In our previous blog, we talked about 4 must-have transferable skills that’ll aid you in your preparation for the world of work. Moving forward, we brought your attention to a few things you might have done that enabled you to employ some of these skills. Today, we’ll continue from where we left off (as promised). This piece will give you a simple guide on how you can learn and develop transferable skills apart from the indirect platforms and activities that your institution exposes you to.

1. Know the transferable skills that are most sought after

We discussed four (4) of them in this post. So you can start with communication, teamwork, adaptability, or critical thinking, and later add others.

2. List and prioritize the skills you want to learn

The skills are a lot, and you don’t want to have things disorganised. So with the skills you have, list them in order of priority. Some of the things you can consider when prioritising will be looking at where you are now and where you want to be, and what skills you’ll need to get there. Even though these skills are all important, some may be more urgent to learn than others.

3. Set a target for yourself

Say, 1 skill : 1 month. This is because you can’t learn everything at once. Plus, you don’t want to put so much pressure on yourself, such that you’ll get tired and give up. But if you can do more than 1:1, go in for it.

4. Take an online course

There are so many platforms that offer free online courses. Check out Coursera, Alison, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning. All you need to do is set up your account and search for courses on the skills you want to learn.

5. Practice. Practice. Practice

Look for opportunities to put what you’ve learned to practice. It could be an internship, volunteer work, or even a full-time role. Whichever you get, make good use of it. However, if you haven’t taken any course, but you want to give yourself a challenge, then you can consider learning on the job.

6. Assess yourself regularly

You can get feedback on the current skills you’re trying to develop by asking colleagues or supervisors about your progress. Also, you can do this yourself by looking out for your skills that need improvement and what you can do to improve them.

Bonus tip

Reading articles and listening to podcasts about these skills can also help you learn and develop the transferable skills you want to learn or hone. Also, you can simply watch YouTube videos on some of these skills.

Remember, transferable skills are universally important, hence acquiring them will give you an advantage over those who don’t.

Challenge: Use this guide to develop at least one transferable skill and let us know how it goes. Feel free to share it with your friends and colleagues! They can serve as accountability partners 🙂

Kindly send us an email when you’re done!