Change is our new normal as are systemic people shortages across many industries. Transferable or soft skills are becoming highly prized by employers and in a marketplace where the demand for hard skills is constantly changing this is seen as a smart hiring practice.
Hard and technical skills can be taught but what makes any employee truly great is their soft skills. Skills that cannot be taught but are embedded into a person’s DNA. Soft skills like flexibility, adaptability, team work, resilience, conflict resolution and problem solving are skills that cannot be taught.
Employing people who have a depth of soft skills means you’re able to draw from a pool of people well beyond those traditionally associated with a particular industry. And that’s likely to make your organisation a robust, diverse and innovative place to work.
It is rare these days to find people who are the perfect fit for any job. A person taking on the exciting challenge of re-careering can bring a fresh perspective to the position that you weren’t expecting. When reviewing a resume if you look beyond a job title and responsibilities and focus on people who have developed transferable skills a diverse range of potentials appear.
Training people with good transferable skills has its challenges but I believe it is well worth persevering. Transferable skills enable employers to have an agile and adaptable workforce. When we are open to hiring people who may be underqualified on paper yet possess some essential transferable soft skills benefits can include productivity gains, better teamwork, and future proofing our workforce. Hiring for transferable skills has the potential to transform not only individual’s careers but entire organisations.
