Identifying And Making The Most Of Your Transferable Skills

Many times, when we're applying for jobs, we think about how our skills relate specifically to the position we desire. There's no doubt that it's important to show that you already have experience and qualify for the position you want. However, if you're trying to switch careers, you may not have this luxury.

How then do you still apply for a position that you have little or no prior experience doing? You can identify your transferable skills, or those skills that would be valuable to an employer even if those skills are not directly related to the job you're seeking. Here are some ways to identify and make the most of them those skills.

Think of Your Favorite Accomplishments

Most likely, when you're thinking of switching careers, you're moving toward something you would love to do versus something you think you have to do. This is why it's a good idea to think of your favorite accomplishments as you seek your transferable skills. What are you good at doing that simultaneously makes you happy?

Are you a master organizer whose organizational skills changed the face of a company? Did you give a speech at a non-profit in your spare time that touched the lives of numerous children? Whatever you're really good at that makes you happy should be your centerpiece when identifying your transferable skills because you'll be openly passionate about it as you approach employers in your new field or industry.

Pinpoint Skills for Each Position You Apply For

What you'll probably notice as you identify transferable skills and try to apply them to different positions is that varying skills will deem themselves relevant. For instance, if you're a former travel agent and you've decided that you want to become a writer, you might find that one of your transferable skills may be travel, especially if you apply for travel writing positions. In other words, while you may not have extensive writing experience, noting your knowledge of the world-at-large may work in your favor.

On the other hand, you might be able to apply for the same travel writing position, having been a waitress, if you highlight your extensive list of personal travels throughout your life along with your passion for keeping a vivid, well-written journal. While this transferable skill isn't professional per se, it may be help you get the job. One of your duties when identifying your transferable skills is to determine exactly what the employer is looking for to help you determine just what you can offer them as an employee, so keep this in mind as you apply.

It may seem somewhat intimidating to try to apply for a job when it seems that you have no direct experience relevant to the position. However, many employers will take strides to train you when once you're hired whether you have relevant experience or not. So don't let a lack of experience deter you from pursuing your dream. If you can exhibit a basic understanding of the position by highlighting your transferable skills, you may just surprise yourself by being hired for the very position you desire.

Heather Eagar is a former professional resume writer and is passionate about providing working professionals with current, reliable and effective job search tools and information.

Build a career portfolio to highlight your accomplishments

By Douglas E. Welch, Tech Republic

Gathering evidence of your day-to-day successes on the help desk can help you promote your career. Take the advice of one contributor and build a career portfolio to showcase your recognitions and achievements.

Conventional wisdom says that to have a good career, whether manning the help desk or sitting in a call center, it is best to keep your head down and not make waves. Although I would question whether this was ever wise, in today's economy, it is almost a sure way to end up at the unemployment office.

If you want to have a long and satisfying technology career, you need to ensure that you get the recognition you deserve. Then, you need to develop a career portfolio to highlight your successes. When performance reviews, layoffs, and promotions come around, you will be well positioned and prepared for anything that comes your way.

Make your name known
To build recognition in your company, one of your first actions should be to take credit for the work you do. Have you produced a report for your manager or upper management executives? Did you recently solve a major problem that can help all of your clients? Did you create a program that reduces purchasing time by 50 percent? Did you make sure to include your name, phone number, and e-mail on the report or in the program? Your name doesn't have to be in 72-point type or flash on the screen every 15 seconds, but it should be there.

Do you have a corporate-wide information system to help you and your peers manage the help desk? Are you entering your most important calls and solutions into this system? If so, be sure that the system clearly marks the origin of the information and how to contact you with further questions. Not only are you being a good coworker by sharing your information, but people will learn that you are also a great source of information in the future.

Take pride in your work
I once had an art coach who explained to me the importance of signing your work, regardless of whether you thought of yourself as an artist. Signing your work demonstrates a certain amount of pride in your work and shows that you find it important and worthwhile. If you don't take your work seriously, why should anyone else?

Of course, the importance of taking credit for your work goes far beyond personal satisfaction. First, it gives readers or users a place to call if they have questions about the report or program or any of the assumptions used in creating it. Second, it places your name in front of people who might otherwise never see it. As a tech worker, it's easy to become anonymous within your own company. You are either locked away in the call center all day, away from other workers, or, if you do on-site support, you appear, do your magic, and then disappear. Taking credit for your work is one way to avoid this trap.

Make sure callers know your name and how to contact you directly, if your company allows this. Leave your business card or other leave-behind material with each user you assist. Let users know that they can contact you directly, if needed. Do everything you can to personalise your service so that your users know who is directly responsible for helping them.

Take on special projects
Another way to raise your profile is to take on special projects such as organising a technology open house, brown bag lunch training sessions, or other events for your department. To produce such events, you will need to work with colleagues in your own and other departments, again making your name known outside your own department.

Taking a role in promoting your own career can be particularly important when the layoff specter raises its ugly head. Managers always find it more difficult to downsize those people they know wellâ€"especially those who've played an active role in the company. Standing above the crowd may help you survive the tough times that can occur in any company.

Keep track of the praise you receive
If you have worked in support for any length of time, you have probably received the occasional kudos from your manager or clients. You need to make an effort to actively collect these examples of praise.

Did you recently recover a collection of files for the accounting department, make a recalcitrant printer function, or install new software for an entire business unit? If people have offered verbal praise to you, gently ask them if they would mind putting their praise in an e-mail or memo to you and your manager. If you spent longer on the phone than normal to solve a particularly nasty problem, ask the client whether they might e-mail a note to your supervisor. It never hurts to ask, and in most cases, you will find that these happy people are more than willing to comply.

As you build your technology career, it is also important to request letters of recommendation from anyone who appreciates your work, not just your immediate supervisors or managers. Collect these letters as soon as possible after a particularly good experience so that it is fresh in the person's mind. Letters of recommendation are extremely important since they show significant appreciation for your work. These people are making the ultimate gesture by putting their reputation on the line for you, and almost everyone will recognise the strength of these personal recommendations.

Build a career portfolio
Once you've started collecting this material, you need a place to store it so you can make use of it in the future. You might think that portfolios are the domain of artists, but everyone should have a career portfolio that can be used in a variety of situations.

If you are currently employed, your career portfolio will be a fine companion during your regular performance reviews. Nothing is more impressive than being able to cite specific examples of the good work you have done, including personal notes of praise from those involved. You can also include past performance evaluations in your portfolio, so that you can demonstrate how you have achieved the goals you created with your manager during your last meeting. You should document any projects you are working on and their current status. This allows you to easily lay out a comprehensive overview of your work during the previous year. Performance reviews can be one of the most stressful professional events, but your career portfolio will go a long way toward alleviating this stress.

Your portfolio can be even more important if you are looking, or thinking of looking, for a new job. Everyone should be prepared for a job search at any time. Companies rise and fall. Technologies come and go. You never know when you may find yourself looking for a new or better position. A well-maintained portfolio will help you make a good impression on interviewers.

Keep your portfolio up to date, as you never know when you might need it. You might even want to develop several copies of the portfolio if you are engaged in talks with several companies. This will allow you to leave your portfolio with the interviewer to share with others.

Along with your resume, include copies of letters of recommendation and the more informal examples of praise mentioned above. You might also want to include descriptions of important projects, difficult support situations and their solutions, and anything else that helps to convey the nature of your work.

Most importantly, you should always be on the lookout for good stories about your career. Perhaps there was the troublesome employee you were able to convert into one of your best users. Maybe you developed an ad hoc system that helped a particular department be more productive without additional budget. Putting these stories in writing can help you to better present them in an interview situation.

It's up to you
The most important thing for you to remember is this: No one is going to swoop down and pull you out the anonymity of your help desk or call center cubicle. It is up to you to develop and promote your own career, document your success (and good failure) stories, and build your career portfolio. You are the only person who is truly interested in promoting your work. It is up to you to honk your own horn, stand above the crowd, and get the recognition you deserve.

Top Interview Mistakes

I love job interviews - JUST KIDDING. Do you ever wonder if people who say they like job interviews are a little crazy? Who really likes them? Apparently some people. Whether you like to interview or not, chances are you might have to given the nature of Britain's economy.

Your performance on a job interview will obviously determine whether or not you get hired. Many of us leave interviews feeling like we did amazing and then never get the job. Why is this? It could be that someone better came along. Or, it might be that we did fine in the interview, however, we made common mistakes that ultimately ruined our chances at getting the job. What are these mistakes? And, how can you avoid doing them so you can ensure that you are chosen for the job instead of the other candidates?

One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to a job interview is "going with the flow." It is natural to assume that since you are not in control of the questions that you are not in control of the interview. This, however, is just not true. When you go with the flow, you often lose your chance to address important topics. Make sure that you know ahead of time what you want to tell the prospective employers. Then, during the interviews, use the questions to get those points across.

Also, when you are in an interview it is only natural that you will get to ask a few questions. The old saying, "there is no stupid questions," does not apply here. Do not ask the person interviewing you if they like their job. What if they hate it? You will obviously make them uncomfortable. Instead, ask insightful questions that pertain to the job.

Next, avoid the negative. You are trying to sell yourself in an interview. Paint yourself as positively as possible. Figure out how to answer each question to make you look better. And, if something comes up that you cannot answer or do not understand, use that to your advantage. Discuss your willingness to learn and your work ethic. Good companies are full of individuals who work hard and are willing to learn from each other.

Remember - be positive. There is nothing worse than someone who is negative or unsure of his or her abilities. Stay optimistic and the right job will be just around the corner!


Source>>

College and Career Search

Beta Launch Update

As of July 4th, 2009, we officially opened up the New and Improved Distinct Portfolios 'Beta' to you with so many new and amazing features! We wanted to give all of our users a quick update on these features and future additions currently in development:

• 2 more portfolio templates have be uploaded this week with 10 more in the works for launching this summer and fall.
  
• Email signature file creation has been integrated...very cool!
  
• Template customization feature is in the works and scheduled to launch mid August 2009.
• Form creation feature under development and scheduled to launch mid August 2009.
• Embed Code feature developed using AJAX, working well, and looks awesome!
• Export your portfolio to a CD/DVD (Virtual Business Card) is being tested and will be launched at the beginning of August 2009.
  
• Payment gateway for upgrading to premium memberships has been fully tested and is now activated.
• Upload CV feature has been added which works to add an additional area in certain portfolios for downloading resumes/CV's.
• All other features have been going through rigorous testing and appear to be running smooth.
  
• More in-depth demo currently in development which will give you a head-to-toe explanation of Distinct Portfolios and features.
• "Creating Your Portfolio 101" video in development to compliment DP's help library and support team.
• Integrating a Resume Builder for easy resume development within your digital portfolio.
• Building up Tips & Tricks section along with resume and cover letter examples for you to use as templates when developing your portfolio.
• And so much more that we will cover in future blog posts!!!
  
• We test (and will continue to test) all applications within the site daily to ensure a working and high quality product for you!

We have many more features in the development phase but would love to hear your thoughts on what you'd like to see...so if you think of anything, please contact us or email us at development@distinctportfolios.com.

Of course, check back with our blog and twitter account for information on new features, news, and more!

Preparing for a second job interview

If you've gotten through the first job interview and you're moving on toward the second one, the odds of being hired have just gone up. With that in mind, you really want to be prepared for that second job interview. The questions will be tougher and things will be more complex in a second interview. Make sure that you dress appropriately and that you are on time. You probably did that for the first interview, too, but make sure you do it for the second one, since that's likely going to be where the final decision is made about hiring you or hiring someone else who presented himself or herself better. If you find that you'll be late for your interview for any reason, call ahead. Let someone know. That's much more responsible than breezing in the door fifteen minutes after your scheduled appointment time and saying you're sorry you're late but traffic was bad, etc.

Another thing you should do is make sure you know about the company before you go to that second interview. You can't know everything, but you can Google the company and read what is said about it. You can visit its Website if it has one. You can also see if it has a Wikipedia entry. If it's a big company, it probably does - and some smaller companies do, too. While it's never wise to believe everything you read on the Internet, this kind of information will give you a lot of knowledge about the company overall, and you'll notice things that don't match up properly. If you've done anything very important in between a first and second interview, such as received an award or completed your degree, be sure to update your resume and bring the new one to your interview. There's no shame in letting your potential employer know that you're still moving forward with your goals. It shows your desire to work, and that's important. Ultimately, relax and be honest at a second interview. Think about what kind of salary you're really looking for, and know what's common for that position. You might be asked about it. Honest answers are very important for success.

More Awesome Templates Have Arrived

We've recently added 4 new awesome portfolio templates to the theme library...sign in or register to check them out in action: