1. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
Webinar “Translating Your Experience into Transferable Skills”
October 9, 2014
Slide 1
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Slide 2
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© 2014 UIAA All Rights Reserved. 1

2. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
+
© 2013 Rev UIAA All Rights Reserved.
 A link to the slide handouts
was sent in the webinar
access instructions &
gotomeeting reminder
email
 Submit questions through
the control panel
 Click on the orange arrow
to minimize the control
panel
3
Slide 3
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Advance in your path: generalist/specialist
Shift career path
 Same role, new industry
 Same industry, new role
Change career path
 New role, new industry
Determine your best change
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Slide 4
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Maybe…
You’ve been too busy to think about your skills
You take your skills for granted or become
routine
You can pull your skills out of a list, but don’t
want to have to explain them
No one has given you feedback in a while, so
maybe you don’t have many skills
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Slide 5
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3. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
© 2013 Rev UIAA All Rights Reserved.
Components
 Formal/informal education,practical knowledge
 Work from all life roles
 Working with people,data,things
 Innovation;critical thinking;new learning
Ongoing
 Currently and in the future
 Self-directed and assigned
Evaluation: refine; develop;add
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Slide 6
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 General knowledge and skills of your profession /
industry (from education/professional development)
 Specialized knowledge and skills
 Recognized for….
 Expertise in….
 Certifications / licenses
 Other
 Technical
 Hands-on (e.g., mechanical)
 Artistic
 Research
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Slide 7
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Communications
Interpersonal
Organizational
Creative / Idea-generation
 Thought leadership
Leadership
Self-management
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Slide 8
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4. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
© 2013 Rev UIAA All Rights Reserved.
 Maturity and business acumen
 Basic technical skills
 Communications skills
 Interpersonal skills
 Take initiative
 Analyze /problem solve /evaluate /interpret data
 Creativity and thinking “out-side-the box” mentality
 Plan and rearrange a project with little/no direction
 Seek global understanding
From Recruiting Trends,Michigan State University
9
Slide 9
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Ability to see the big picture
Drive for change
Understanding of profitability and costs
Efficiency
Quality, especially measurable quality
Sincere interest in the company
Excerpted from UIAA Alumni Career Center Panels
10
Slide 10
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Some will find it easier to begin with internal
self-assessment
 Knowledge of your accomplishments;i.d. skills
 Apply to relevant job postings
Some will find it easier to begin with assessment
of the marketplace
 Identify job postings that ‘look’ like you
 Move to assessing your qualifications
For either approach,get the whole picture
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Slide 11
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5. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
© 2013 Rev UIAA All Rights Reserved.
 Skills assessment exercise from list of identifying transferable skills
 List your accomplishments from --
 All jobs
 Leadership roles in college (if new/recent grad); class projects
 Professional organization / community service roles
 Other life experiences; avocations
 Business cases/stories about those accomplishments - identify:
 Problem (Situation /task)
 Action taken
 Result
 Skills and traits used
 Value added: for you and for the organization
[W1-2]
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Slide 12
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Refine the PAR format-
 Problem (Situation/Task)
 Action
 Result
Compare/contrast skills in stories with skills
identified on the skills list; make any additions;
begin to match them to your job target
Find your themes; compare/contrast with
employers’general and specific needs
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Slide 13
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 Your list, from self-knowledge
 List provided for this webinar
 Job postings (also provides relevant jargon)
 Professional reading
 Friends and network
 Key professional associations
 General business reading; viewing; listening
[W3]
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Slide 14
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6. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
© 2013 Rev UIAA All Rights Reserved.
Brought in revenue/funding;new
customers/members;new markets
Developed new products;new programs; new
techniques; communications;procedures;quality
measures
Saved time; money; costs
 Retained customers; increased productivity
Other
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Slide 15
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At different points in your career you may…
 Emphasize occupation-specific strengths
 Emphasize generalist strengths (e.g., project leadership;
management)
 Other? A bigger shift?
 Always include your interests, type of environment, work
content, factors to keep you engaged and with a vision
for the future
 Be expansive,with good judgment (“I can do that!”) – support
with examples
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Slide 16
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 Name 3-5 skills/characteristics that best present your
uniqueness over competitors
 Your goals for professional development
 Your strengths matched to what employers are seeking
 Your motivated skills
 Occupation-specific
 General
 Specialized
 Other
 General / functional
 Strongest theme
 Secondary theme
[W2-3]
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Slide 17
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7. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
© 2013 Rev UIAA All Rights Reserved.
 Present the knowledge and skills that meet the new role
/ environment
 resume;cover letter;soundbyte
 Note value you have added / impact
 Include relevant profession and industry jargon
 Examples ready to discuss
 Networking;informational interviews;interviews
 Be able to write and talk about each
 Prepare samples for your professional portfolio
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Slide 18
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 What is your knowledge of that industry?
 How can you learn more?
 Reading research
 Talking to people in the industry
 Any opportunity to ‘practice’
 Apply relevant knowledge, experience, skills…
 Clues from job postings
 Verification from informational interviews
 Verification from any hands-on experience
 How can you fill any gaps?
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Slide 19
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 Requirements
 The employer’s priorities
 Must-, Important-to-haves for the employer
 Put yourself in the recruiter’s, hiring manager’s place
 Analyze your qualifications,the parallels with the position,
and prepare your application
 Targeted resume
 Customized cover letter
 Also refer to job postings when making networking contacts;
are there other leads out there? Similar roles? Emerging
industries? ...specialties?
[W1; W4]
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Slide 20
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8. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
© 2013 Rev UIAA All Rights Reserved.
 Find additional exercises and topics in the ACC Virtual Career Center:
www.uiaa.org/careers/careermgmt.html
 “Exploring Career Change”
 “Identifying Transferable Skills”
 Be proactive: evaluate your experience regularly
 Give yourself credit!
 Keep up-to-date on profession/industry trends
 Set your priorities for –
 Job targets
 Learning priorities (knowledge; new industry)
 Skill development
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Slide 21
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Slide 22
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9. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
After the webinar …
how will you use what you’ve learned,
and how can the Alumni Career Center help you use it well?
The UIAA Alumni Career Center home page is www.uiaa.org/careers
The UIAA Alumni Directory
Link from www.uialumninetwork.org/directory.html.
The Alumni Directory feature presents more than 650,000 alumni in a wide variety of
occupations who can give you experience-based information about their work and career
paths.
ALL ALUMNI HAVE ACCESS TO THE ALUMNI CAREER CENTER, WHICH….
…conducts free webinars and web-panels throughout the year
Link to the ACC Calendar for updates: http://www.uiaa.org/calendar/
…has a job board – Hire UI Alumni
Link from www.uiaacareers.org.
The Hire UI Alumni primary job and resume board for University of Illinois alumni is a great
way to connect with employers looking for experienced talent.
...has a 24/7 Virtual Career Center
Link from www.uiaacareers.org
An online resource tool with over 100 pages of expert content on 30 job search and career
management topics; workbook style career adviser pages; ACC handouts and web
recommendations in the resource room and ways to build professional connections. Tips and
tools in the Virtual Career Center can be the best next step to supplement the information
from the program you attended. Archives of recorded ACC webinars are also available.
...has a drop-in library with computer access and print resources in downtown
Chicago
Open from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM Monday-Friday, and by appointment only on Wednesday
evenings until 7:30pm, at 200 South Wacker Drive, across from the Willis Tower.
...offers career advising appointments and packages – Select “For Job Seekers and
Career Changers” from the www.uiaa.org/careers menu
Use appointments for a resume/cover letter critique, interview practice, job search strategy,
on-the-job success discussion, or career management consultation. Participate in programs
held at the downtown Alumni Career Center via telephone or webinar. Web-panels/ webinars
cover a broad variety of job search strategies and career management topics such as
networking, the interview process, transferable skills and career decision-making.
...has a career assessment program
Link to the ACC career interest assessment page for details:
http://www.uiaa.org/careers/packages_assess.html
Career changers seeking to discover new options for career satisfaction can take career
assessments to help increase self-knowledge, gain new insights and validate ideas from life
experiences.
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10. University of Illinois
Alumni Career Center
Career Information Pages
© 2014 UIAA All Rights Reserved. 10