17 April 2020 / Blog /

Some precious piece of advice on how to discover and improve your “Transferable skills”, taking advantage of this time at home

 

The Covid-19 pandemic is not only causing thousands of deaths, but it is also the main responsible of a short-term economic slowdown, triggering a very serious economic regression. According to OECD data, global GDP in 2020 will decrease by half a percentage point (more or less half trillion dollars). However, governments are applying measures that limit contacts with other people, but at the same time, they are stimulating the economic system with aimed actions.

 

“The Global Economy doesn’t have to stop – Barbara Bruno, Global Temp & Perm Senior Director of Gi Group said – Many employees are now working from home, or keep being at their usual workplace if they are business critical to ensure the continuity of the services, as we are constantly doing at Gi Group. For these people, we have issued strict safety procedures, according to the local regulation, to make sure they are all safe in their workplace. In fact, while some industries are already facing their toughest period, there are some others, for instance those connected to essential services, dealing with a much higher workload than normal. In our opinion, this contingency is creating job opportunities many people can benefit, potentially shifting from one industry to another. This is one of the reasons we are going on with our recruiting activity, with the aim of ensuring the best level of work continuity to our candidates.”

 

Coronavirus emergency forced around 3 billion people to stay at home. However, there are industries which have not been damaged as badly as others; for example pharma & medical devices, logistics and large-scale distribution keep enlarging their businesses. This means there are open opportunities to find a job, especially for those candidates able to transfer their skills to the new work scenario. These “Transferable Skills” are both hard and soft skills that go beyond a specific industry, so that they can be adapted from one job to another.

 

We do not want to represent a reality that is better than what it really is, we must say that this period is not going to be easy and it is possible that we are going to be compelled to stay at home for longer than expected. For this reason, we suggest some tips for workers and candidates who want to take advantage of this unprecedented time of slowdown and reflection.

 

1. Know yourself and your abilities – Today many people have much more free time; a good way to exploit it, is to think about ourselves, our previous jobs and personal experiences in order to identify our strengths and weaknesses, trying to understand where we can really make the difference. Observing oneself rationally can be a difficult task; and that is why many employment agencies as Gi Group offers support for orientation and skills assessment, in order to help candidates to bring out their best characteristics thanks to the support of experts.

 

2. Update your curriculum vitae and LinkedIn profile – This is a very important activity that everyone tends to procrastinate because of the effort and the attention it requires. These days could be the perfect opportunity to integrate your CV and LinkedIn profile. Be careful to select a good profile photo and to make an accurate description of you, specifying your skills in a detailed but catchy way. Keep in mind that the CV you sent for a position, might not be suitable for a different one; so customize your CV before sending it is a good way to be more relevant to the recruiter’s eyes.

 

3. Improve your soft transferable skills – Crisis, as the one we are living, are accelerator of innovation and this is why it is always important to keep the pace and develop those personal and interpersonal skills that are crucial for your work now and in the future. As now we are forced to maintain distances, it is very important to get familiar with telematics interviews. Talking through a screen, oral, written and body language communication become fundamental, so it is time for you to exercise recording yourself or simulating an interview with your friends. By working remotely, managing your time and your schedule can be complicated, but it can also represent an opportunity to improve your organizational capability. Problem solving attitude it is a mix of creativity, analysis and experience. Think about precedent experiences and focus on what went well and what went bad, in order to improve from previous mistakes. Think also to what you are doing now to find a job in such a difficult situation; isn’t it a problem-solving attitude? Of course, it is!

 

4. Take into consideration the hard transferable skills – This point is directly connected and subsequent to the previous one. In fact, once figured out and strengthened those capabilities that make you interesting for the labor market, you have then to focus on the job-specific ones that make yourself unique and desirable for companies. Especially nowadays, you can find plenty of free online courses and trainings to learn something new. IT and cyber security sector can be a perfect example: it embraces all industries and companies; indeed employment is at an all-time high. You could learn online how to use a software, or improve your current capabilities studying the updates of applications you used in previous experiences.

 

These four piece of advice can be a good start for the ones who want to stay relevant in an ever-changing job market, even during Covid-19 breakout. However, this is useless without a proactive behavior. It’ is very important to be active and periodically check opportunities on online platforms, including the websites of employment agencies such as Gi Group, applying for positions that really interest and suit you.