Transferable Skills for Liberal Arts Students
Through your various work, volunteer, classroom, and extracurricular experiences, you have amassed a number of transferable skills that provide you the ability to be successful in other pursuits. Transferable skills are the foundation of how you market yourself for other opportunities. Indeed, applications are less about what experiences you have had and more about the skills you have gained through those experiences and how you will apply them.
Transferable skills can be labeled as “soft” or “hard.” Soft skills are those that depend on interpersonal interactions and emotional intelligence, such as communication, adaptability, or problem solving. Hard skills are technical, industry-specific skills such as C++, lab equipment, operation, or grant writing.
These nine topics are designed to help you determine that transferable skills you might already have and those that you want to develop. These can be helpful to review when writing or revising your résumé and cover letters.
- Identify the primary issues for making a decision or solving a problem quickly and accurately
- Define the parameters of a problem
- Find and identify a principle that explains experiences or factual data
- Take premises and reasoning to a logical conclusion
- Adapt concepts and behaviors to changing conventions and norms
- Create innovative solutions to complex problems
- Analyze interrelationships of events and ideas from several perspectives
- Analyze tasks and set priorities
- Include others who will contribute to the solution of a problem or task
- Identify resources and materials useful in the solution of a problem
- Delegate responsibility for the completion of a task
- Motivate and lead others
- Organize people and tasks to achieve specific goals
- Lead groups of diverse people
- Create environments for fostering growth
- Make decisions that will maximize both individual and collective good
- Assess a course of action in terms of long-range effects
- Appreciate the contributions of art, music, literature, and science to contemporary society
- Identify one’s own values
- Assess one’s values in relation to important life decisions
- Recognize when to stop a project due to diminishing returns
- Identify problems and needs
- Use a variety of sources for information and evaluate the validity of sources
- Design an experiment, plan or model to define a problem
- Apply a variety of methods to test validity of data
- Formulate questions relevant for clarification
- Assess needs
- Identify alternatives
- Set goals and prioritize
- Follow through
- Predict future patterns
- Accommodate multiple demands for time, energy and resources
- Sort data and objects
- Compile and rank information
- Apply information creatively
- Synthesize facts, concepts and principles
- Understand and use organizing principles
- Evaluate information against appropriate standards
- Keep group on track toward a common goal
- Maintain group cooperation and support
- Interact effectively with peers, supervisors and supervisees
- Express feelings appropriately
- Respect the feelings of others
- Make a commitment to others and follow through
- Take appropriate risks
- Teach a skill, concept or principle to others
- Analyze behavior of self and others in group situations
- Demonstrate effective behavior in multiple situations
- Display appreciation for diversity
- Listen with objectivity
- Paraphrase content
- Use various forms and styles of written communication
- Speak effectively to individuals and groups
- Use a variety of media formats to present information
- Express needs, wants, opinions, and preferences without violating the rights of others
- Identify and communicate value judgments effectively
- Describe objects or events neutrally and factually
- Convey a positive outlook to others
- Communicate a multicultural understanding
- Identify strengths and weaknesses
- Analyze and learn from experience
- Transfer skills developed in one environment to another
- Match personal characteristics and skills to information about jobs and careers
- Develop personal growth goals that motivate action
- Accept and learn from criticism
- Generate trust and confidence in others
- Take risks
- Accept the consequences of actions
- Identify own cultures, beliefs and values