By Kim Dority

Transferable skills are one of the most important assets when considering new job opportunities. This pertains to everyone, but especially to those recently affected by a new disability according to Disaboom, the largest online community for people living with or touched by disability. To connect these valuable skills with the range of potential opportunities, however, the job seeker must rethink the application of those skills and get comfortable "repurposing" them.

What are transferable skills? These are job capabilities that bring value to many environments, rather than being specific to a given organization. Although the person may have learned and practiced them in the context of, say, volunteer work, they can be applied to new types of nonprofit work or to new for-profit job opportunities.

Some examples of transferable skills might include technology skills, an ability to work with customers/the public, management expertise, communication skills, or project management expertise, among many others.

The easiest way to explore repurposing skills is to start reading job descriptions for industries or organizations that may be of interest. Check out the wording used to describe various positions, and line up those skills against their specifications. The applicant should adapt this language to describe their capabilities. That way, potential employers who don't understand what a Project Specialist Grade IV is capable of will still have a chance to understand the value the applicant brings to the table.

Reframing skills is a process that asks the job seeker to identify and understand their skills in a broader context. In addition, they will need to do the following:

Reconsider the language used to describe skills. The applicant will want to describe what they can do in terms that make sense to their audience, which means they need to understand and describe the language of the potential employer. In order for the applicant to translate their current transferable skills and experience into broader opportunities, it's necessary to describe them in words and descriptive phrases that resonate with the people who might hire them.

Rethink and repurpose what can be done with applicable skills. What roles, responsibilities, and opportunities would the applicant's skills prepare them for if their current position didn't exist? For example, if a person runs the numbers for an organization but the role of "bookkeeper" didn't exist, how else would that person describe what their skills are? Think ability to organize and make sense of financial information, strong attention to detail, ability to extrapolate patterns from data and synthesize that information for strategic decision support.

Develop confidence in skills - and contribution. While the applicant probably has had confidence in the work they've been doing, now they're going to take those competencies in a whole new direction. It's important for the applicant to focus on their track record of successes and know they will be able to repeat them in new environments, even if it does require an initial learning curve.

At the end of the day it's up to the applicant to make sure their confidence factor is where it needs to be. This means understanding and celebrating the value of their knowledge. It means respecting their skills, and expecting that others should as well. It means knowing that what they deliver adds value to projects, and organizations, and communities. It means that they express confidence and assurance in their conversations, and model a professional demeanor that calmly says "I understand that I am/will be an asset to any organization I work with."

The job seeker needs to get into the habit of acknowledging what they are good at, with a focus on what their skills have accomplished. If the applicant is shy about this, they can recruit a friendly colleague who understands what they do and have that person describe the greatest assets. They should understand that they could contribute value to many types of organizations, both current employer and employers yet to come.

For more tips, advice and support on finding a job visit Disaboom's Employment Section. Visitors will find business listings of potential employers; articles covering employment; post their résumé where it will be viewable by participating companies and an employment community section to share advice and support.