Surf your skills


Surf your skills

Career coach Max Eggert says surfing your skills means using the skills you have to spring board your career to its next stage, and even a better paid job.

Many of the skills that you have are what are called 'transferable' skills, that is, suitable for other positions. For example, stockbrokers are essentially sales people.
Using your transferable skills is a far better way of building a career than making a significant career change.

Some people get bored with what they are doing and some get retrenched and are tempted to do a Monty Python: "And now for something completely different".

Big mistake.

If you switch your career rather than surf your skills you will find that you are competing in the job market with people who are:

  • More experienced than you.
  • More qualified than you.
  • Younger than you.

Most employers go for experience, qualifications and youth. So, whilst not impossible to make the change, you are making it unnecessarily difficult for yourself.

Answer? Surf your skills.

For example:

  • Accountant to math teacher.
  • Journalist to public relations consultant.
  • Librarian to market researcher.
  • PA to HR.

    Using your skills base to re-create yourself into a new function or career, rather than ditching what you already know, have experience in and are good at, is a much better bet than totally switching careers.

    So stay with you career thrust - surf you skills.

    Max Eggert is chief psychologist for Sydney-based career coaching firm Transcareer.


    Article with thanks to careerone.com.au
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