1-to-1 session with a Skills Ambassador near your home or online?
The Skills Ambassador can advise based on your resume and offer some recommendations specific to your situation.
This programme helps mid-career workers who have had their careers impacted by COVID-19. Workers that secure a role under this programme will get a monthly training allowance.
Check out the list of available programmes at the bottom of the website. This can be a good option if you are considering to upskill or transit to a new industry.
3. The aspiring people leader
As you climb the career ladder, you will eventually enter the people management realm and beyond.
Excelling in soft skills is absolutely non-negotiable for aspiring leaders. Hard skills are no longer the foremost hiring criteria at leadership level, but rather one's ability to manage and lead others.
This is also why big corporates are often willing to invest in expensive personality and behavioural profiling tools to assess their C-level (i.e. CEO, COO, CFO, CHRO, etc.) and D-level (i.e. Assistant Director, Director, Senior Director) candidates at interviews.
If you're an individual contributor today hoping to progress into a managerial role, you must understand the key soft skills requirement and work towards excelling in them.
Work on your personal blindspots, strengthen your strengths and be open to honest feedback from others. Ask for opportunities to demonstrate leadership abilities at your current workplace.
It is important that you prove your ability to lead without a title before the title comes to you in the form of an official promotion.
4. The fresh graduate
If you graduated between year 2019 to 2021, you may find it difficult to secure a job within the pre-pandemic timeframe of 3-6 months upon graduation.
You may also find yourself pitted against much more experienced and well-skilled candidates who are available in the job market as well, due to COVID-related retrenchments.
All is not lost. Here are 2 great reads for your benefit:
Final thoughts...
Transferable skillset can be a huge topic on its own, with a lot of ground to cover. I hope this post proves beneficial as a starting point, whichever category of jobseeker you may belong to.
Let me know your thoughts. Comment or ask questions down below!
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