Transferable skills refer to general skills that can be applied to many aspects of life – whether it is employment, starting a business, or home life and hobbies. Many of these skills you will develop through day to day and through your course but there is also specific support from the University on many of these.
According to the World Economic Forum’s “Future of Jobs Report 2025” - top transferable skills looked for by employees
Analytical thinking;
Resilience, flexibility and adaptability;
Leadership & social influence;
Creative Thinking;
Motivation & Self-awareness;
Technological Literacy;
Empathy & Active Listening;
Curiosity & Lifelong Learning;
Talent Management;
Service Orientation and Customer Service
As you can see – many of these skills will apply to your studies here at university – or even in your personal life. Building a transferable skill set which remains valuable despite changes to job specifics, allows us to pivot and explore alternative roles or upskill in areas we had not previously considered. You will already have some skills in each of these areas, but they are areas you can continually develop. You can find more on strengths, and creating a strengths profile under Adaptability
Personal branding is not about pretending to be someone else, or something you are not. A brand is what people think about a company or person. Branding is managing what it is they think. Personal Branding is about presenting who you are, and what you want to be known for. This might be on platforms such as LinkedIn or while networking. It should resonate with the people you connect with so that what they think matches what you are communicating. By being authentic, and true to yourself you will be able to create closer, emotional connections.
Any brand – whether it is a business brand or a personal brand – becomes a shortcut in peoples mind as to who you are, and what you do – so developing your own personal brand, will aid you in making connections and building a network.
You can use Creating a vision as the basis for creating your own personal brand. By identifying :
Who are you?
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
Why do you do what you do?
Why does it matter to you?
Why does it matter to your audience?
By answering these questions for yourself, you will be able to present yourself in a way that is true to you, memorable to the people you are interacting with. You can go through it fully – and identify and write out a Purpose, and a Vision statement, but ultimately it is about being aware of yourself. What matters to you, and how you present that.
Building your professional network can be invaluable. Networks are all about building relationships from where you can learn, get advice, share your own journey, gain employment, or get involved in starting your own business. Building networks also help develop social and cultural capital which can be useful when dealing with anticipated and unanticipated changes and increase an individual's ability to take advantage of unplanned opportunities (Krumboltz, J. D. (2009).
It is not just a case of gaining connections. Often the true value of networks you create come from what you can offer to them – and that becomes reciprocal. You may support someone in your network who, further down the line offer you support when you need it. People genuinely want to help. You must actively engage and nurture your connections as you would in any relationship. It is not about asking for a job (not all the time anyway)! And different types of network, will have slightly different purposes. For example, different types of networks that you will develop during your studies and career might include:
Peer network: This is a network of people who share similar roles to yourself (or where you would like to be). In this network you are looking to build connections and relationships of mutual learning and support.
Career network: Career networks consist of people and companies who are relevant to your career and its progression. These might be managers, people in HR, or people who work at companies you would like to work for. Again, this is about building relationships but here you may also see if there are any openings, or share your CV.
Client network: Should you go into business yourself you will look to create networks of clients. This may be Business to Business (B2B) or Business to Consumer (B2C). These networks may differ slightly in your approach and platform.
References
Krumboltz, J. D. (2009) T'he Happenstance Learning Theory', Journal of Career Assessment, 17(2), pp. 135-154.