Transferable Skills
 Developing training materials
that enhance and speed up
 Sensitivity to others
learning
 Treating people fairly
 Keeping classes interesting
 Listening intently
 Presenting interesting lectures
 Communicating warmth
 Creating the sense of being part
 Establishing rapport
of a caring group
 Understanding human behavior
 Assessing learning styles of
 Empathy
individuals and tailoring
 Tactfulness
training
 Cooperative team member
 Presenting written or spoken
 Avoiding stereotyping people
information in a logical step Feeling comfortable with
by-step fashion that builds a
different kinds of people
solid foundation for future
Training/Instructing Skills
 Fun person to work with
learning
 Treating others as equals
 Sensing when people aren’t
 Instilling the love of a subject
“getting” it
 Dealing effectively with
 Perceptively answering
conflict
 Being able to rephrase points so
questions
people “get” it
 Helping clarify
 Explaining difficult ideas and
misunderstandings

Quickly establishing rapport
concepts
with a group
 Creating an environment of
 Creating a stimulating learning
social interaction

Developing and effectively
environment
using audio-visual aids
Helping Skills  Enabling self-discover

Maintaining productive group
 Encouraging creativity
discussions
 Helping people
 Effectively using behavior
 Patient with difficult people
modification
Leadership Skills
 Responsive to people’s feelings  Teaching at the student’s or
 Leader
and needs
group’s level
 Motivating/Inspiring people
 Counseling/Empowering
 Training people at work
 Getting elected/getting selected
 Encouraging people
as a group leader
 Assisting people in making

People believe in you/trust you
decisions
Human Relations Skills
 Enhancing people’s self-esteem
 Working effectively with those
often ignored or considered
undesirable
 Letting people know you really
care about them
 People sense you feel what
they’re feeling
 Helping people help themselves
 Encouraging others to expand
and grow
 Facilitating self-assessment and
personal development
 Causing change
 Stirring people up
 Making difficult decisions
 People are motivated to follow
your lead and recommendations
 Fighting the establishment or
unfair policies
 Accepting responsibility for
failures
 Decisive in crisis situations
 Sound judgment in emergencies
 Settling disagreements
 Open to other people’s ideas
 A person of vision
 Getting others to share your
vision
 Recognizing the need for
change and willing to undertake
it
 Perceived as a person with high
integrity
 Recognizing windows of
opportunity
 Recognized as one worthy of
taking the lead
 Sensing when to compromise
and when to fight
 Reputation for being highly
reliable and taking on new
responsibilities
 Giving credit to others
Managing Skills  Making those above me look
good
 Seeing the big picture
 Getting people at all levels to
support and implement
 Completing projects on time
decisions which have come
 Setting priorities
down from the top
 Breaking through the red tape
 Implementing new programs
 Organizing projects and
 Working effectively with
programs
superiors and people in other
 Managing projects
work units
 Establishing effective
 Gaining the cooperation of
policies/procedures
people or groups even when not
 Negotiating and getting desired
possessing authority over them
results

Turning around negative
 Working closely and smoothly
situations
with others

Obtaining allies
 Gaining trust and respect of key
people
Supervising Skills
 Making effective
recommendations
 Getting maximum output from
 Anticipating problems and
people
issues and preparing
 Understanding human
alternatives
motivation
 Taking the initiative when
 Developing a team that truly
opportunity appears
works together
 Effectively overseeing a myriad
 Training and developing staff
of details
 Encouraging people to seek
 Handling details well without
personal and professional
losing sight of the big picture
growth
 Responsive to other’s needs
 Developing a smooth
 Finding and obtaining the
functioning organization
resources necessary for a task
 Effectively disciplining when
necessary
 Creating an environment for
people to trust and respect each
other
 Supervising difficult people
 Delegating work effectively
 Knowing the strengths and
weaknesses of others
 Consistently recruiting and
hiring good promotable people
 Holding profitable meetings
 Increasing morale
 Staying in touch/
Communicating with staff
 Mediating
 Effectively cross-training staff
 Encouraging people to want to
do their best
 Helping people become all they
are capable of
 Reducing turnover
 Minimizing complaining and
backbiting
 Getting people to change their
views on long-held beliefs
 Getting people to value
something not previously
valued
 Getting departments or
organizations to take desired
action
 Getting people/clients/
customers to reveal their needs
 Really listening to people and
sensing their true needs
 Developing a strong knowledge
base so questions can be
answered
 Selling yourself, products,
services, and ideas to others
 Closing a deal
 Gaining support from those
impacted by decisions/changes
 Helping people see the benefits
of a course of action
Persuading Skills
Speaking Skills
 Influencing others’ ideas and
attitudes
 Mediating between groups
 Obtaining consensus among
diverse groups
 Effectively selling ideas to top
people
 Holding the attention of a group
 Strong, pleasing voice
 Clear enunciation
 “Reading” a group
 Impromptu speaking
 Thinking quickly on your feet
 Telling stories
 Using humor
 Handling questions well
 Getting a group to relate to you
 Coming across as sincere and
spontaneous
 Making convincing arguments
 Providing clear explanations of
complex topics
 Presenting ideas in a logical,
integrated way
 Making decisions based on
numerical data
 Making rough calculations/
estimates in your mind
 Analyzing statistical data
 Learning office procedures
quickly
 Operating business machines
 Proofreading, correcting
 Conceiving and generating
ideas
 Improvising
 Innovative
 Creative
Mechanical and Tool Skills  Inventing
Office Skills
 Conceptualizing
 Inventing
 Synthesizing and borrowing
 Making arrangements
 Improvising with a machine or
ideas, and creating something
tool
 Scheduling
new
 Expediting
 Assembling/Building/Installing  Seeing the big picture
 Precision work
Numerical Skills  Concentrating on details
 Developing new theories
 Efficient with paperwork
 Operating power tools
 Recognizing new applications
 Solid ability with basic
 Using the telephone to get
 Using hand tools
for ideas or things
arithmetic
things done
 Operating
 Open to new ideas from others
 Multiplying numbers in your
 Knowing how to get
machinery/equipment
 Able to look beyond the way
head
information
 Driving cars, trucks, and
things have been done in the
 Figuring out “story” problems
equipment
 Organizing an office
past
 Adding long columns of figures  Creating systems for data
 Fixing and repairing
 Refusing to become fixated on
storage/retrieval
 Figuring out percentages
a single idea and looking for
 Troubleshooting/Diagnosing
problems
better ideas
 Recognizing patterns and
 Memory for detail
relationships in numbers
 Quickly spotting errors
 Figuring out how things work
 Seeing things others don’t see
 Gaining lots of valuable
 Thorough understanding of
 Drafting/Mechanical drawing
 Finding ways to improve things
information from graphs,
regulations and procedures
 Understanding
 Bringing together two distinct
tables, and charts
 Cutting through the red tape to
manuals/diagrams
concepts to produce something
 Quickly spotting numerical
achieve a goal
original
 Mechanical ability
errors
Writing Skills
 Expert at using and
 Understanding electricity
 Sensing when an answer or
manipulating the system to
 Reading gauges/instruments
number could not logically be
resolve a problem
 Overall writing ability
correct
 Processing information
Idea Skills  Writing clear concise sentences
 Storing large amounts of
accurately
 Grammatically correct writing
numerical data in your head
 Pleasant phone voice
 Imaginative
 Strong versatile vocabulary
 Developing a logical, wellorganized theme
 Vividly describing feelings,
people’s senses, and things
 Stirring up people’s emotions
 Creating living, real, believable
characters
 Developing logical and
persuasive points of view
 Summarizing and condensing
written material
 Editing, strengthening,
tightening someone’s writing
 Humorous writing
 Simplifying scientific and
technical material
 Making “dry” subjects
interesting
 Writing
- Letters
- Memos
- Reports
- Position papers
- Research reports
- News articles
- Speeches
- Manuals
- Proposals for funding
- Poetry
- Song lyrics
- Fiction
- Satire
- Slogans
 Predicting where bottlenecks
Planning Skills
can occur and preparing
workable plans to get around
the bottlenecks
 Planning problems and projects
 Setting attainable goals
 Considering all the details of a
project, even the smallest
 Determining priorities
 Forecasting/Predicting
Organizing Skills
 Scheduling effectively
 Making persuasive
 Organizing/Planning events
recommendations
 Organizing offices
 Using facts while trusting gut
 Organizing systems
feelings
 Organizing people to take
 Time management
action
 Accurately predicting results of
 Organizing data/information
proposed action
 Making sure people are in the
 Accurately assessing available
right place at the right time
resources
 Organizing enjoyable and
 Anticipating problems before
memorable happenings
they develop
 Anticipating reactions of people
Problem Solving and
and sensing whether they will
Troubleshooting Skills
support a proposal
 Finishing projects on time
 Anticipating problems
 Sensing whether a project or
program will work and making  Solving problems
 Untangling messes
appropriate recommendations
 Bringing order out of a chaotic
 Developing alternative actions
situation
in case the primary plan doesn’t
 Determining root causes
work as expected
 Developing innovative methods  Intuitively sensing where the
problem is and usually being
and techniques
right
- Advertising
 Recognizing and resolving
problems while they are still
relatively minor
 Able to come in and take
control of a situation
 Selecting the most effective
solution
 Improvising under stress
 Helping a group identify
solutions
 Not stopping with the first
“right” answer that comes to
mind
 Handling difficult people
 Staying calm in emergencies
 People have confidence that
now you’re here, things will be
taken care of
Financial Skills






Developing a budget
Staying within budget
Finding bargains
Estimating costs
Negotiating financial deals
Recognizing money-making
opportunities
 Ability to buy low and sell
high
 Managing money/ making
money grow
 Setting financial priorities
 Develop cost cutting solutions
 Understanding economic
principles
 Eye for a profit
 Gut feeling for financial trends
 Ability to get financing
Body Skills
 Finger and hand dexterity
 Eye-hand coordination
 Physical coordination
 Quick reflexes/reactions
 Walking long distances
 Standing for long periods
 Strong arms/legs/back
 Running, jumping, and
throwing
 Lifting/carrying
 Physical endurance
 Steady hands
 Sorting things
 Depth perception
 Working quickly with hands
and fingers
 Sense of taste, smell, hearing,
touch, and rhythm
 Able to see/spot things others
miss
 Skilled at sports
 Control over your body
 Enduring pain or discomfort
 Organizing large amounts of
data and information
Observing Skills  Keeping an open mind
 Summarizing findings
 Intuitive
 Designing research projects
 Highly observant of
 Discovering new things or
surroundings
phenomena
 Long memory of scenes once
 Relentlessly seeking an answer
observed
 Developing new testing
 Hearing/feeling/seeing things
methods
others are unaware of
 Gathering information from
 Perceptive/sensitive/aware
people
 Picking up on people’s feelings,  Producing surveys or
reactions, and attitudes
questionnaires
 Eye for fine/small details
 Identifying relationships
 Spotting slight changes in
 Detecting cause and effect
things
relationships
 Recalling names and faces of
 Collecting data
people
 Using statistical data
 Weaving threads of evidence
Researching and
together
Investigating Skills  Developing hypotheses
 Extracting pertinent
 Working on research projects
information from people
 Researching in the library
 Knowing how to find
Performing Skills
information
 Able to sift important
 Poised and confident before
information from unimportant
groups
 Investigating
 Showmanship
 Tracking down information
 Responsive to audience moods
 Following up on leads
 Making people laugh
 Getting an audience involved
with you
 Getting an audience to relate to
you
 Powerful stage presence
 Getting an audience
enthusiastic or excited
 Eliciting strong emotions from
an audience
 Stirring up an audience to take
some type of action
 Entertaining an audience
 Playing musical instruments
 Dancing
 Acting
 Singing
 Modeling
 Poetry reading
Analyzing Skills
 Interpreting/evaluating data
 Evaluating reports and
recommendations
 Analyzing trends
 Accurately predicting what will
occur based on facts, trends,
and intuition
 Designing systems to collect or
analyze information
 Weighing pros and cons of an
issue
 Simplifying complex ideas
 Exposing illogical thinking
 Seeing both sides of an issue
 Synthesizing ideas
 Clarifying problems
 Diagnosing needs/problems
 Breaking down principles into
parts
 Constantly looking for a better
way
 Identifying more efficient ways
of doing things
 Getting to the heart of an issue
Artistic Skill
 Excellent taste
 Artistic
 Sense of color combinations
 Sense of beauty
 Drawing scenes/people
 Painting
 Depth perception
 Envisioning the finished
product/sensing how it will all
come together
 Sense of proportion and space
 Envisioning in three
dimensions
 Spatial perception
 Designing visual aids
 Calligraphy/lettering
 Appreciating and valuing fine
works of art
 Capturing a feeling, mood, or
idea through photography,
drawing, sculpting, cartoons,
music, etc
 Developing visually pleasing
things
 Applied sense of color, shape,
design
 Conceiving visual
representations of ideas and
concepts
 Sensing what will work and
look right
 Sensing what people will
appreciate
 Working well with artistic
people
 Producing high quality
mechanical and line drawings
 Understanding the difference
between good and great art
Extracted from “Resume Power:
Selling Yourself on Paper”, by Tom
Washington. Published 1990 by
Walking Bird Press