Transferable skills perk up your chances of career success

· What would be your reaction if you were told to meet a high end personality, interaction with whom was hitherto fore done by the CEO of your company?  

· Do you communicate whatever you want to effectually or do you fumble?

· If a balance sheet was made available to you for perusal, will you be able to understand the financial health of a company?

· Can you enlighten a non-technical man about an intricate or technical issue in simple, lay man language?

· Will you be able to render first aid to somebody who faints while standing?

When people embark on their careers, they are more or less convinced that their qualifications are the only things that will matter. Well, academic qualifications are tickets to impressive jobs, but it is not knowledge by itself that expedites your career progress. You may have an excellent network, but again the people you know may not be facilitators of your career success.

Today, quite a few organisations are invariably on the lookout for people who besides discharging their individual responsibilities, are able to gel with others at workplace and function meritoriously. The importance of smaller issues matter a lot and this aspect assumes greater significance as one keeps advancing in the career journey. Smaller issues generally imply certain essential skills that are germane to a horde of circumstances and work, but are generally disregarded by us. Such skills are what are known as transferable skills.

Most transferable skills get to be acquired with experience, though some can be ingrained through learning. Are there any courses that teach you how to preside over a conference or a seminar? Do you have any institutions that coach you to make your customers feel comfortable so that you can sell your products? How do you acquire the necessary expertise to ensure that your subordinates remain pepped up? It is you who has to learn all by yourself more about communications, hiring processes and crises management. And if you aspire for a successful career, there is no short cut to it and you can do so by developing transferable skills. Different transferable skills are:

· Rendition of reports.

· Negotiation skills.

· Verbal communication skills, including speaking over the telephone.

· Comprehending financial aspects of a case.

· Handling an interview.

· Client dealings.

· Undertaking routine organisational work.

· Making financial arrangements for various projects.

· Planning, accounting and costing.

· Suppleness, tractability and manipulability of approach.

· Headship qualities.

The above qualities are seemingly a mixed bunch of goings-on that entail apparently inconsequential expertise but otherwise hobnob with other significant pursuits. Yet they have great applicability and consequence. To illustrate the point, replacing the fuse in an electronic gadget and making a draft operational plan are both equally crucial skills for the smooth management of any establishment. 

Amongst all the skills listed above, it is the communication skills that are specifically vital. Quite a few people fail, and fail miserably when they are required to communicate with others. They attempt to elucidate issues but miss out on major issues. Their written reports leave much to be desired, in that, they lack head and tail; and are replete with grammatical errors. In most circumstances, people also fail to gauge other people for their erudition or capability and thus adopt an inappropriate communication style.  

There are some career courses that are well-focussed and have a rather strong component of expediency and sensibleness, towards some of these skills. Such courses train candidates in practical approaches. But most training courses do not gear candidates to face challenges and work without fear so that they are responsible for their own progress. The foregoing notwithstanding, most people already possess some such skills and hence, they take note of them and take necessary action to improve upon them. It is only then that one can convey to others his or her true competences.

In the present day age of high employment costs and progress, your transferable skills serve to maintain your PR, give a boost to promoting yourself and facilitate taking up any new responsibility. You may not realise it, but you will have highly valuable skill sets that can be put to use at any workplace. In fact, your transferable skills are a catalogue of your assets that that will make certain your professional resilience as also the robustness and longevity of your career. In the long term, your transferable skills ensure that you are not rendered professionally redundant. In other words, your transferable skills perk up your chances of career success.