By Patrina Pellett, PhD (Follow me on LinkedIn)

I have a friend who has a PhD in evolutionary biology from Harvard. She told me that she doesn't have transferable skills. My mind exploded 🤯. I thought are you crazy you have so many transferable skills.

This is a common theme among folks with terminal degrees: they struggle to highlight their transferable skills (which they have a lot of) to land their first role outside of academia or change fields.

Tom Caravela and Sarah Snyder say this is the number one problem they see with folks trying to land their first MSL role. They have no idea how to highlight their transferable skills.

For aspiring MSLs trying to land their first job or someone trying to switch careers highlighting transferable skills is key to getting a hiring manager interested in them.

Learn what MSL hiring managers want here.

What's the disconnect? Why is highlighting transferable skills so hard?

Why is highlighting transferable skills so hard?

1. Lack of training

One major reason that makes highlighting transferable skills so hard is the lack of training and emphasis on it during grad school. We aren't trained to think about our skills in the larger context and how they apply to other situations.

Sprinkle in a little imposter syndrome on top of the lack of training and the result is people having no idea how to showcase all their skills to prospective employers. 

2. Not understanding the role or business buzzwords

Another reason PhD, MDs, and PharmDs struggle to highlight transferable skills is because they do not fully understand the role they are applying for. When you don't get the day-to-day of a job, it's hard to pinpoint how what you are doing now applies to the other role.

Business buzzwords are another issue. If you don't understand what the bullet points in the job description are secretly referring to, you can't highlight those skills on your resume.

Here's a message from an aspiring MSL describing why highlighting transferrable skills is so hard:

3. Showcasing soft skills is hard

There tends to be an emphasis on technical skills in academia. But most employers are looking for soft skills and demonstrating how good you are at soft skills is hard. How do you highlight relationship building for example?

Luckily there is a soft skill that is easy to communicate and quantify: communication. Check out this How to Quantify Your Resume article for tips on highlighting communication skills.

These are the 3 major reasons why highlighting transferable skills is so hard. What would you add to the list?

How to highlight transferable skills

The good news is that learning how to highlight your transferable skills is a skill that you can develop. Here are some recommendations:

1. Make sure you really understand the role. This article has suggestions. 
2. Check out this webinar on How To Land An MSL Role Without Experience. Tom and Sarah give an overview of the dos and don'ts of highlighting transferable skills.
3. Get a career coach to help you tease apart the bullet points on your resume
4. Join the Aspire MSL program. This is a core skill that you will learn when you join the program. Tom and Sarah are pros at this and will show you EXACTLY how to highlight your transferable skills.

Conclusions: Why is Highlighting Transferable Skills so Hard

It boils down to the lack of training on how your skills are applicable in other situations, not understanding the role or business terms, and the fact that showcasing soft skills is inherently challenging.

But there's great news! You have a lot of transferable skills that employers out there are dying for. It's just about learning how to highlight them.

What have been your experiences highlighting transferable skills?  Reach out to me on LinkedIn to let me know or comment on the MSL Mastery LinkedIn page.