Survey: Most job seekers cannot name their transferable skills

Most job seekers are unable to identify their transferable skills on their resumes or identify how their skills would be applicable for work in other industries, according to a new national survey from LiveCareer.

In a poll of 1,519 unemployed job seekers conducted from May 6-11, 57% of respondents could not highlight their transferable skills with any great confidence, while 58% were not sure how to include transferable skills on their resume and 58% lacked the confidence in being able to find new jobs where their skills would apply.

Furthermore, 56%, of job seekers said they are looking for work in the same industries from which they were laid off or in a similar industry. But 34% could not provide good examples of how their skills would apply to another job and 53% stated they did not know the best resume format to use to get their next job.

The LiveCareer survey also found that job seekers possessed a weaker grasp of soft skills than hard skills: Only 40% believed they could capture soft skills on their resume (teamwork, communication, leadership) while 45% said the same for hard skills (project management, software expertise, inventory management).

Nonetheless, 58% respondents insisted they had, at best, a moderate level of confidence they would be able to present important skills on their resume.