How to Identify Transferable Skills at 30

STOP underestimating your "unrelated" skills and experience when you're looking for a new job. When I was in college, I had a bunch of odd jobs including working at UCLA’s Campus Call Center. My main objective was to jump on cold calls and convince high schoolers who got accepted to UCLA to come to the school. I knew I really wanted to work in sports, media and entertainment. And this job at the time didn't make any sense to my career growth, but I had to make some money one way or another to pay the bills because my financial aid only got me so far. But with this job, I didn’t see any route or direction that would lead me to my goals. Up to that point, my only "real" jobs were working at Forever 21 as a summer retail associate, YMCA as a referee, and as an afterschool assistant for an elementary school. So each day I’d dial 100+ of calls for work. Then I’d get home and apply for 100s of jobs for me. And it'd lead to rejection after rejection. I couldn’t figure out what I needed to say or do differently to get noticed by organizations. It wasn’t until I realized my current job wasn't just about me making calls. It was about me using skills like: - Relationship management  - Persuasive communication - Marketing strategies By reframing my experience, I transformed my “unrelated” job into a stepping stone for my career. This mindset shift was what helped me finally land a job at UCLA Athletics in student-athlete recruiting where I was now convincing high school athletes recruited by UCLA to commit to our programs. So keep in mind that every experience you’ve had, no matter how small, may already be the game changer you’ve been looking for. The key is identifying those transferable skills that align with your dream opportunities. Questions to ask yourself: - What skills am I truly developing? - How can I articulate these skills to potential employers? - Where else could these abilities be valuable?   What are “unrelated” skills / past experiences that have helped you in other roles? #CareerAdvice #SportsBiz #Media #Entertainment 

Stop disqualifying yourself from jobs. Start connecting your transferable skills instead 👇🏼 A hard truth I've learned from years as a career coach: Most qualified candidates never apply because they focus on what they lack instead of what they bring. Last month, I worked with Alex who wanted to transition into project management but kept saying "I don't have PM experience." Wrong mindset. This thinking keeps amazing candidates on the sidelines while less qualified (but more confident) people get hired. I helped Alex reframe his background using 3 strategies that landed him 2 offers: ✅ 1 // Map your transferable skills to their actual needs. Don't focus on job titles—focus on problems you've solved. Alex coordinated cross-functional teams, managed budgets, and delivered complex initiatives on time. That's project management, just without the official title. ✅ 2 // Highlight measurable achievements that translate across industries. We repositioned his "event coordination" as "managed $500K budgets and 50+ stakeholders to deliver projects 2 weeks ahead of schedule." Suddenly, his experience looked relevant. ✅ 3 // Reach out to decision makers before jobs are posted. Instead of waiting for perfect job postings, Alex researched target companies and connected with department heads on LinkedIn. He shared insights about challenges they were facing. The result? Two interviews for positions that were never advertised publicly. Both companies extended offers. They were impressed at how well he communicated his experience. The unfortunate reality is most people eliminate themselves from opportunities before employers ever get the chance to. Remember: Companies hire people who can solve their problems, not people with perfect resumes. 📌 Question: What's a role you've talked yourself out of applying for? What transferable skills do you actually have?

PSA: Transferable skills mean practically nothing if you're not able to articulate them. At the end of the day, if you can think strategically and show results (especially when those results are backed by numbers), that alone can open the door to a ton of different roles. The secret is learning the language of the role or industry you want to move into and figuring out how your past work translates to that new space. And yes, that includes more than just your official job title or responsibilities. That’s why I’m such a fan of ERG work..it gives you a real chance to build transferable skills! It’s a safe, contained space where you can show what you’re capable of. Whether that’s project management, internal comms, marketing, sales, or anything else, ERG work gives you proof of what you can do ...and that proof is often what gets people to take you seriously. That said, most folks get stuck trying to speak the language of the role or industry they’re aiming for. But once you crack that code a whole new world opens up. (Pro tip: Use AI to help: ask it what metrics matter in that role, what success looks like, and what common pain points exist in that space. Let it help you translate your story.) Another tip: Start reading job descriptions like study guides. Highlight the keywords, goals, and metrics they care about, then reverse-engineer your experiences to match. Bonus tip: If you’re using less conventional experience like ERG leadership, side projects, or anything outside of your core role be ready to explain what you learned and why it matters. Your stories and experiences are major tools. Learn how to tell them well, and they’ll make your transferable skills impossible to ignore. P.S. I’m the planner friend of my group with the powerpoint slides overview and spreadsheet of out itinerary … any others out there?