On a global level, market demands are shifting and changing monthly, weekly, sometimes even from day to day. In recent years, thousands of individuals who trained specifically for sharply defined “hot careers” are discovering that those skills may not be in such strong demand that they warrant such a focused investment of time, money, and education. In such fields as information technology, for instance, disappointing downturns have dissolved what was previously assumed to be a “sure thing”—a “smart” career choice.

Staying marketable in shifting times requires more than a single channel approach to qualifying for certain jobs. It is not enough to have the skill sets required to complete certain tasks any more. To stay marketable, you must be willing both to update those skill sets continually and always to understand the many different roles your growing experience, critical thinking abilities, and interpersonal talents can play in many different market contexts throughout the rest of your career.

As a result, the most important skill that will keep you marketable is your ability to ask yourself fresh questions as circumstances change—and arrive at creative, dynamic answers that will lead you through a prosperous and relevant career. Staying marketable requires you to have enough motivation to invest extra and ongoing effort in keeping your skills not only up to date and transferable but also competitive. As such, your most marketable, most transferable skill is your passion to learn and acquire new skills.

The following points are key questions to ask yourself when considering ways to keep yourself marketable in an era of rapidly changing economic and business conditions:

• Why are you in the field you’re in at the moment?
• What aspects of your current work give you the most satisfaction?
• What aspects of your current work give you the least satisfaction?
• Who are you meeting in the natural course of your work whose jobs may be a natural path of transition and growth for you?
• Would you be willing to leave your immediate career path to pursue a more promising or fascinating opportunity on an adjacent path?
• What topic areas fuel your natural, self-motivated curiosity?

Why should I bother worrying about transferable skills?

Given the rapidly changing market and economic environments, it’s essential to understand how your skill sets fit into your company’s immediate objectives and future plans. If those plans don’t agree with your own ambitions, you must know how to package and repackage your skills to build your career elsewhere. Transferable skills augment your core function skills to make you desirable across industries and functions.

Will I have to return to school to gain formal education?

Not necessarily. There are many different programs delivering skills training, including training that requires formal certification. Employers offer courses, as do distance-learning institutions. Additionally, old-fashioned “on-the-job” experience and training increase your transferable skill sets. Don’t overlook that accomplishment, just because you didn’t absorb this extra knowledge sitting in a classroom.

What do I do with an expanded transferable skill, once I have acquired it?

Market that skill. Put it on your résumé. Tell your boss.

Make a List of All the Skills You Currently Have

Be sure to include skills you’re not using at the moment, even those skills you think you’ll never want to use again. This is a complete inventory of all your keys to your marketability now and in the future.

Analyze Those Skills

Highlight in one color the skills that help you do the work you love; circle in a separate color all the skills that require regular updating (for example, software, health care, continuing education requirements).

Prioritize Your Skills

Skills that are both highlighted and circled—those skills are your first priority for maintaining and cultivating so they stay current and relevant to the changing job marketplace.

Consider Your “Value Mesh”

Your value mesh is that network of connections and possible next steps for your own career progression (see also “Key Terms” above). Ask the people whose jobs appear in your value mesh what skills are most in demand for the positions you’d most like to consider as next steps.

Volunteer for “stretch” assignments that will develop your key marketable skills

Try to find assignments that are slightly beyond your immediate area of operation—in other corporate departments, for instance, where you can also expand your circle of contacts.

Develop References

Remember that in addition to actually having transferable, marketable skills, you must also develop a list of referees who will be happy to confirm that you indeed have those skills. So, as you complete “stretch” assignments, ask your new colleagues for letters of recommendation or introduction, if appropriate.

Document Your Skills

If you intend to continue working with the same employer, ask your “stretch” assignment supervisor to add a report on your performance to your personnel file.

Continue to Educate Yourself

Take advantage of all company-paid or reimbursed training programs to update and/or add to your technical and professional qualifications. Additionally, use whatever tax advantages may be available to support your continuing education.

Stay Involved in Professional Associations

Your skill sets include more than easily measurable technical expertise. It also includes your ability to come up with fresh ideas and innovations based on your overall knowledge and understanding of your industry or profession. For this reason, it is important to attend professional association meetings and development programs.

Make Your Professional Development a Top Priority

When selecting a new employer, choose companies that support ongoing employee development programs. High-quality employers understand that one of the best things they can do for their employees is give them the opportunity to keep their skills at the cutting edge. If potential employers exhibit indifference to this principle, this tells you that your personal potential for growth is likely to meet a dead-end while working for this company.

You Are So Busy Doing the Work That You Neglect Your Ongoing Development Needs

With rapidly changing technology and discoveries in almost every profession, it is easy to become obsolete very quickly. As work demands are intense and family needs absorb private time, it is also easy to ignore the need to stay current. It is important to develop and commit to a regular program of professional development (even if the program must be done during your private time) to stay competitive and marketable.

You Are Tempted to Focus Primarily on Acquiring Technical Skills at the Expense of More Conceptual Transferable Skills

Your continued marketability depends not only on your commitment to stay technically up to date but also on your commitment to upgrade continually all of your abilities, including interpersonal abilities such as persuasion or negotiation.

In Your Eagerness to Accept a New Job, You Sign a Noncompete Agreement That Is So Comprehensive It Effectively Takes You Out of the Marketplace

Your skills are transferable only as long as you can offer them in the open marketplace. Unfortunately, employers are currently tending to insist that new employees sign a noncompete agreement, reducing their ability to find new jobs later. Organizations have an obvious need to protect their intellectual property from competitors, and their competitors are a natural pool of future employers for you. So their interest in comprehensive noncompete agreements is understandable.

However, such an agreement could preclude you from working in your profession for an indefinite amount of time. Ask for time to review it with an attorney before signing. If the company makes immediate signing a condition of employment, consider that a negative signal. At the very least, carefully review all the wording in the contract and insist on altering any clauses that would prevent you from using your marketable skills in future jobs.

You Limit Your Own Prospects by Defining Your Potential Based on the Past, Not the Future

To stay marketable and develop your skills, it’s important to build on your potential for the future and your passion for growth and learning. Every new experience is an opportunity for additional self-discovery and self-understanding. This is the foundation on which to build your plan for marketing and developing yourself in the future.

Books:

Fallows, Stephen, and Christine Steven (eds.). “Integrating Key Skills in Higher Education: Employability, Transferable Skills, and Learning for Life.” Dover, NH: Kogan Page, 2000.

Pedler, Mike, et al. “A Manager’s Guide to Self-Development.” New York: McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, 2001.

Web site:

The Skills Zone, www.pch.gc.ca/Cyberstation/html/szone2_e.htm