Transferable skills and their importance

What do employers say about transferable skills?

What are transferable skills?

Generic (or general) transferable skills are those skills, abilities and personal attributes which you can use in a wide range of activities, both in and out of employment, and that are not specific to the subject you studied.

There exist many transferable skills, but most can be summarised under four main headings:

communication and presentation skills (oral, written and graphic);
teamwork or interpersonal skills (e.g. negotiating, listening, sharing, empathising);
management or organising and planning skills (including self management skills such as integrity, honesty and ethical behaviour); and
intellectual and creative skills (such as problem solving and 'thinking beyond the square').

Skills that you have developed in a specific subject area at university (e.g. sociology, psychology, archaeology) may be transferred from that context into another (e.g. another topic or a community role or a employment-related task).

Let's discuss that more fully though the example of writing.

The ability to communicate effectively in writing is an example of a transferable skill area that you may have develop through different kinds of exercise at university. These could include those assignments that require you to write essays, fieldwork reports, laboratory reports, or text for posters. Whilst you may develop your ability to communicate in writing in a particular context (for example, within your particular disciplinary area or within the context of university assignments) your various abilities can be transferred across (used in) several contexts. You will probably find that you need to, or will, develop these skills to progressively higher levels in your work and community life to produce, for example, policy papers, annual reports, published articles, or books and to present your ideas at conferences, board meetings or public forums.

Why are they important?

Transferable skills empower you to use and effectively apply the specific knowledge you develop through higher education. For example, expertise with 'MS-Excel' or 'SPSS' enables you to use and present discipline-specific data effectively.
Transferable skills enable you to perform different work or professional roles from those for which you have been educated. For example, well-developed transferable skills might allow the social work professional to move from social work practice into hospital policy.
Transferable skills are mutually supportive. For example, interpersonal skills (such as how well you listen) are often closely connected to your ability to communicate effectively (such as how much impact your written or spoken word has on others).

For these reasons, transferable skills are valued highly by universities and by the communities of which you will be a part. They are among the qualities and attributes treasured by an educational tradition which endeavours to provide a broadening of horizons, preparing graduates for a critical, aware and responsible appreciation of the world. Indeed, according to the Flinders University's Education and Research Policy 2000, Flinders courses are expected to include reference to generic capabilities that are to be gained as well as reference to the capabilities associated with individual disciplines. Transferable skills are also valued highly and expected of graduates by employers.

FOR INFORMATION ON developing your academic and learning skills
REFER TO: the University's Student Learning Centre
GO TO: http://www.flinders.edu.au/SLC/

What do employers say about transferable skills?

Employers often differ as to the skills they expect of graduates as well as the way they prioritise those skills. Many major employers also have their own competency-based system for recruitment, in-house training and promotion decisions. For example, in its recruitment and promotion decisions, one large, well-known firm operating in Australia focuses on six 'Personal Qualities', in particular:

personal impact. This means having presence and credibility, making a strong impact, being good with words, and having polished communication skills and influence.
relating to people. Are you an effective relationship builder and networker, who can empathise, consult, listen, respect, give consideration, use tact and diplomacy, who can promote consensus and is concerned about team spirit?
self motivation. The self-motivated person is someone who readily tackles demanding tasks, willingly offers to get involved, and seeks out new/extra responsibilities.
quality orientation. Are you someone who takes pride in the quality of your work and are seen by others to have integrity and business ethics?
Adaptability. This refers to the ability to respond appropriately to continually changing circumstances. It suggests a person who welcomes suggestions for doing things differently and is regarded by others as being open to change.
Resilience. This means being able to cope with stress, work under pressure, show stamina and tenacity whilst remaining stays cool headed.
TO FIND OUT about how employers surveyed in 1998 perceived and rated the 17 skills and attributes expected of Flinders Graduates
GO TO: http://planning.reg.flinders.edu.au
Then Click on 'surveys', then 'Graduate Employers Survey 1998'. Employer perceptions of graduate workplace skills can be found from pp. 13-26.

FOR MORE INFORMATION on the skills employers want, how to increase your skills, you will find it useful to refer to Careers Centre web site: http://www.flinders.edu.au/careers/
Click on: 'Developing workplace skills' - to find out: What skills do employers want? How can I increase my workplace skills? Flinders Leadership Skills Program and WorkReady (which is designed to prepare Flinders graduates for employment by complementing their degree with real world experience).
Click on: 'Students' then under Recruitment Information, click on the Graduate Profile link - to find: some profile examples of Flinders graduates who discuss their experiences in seeking employment. Many of these examples highlight the fact that employers are looking for things like your communication skills, how you would handle people and your life experiences. As they make clear, your extracurricular activities are just as important for your skills development as your curricular.

What transferable skills do you have?

You may be one of those fortunate people who has a well-developed sense of your own abilities and the ability to make those known to other people. However, because transferable skills are often developed implicitly within university topics, some students and graduates do not realise the extent to which they have developed skills through study and other aspects of university life (e.g. part-time work, extracurricular activities). Very often, this problem becomes most evident when graduates respond to requests for information from prospective employers at the end of their studies.

The transferable skills portfolio project is about resolving that problem.