Build Your Resume: Mining Your Transferable Skills TOOL

Your story is unique!

Building Your Transferable Skill List for Resumes

I’ve heard it many times before…

“What would I have to offer if I didn’t do this work that I’ve always done.”

“I’ve been in ____field, doing ____type of work, for the last 10, 20, or 40 years. I can’t start over at this point.”

Hearing “I have nothing to offer” is a limiting belief that stirs emotions deep inside of me. It calls forth the exhorter in me and reminds me of the passion to catalyze others creativity and unique calling in the world.

Without even knowing you, I am certain that you have a lot to give! You have a unique fingerprint in the world. Your life matters and what you do matters!   

Finding the right people, the right organization or the right team that value you, is your ultimate mission. Acknowledging the limiting beliefs that keep you from living into your fulfillment is a necessary part of vocational discernment.

If I could sit down with each person that I hear a similar sentiment from, I would do two things: First I’d listen to their life, their passions and their talents. And secondly I’d ask, who or what was impacted because of what they’ve done? I would want to affirm that they matter and that what they have done is important.  

When we’re in the trenches of our own stories, often feeling overwhelmed in the midst of transition, and lacking affirmation it is easy to forget where we’ve come from. Perspective is the number one thing that is needed in these times. A way to gain leverage and a new viewpoint to be able to see what is true, good, notable, praiseworthy from our lives. Perspective in these times is often found in others. That’s one of the primary roles I play with people.  

For just one hour, I challenge you to set aside the notion that “I have nothing to offer the world, if I’m not doing x”.

Whether a pastor, a mom, a non-profit worker, we all have many skills that we have done in the past, in a specific way for a unique purpose.

Here’s the formula:

Learned, applied and enjoyed skill +

Environment (Specific way = people, things, ideas & information) +

Quantity of time/Unique purpose (verb + object + adjective) =

Transferable Skill

In writing a resume we want you to draw on your experience to create your future.  Identifying these skills that you had that are able to be transferred into a new role in the future, regardless of the organization, is the goal.

While you don’t want to exaggerate or minimize the work you’ve done, this is your chance to highlight the unique skillset that you have. These transferable skills lists will give a future employer an opportunity to better understand what you have to bring to a new company. This process will also serve as an exercise in self awareness highlighting for you the contributions you have made thus far as well as start to point you in the direction of what you want to do more of.

Mining your Transferable Skills

~60 minutes

Goal: Let your history speak new life into your future. Mine the value of previously-held roles to determine transferable skills for a resume and future job.

Part I – Mind Mapping Skills

1.     Consider the last 10 years of your life. Brainstorm the jobs you’ve had and roles you filled during this duration.*

2.     In the center of each circle, list the job titles you’ve had. (i.e. waitress, teacher, pastor, writer, mom)

3.     Starting with your favorite role, brainstorm which skills you had to use within that role. See skill verbiage list below. Ask yourself this one question: What are the verbs, the actions that you performed this week?

4.     Creating lines from each circle, consider all the work that you did in that particular role. Using action words, break down the list of jobs (i.e. execute, serve, deliver, administer, create).

5.     Go back and cross out action verbs you disliked and circle words you liked and desire to do more of. (i.e. execute, serve, deliver, administer, create).

6.     Continue to expand on the role you enjoyed most. Using a thesaurus or a brainstorm of words (see below), let the action words represent you best. (i.e. teaching = adapted, advised, coordinated, communicated, developed, evaluated, guided, informed, instructed, persuaded, etc.). The more descriptive you can be the more user friendly words you’ll have for the next steps.

* If you were without work or in a role that was unfulfilling, consider a longer period of time than stated above.

Congratulations, you have just completed the first stage of understanding your transferable skill set for resume building

Part II – Environment = Who or What was impacted?

While identifying our skill set is challenging, moreso than that is the ability to recognize how and where to use this treasure chest of unique-to-me gifts.

The next step in understanding your transferable skills is to ask, who or what was impacted?

Go back over the skills that you enjoyed and create new lines branching from those skills and add THE OBJECT of the skill. (i.e. Children, cross-cultural workers, animals, a completed book, a clean closet, a fixed car).

What we’re looking for is not a single item or time that you performed a skill. We’re searching for the list that makes you stand out in a crowd. Consdier what you did many times, in an extraordinary way, with incredible results.

I.e. I made ice cream (Kindof neat but not that unusual). I made ice cream every weekend for 2 years for 100 people. (That’s a lot of time and a lot of mouths but I want more details!) I created 25 new flavors of ice cream over the course of 2 years for more than 100 people. (That’s impressive and not something I’ve ever done!). Bonus: List your top three hot sellers!

Part III – Quantity/Unique Purpose

Finally, how often or how many times did you do x skill? We’re looking for the quantifiable results of what you have done.  What change took place? What value was gained in the world because of your contribution?

Examples:

*Organized fundraising events for 5 non-profits over 10 years, raising over 1 million dollars in donations.

*Educated 3500 university students in East Africa, during the course of 12 years on issues of social injustice towards women

*Coached over 1000 people to complete their sabbatical over the course of 10 years
*Assessed vocational fit utilizing mid-career assessment tools I co-created
*Hosted over 300 global workers in our home for a total of 30000 hours of rest and recooperation

Which of these stand out to you? What questions would you ask if you were the interviewer?

A few things to consider:

Don’t get caught up in the minute details of numbers of for example, how often or how many. Go with the information that you know or the most accurate understanding of how you functioned in a given role. Most important is what you did and secondarily is how you did it. Keep the information accurate and be willing to give a reference for several of these transferable skills. Someone who can validate your experience.  

Note: If you’re over 40 you should have a long list to chose from. They may not all be in the same line of work. They may not make sense in light of what you might want to do. 

I recall a story of a friend of mine who graduated college with a degree in Engineering. He and I had worked as servers at a local restaurant together. When he went to interview for engineering jobs, they were incredibly impressed that he had relational skills gained from the service industry. Inevitably he got the job. Maybe in part by his engineering experience, but I would guess because he included other transferable skills such as conflict resolution learned during his years of service outside of engineering.

Note: If you’re under 40, you may have to expand on some of the details further or consider the same role and different angles based on the type of work you’re looking to fill.

Top tip!: When you’re creating a resume, you will want to choose from your longer list the skills that are relevant from your past that you want to transfer to a new role. This may seem counter-intuitive to the way resumes were written in the past, because it is. Hiring committees and HR departments are looking for you to shine and stand out apart from the stack of other applicants. The approach of using transferable skills will allow them to converse with you on a relatable basis. Trust me, you will stand out.

Making Furloughs Fun for Everyone: Think outside the Meeting Box

Are you dreading the idea of being gone for multiple months from your current context? The thought of packing and re-packing can be such a daunting endeavor that it keeps us from the enjoyment and gift that furloughs (i.e. home assignment not sabbatical) can be. Although there are often an unending checklist of details to attend to, might I suggest starting with the positive?

What if instead of the dread, the feelings were replaced with anticipation over what could come? Imagine your kids or yourself at the end of the time saying “I love being on furlough” and you not feeling exhausted. What would it take to get there?

Here are a few creative thoughts not just for families or kids but for the tired overseas worker that wants to maximize and enjoy their furlough. A fun and less exhausting one that serves as a filling up of your tank as you return.

1.    Think outside the primary reason you’re there - meetings! Create a furlough bucket-list! Start by asking each individual (or yourself) what is one fun thing that he/she would like to do while you’re away. Skies the limit for now. This may take doing a little research of what there is to do in the areas you’re visiting or could be very basic.

Start by brainstorming a list, then narrow it down to 3-5 and then 1 solid and important choice per person. Others may feel inspired by sharing out loud the creative options of wanting to go horse-back riding, doing a park tour through each city, getting an autograph of every person met or traveling through a beloved foreign city on the return trip.

One year when we were planning to be in 4 states and 9 cities, with a two-year old and six year-old we each chose one thing we wanted to do in the city: Try the ice cream, go for a walk, see the moon and constellations from the unique point of earth we were on! You’ll be amazed at the ideas not to mention the joy of conversing about the possibilities in preparation for your arrival!

2.    Think creatively about setting. Where we are meeting people is not limited to a restaurant or cafe. We often suggest meeting at a park or beach or even museum. Inviting people to a park is a much more casual and neutral space that requires less of everyone. For us as a family, this option allows us to play with our children and include them once again. Our kids have many positive memories of meeting people at the beach and parks, where otherwise they may have been bored out of their minds!

3.    Engage in physical activities with donors or friends. When we started planning our calendar with this in mind, the joy of furlough possibilities returned. We hated how we seemed to gain weight upon return. The idea of another coffee or meal made my stomach hurt just thinking about it. However, the idea of a walk on the beach, a stroll through a new neighborhood or a hike together with supporters felt much more energizing. Teach us to play paddle!! It was so good for us, our children and those who we were meeting with. Meeting and walking isn’t a new concept, sometimes it just takes a little more intentionality to consider time of day, ability to talk, and what is needed to maximize this time. This allowed for bonding and connection in a much more organic way, as well.

4.    There just are times when we can’t (or choose not to) bring our children to a meeting. Set up fun play dates with local kids and families. This is a tremendous support gift from local supporters or grandparents and practical way that people can help. As well our kids remember the families that support us through the children they enjoyed, even in our absence. Often, our furloughs looked very different from theirs. Elements of connection to our home country ignited delight in them for future returns, which is what we hoped for.

5.   Speaking of no children…Host a coffee shop “open house”. When we land in an area we typically start with this as a priority. We will set up “office hours” for several hours at a local coffee shop and let everyone in the area know where we’ll be. We try to meet where people can drop in during a 3-4 hour window (late lunch hour is good at a self-serve cafe). This is a fun way to see lots of different people, as well have your worlds integrate a bit. Simultaneously, this takes some of the scheduling pressure off of you. And as an introvert this idea is much easier for me than packing a schedule back-to-back with individual meetings and once again getting in the car.

6. When we are all together as a family we try to not both be pulled into the same conversation. If one of us can solely attend to the children we try to think of creative games we can do in a coffee shop or restaurant or a bus or airplane. One of our favorites is the “who can get the most waves” game. You know it! Every person playing, waves at strangers trying to get waves (or smiles) in return. Talley the points. As an adult, this is one game you are CERTAIN to lose (waving and suspiciously smiling adults get fun looks though - bonus points!) We have hilarious memories sitting in the window of coffee shops around the world trying to make people laugh or smile or wave. It’s a day brightener for everyone especially us!

7.    Give your kids a scavenger hunt of things to find from their seat or window (let’s be honest we sit way more than any of us benefit from) – whether a restaurant, coffee shop or car, have the kids create a scavenger list of what to find: Person with glasses, child crying, strange hat, someone who looks like they’re having a good day, colored hair, best tattoo, etc. These can be made up on the spot by you or children. Sure this may only take 20-30 minutes in total, but it can also spur on interesting conversations about culture similarities and differences.

8.    Enjoy the Journey. Plan a side trip wherever you may end up. As global workers one of the perks we’ve enjoyed as a family is the ability to make memories en-route to our destination. SIDE TRIP!: that trip within the greater trip. Sometimes unintentional, sometimes planned. Needing to go on furlough has afforded us stop-overs that turned into stay-overs at unique and amazing destinations. For the cost of transportation out of the airport and possibly one or two night’s stay, you can make incredible memories in beautiful destinations around the globe. This is surely a gift of being globally mobile.

9.    Get out in nature by yourself. There isn’t a country on earth that God did not bless with some incredible & unique landscape. It may look like desert or it may look like marsh, but nonetheless, getting out into nature and engaging in the unique eco-systems of the world is an incredible way to declutter your thoughts and connect with your creative brain. We try to set aside one day a week for this necessary outlet as individual adults to get alone time and just our family We have managed to make this a priority by taking turns and limiting our morning commitments.

10.    Be intent to try the local food. From Louisiana creole to Minnesota hotdish, not every meal needs to be pizza or hamburgers (thinking US-based here.) If people invite you over, ask what their favorite local dish is and offer to join them in preparing it or teach them a fun recipe you miss. Suggest something like, “I’ve heard there are really delicious ____here. By any chance do you know how to make them?” Learning a new recipe and eating new food is both a memorable way of engaging with people as well as the culture. 

11.  As well, you can reciprocate and bring the cuisine from your serving country and teach others how to make it. (Lesson learned: just keep it simple and make sure it’s not too exhausting of a task for you to make or carry unique ingredients for).

12.  Make a smash journal. I despise clutter, and struggle with the amazingly well-intentioned outpouring of gifts to my children by my lovely US-based family. Once we had the idea as a family to “collect” memories along the way through a smash journal It became our intentional down time together as a family on a routine basis (note: not every night!). We made space to “create” these little memory books in the form of a journal with everything imaginable stuck inside: Tickets, receipts, napkins and flyers instantly became more valuable than toys. This was a delightful way for each person to have something tangible from their trip, personalize their experience and remember their “highs and lows” from the trip using their own unique way of expressing it. As well minimized the need for extra storage or travel space on our return.

13.  Take a picture of every bed you have slept in or car you drove or person you met with! This might sound strange or bizarre, but it’s memorable. (Dogs is another option my kids loved!) However, for us, this cataloging is another memory-building exercise. Sometimes the pictures validate the wonder of exhaustion or serve as an understanding of your reason for chiropractor care! And sometimes they act as a memory trigger of the beautiful space that was created on our behalf. We have incredible memories of people who loved us so well in ways we never asked for!

Getting kids involved from the beginning with the planning can give furlough an incredible boost instead of a bore. Be creative and think outside the box. You’re sure to make incredible memories that only other global workers truly understand. But don’t feel like this is a checklist. Make this your own and then in the end, be flexible and spontaneous present to whoever the Father wants to put before you. Truly pray for this time to be the gift it was intended for.

What other ideas have you thought of? What has worked and not worked?