Transferable Skills in Your Résumé when Changing Careers

Last month's résumé tip explained how to identify skills from your current work that are transferable to your future career path. This month's tip shows how to portray those skills once you have identified them.

Although it's a simple process, there are two key, must-have components to highlighting transferable skills.

Clearly state the skill you are aiming to portray.
Use a specific anecdote or accomplishment to demonstrate that you have that skill.

The first point might not be so important if you weren't changing directions - if an investment bank financial analyst aiming to move to private equity mentions financial modeling in her résumé, the message about quantitative skills is obvious. But if you're a consultant seeking a career in finance and mention projecting clients' future HR costs in your résumé, the reader may not think "quant" unless you explicitly point it out: "Accurately determined client's HR expenses over 5-year time frame by applying X and Y analytic techniques."

The second point adds both interest and credibility to the résumé.

Below are two more examples of how to use this approach.

Assistant manager of pharmaceutical product development seeking to pursue a career as a physician - skill is communicating technical information to non-specialists: "Held bi-weekly meetings to brief marketing managers on status of XYZ drug development, explaining in layperson's terms anticipated benefits and objective comparisons with competitive products; marketing managers seamlessly integrated information into strategies/plans, leading to 4% increase in market share in first 6 months on market."
High school teacher seeking to pursue a career in law - skill in synthesizing information from disparate sources to draw conclusion: "Adapted calculus curriculum based on analysis of varied data sources including student records, pedagogical studies, and other teachers' experience, resulting in 80% of AP calculus students earning a 4 or 5 on the national Advanced Placement exam."

By approaching your transferable skills in this way, you will help your résumé readers see the value of your past experience in your desired new role, even though you have to learn the nuts-and-bolts in your graduate program.