The Career Pivot

Transferable Assets

Transferable assets are the qualities, experiences and skills that you have accumulated and nurtured in one situation that can easily transfer and apply to a new situation.2  What you have achieved in one situation now becomes an asset of value in another.

As an example, John Grisham’s observations and experiences as a lawyer and a politician have translated into a successful career as a storyteller and novelist. Other examples include the experience of performing multiple tasks simultaneously that develops into a transferable asset of effective prioritization, or working with many people on a project that cultivates the transferable asset of collaboration.

To determine and communicate your own transferable assets, try the following exercises:

How to Determine Your Transferable Assets (2)

• List five things that make you great at your job.

• Now, one by one, ask yourself, “What makes me good at that?” Try to come up with at least two reasons for each.

• Then, for each of the reasons you listed in the previous step, again, ask yourself, “What makes me good at that?” and you will develop your list of transferable assets.

• Next, do this for your top five to 15 accomplishments.

Re-write Yourself (3)

Once you have determined your transferable assets, look at how these can be applied to another job, career or industry. For potential new employers, translate what you have done into what they are looking for. Captivate them with your story.

• Ask yourself the following questions:

o What motivated me to make this change?

o How did I arrive on this particular path?

o What is the logic behind my choices?

• Consider your audience: As with your resume, tailor and adapt your story to who they are and what they want; give them a reason to care.

• Mine your experiences: Determine your most significant professional and personal achievements and detail how they have shaped your unique path toward the goals that you and your audience share.

• Highlight your trends: Be sure to call attention to the specific decisions you made that allowed you to expand your learning, as well as any positive patterns that have emerged over the course of your career.

• Articulate: Combine these components to tell the story of your career changes in a way that conveys how your choices define your unique abilities and how this particularly benefits your audience.