Have you ever been curious about changing careers but convinced yourself you didn’t have the appropriate skills?
Over 75% of employers consider transferable skills critical and more important than technical skills when evaluating potential candidates. From teamwork and communication to complex problem-solving, we accumulate a wide range of competencies throughout our careers that can transfer to new roles. Whether you’ve been in the same field for years or frequently changed roles, the skills and experience you’ve gained have undoubtedly enhanced your professional toolkit.
A recent “best of” episode of The Digital Marketing Mentor, “She Leads Digital: Inspiring Stories of Women in Marketing,” highlighted over a dozen professional women who have found success in digital marketing by leveraging their transferable skills to excel in their new roles.
Want to discover your transferable skills and learn how these incredible women harnessed theirs to thrive in digital marketing? Read on to get inspired.
What are transferable skills?
Think of transferable skills as your career “toolbelt” – versatile abilities that can be applied across various industries and job roles. These skills add value no matter what your position, title, or field. Some, like data analysis or foreign language fluency, are considered hard skills – technical and measurable proficiencies often tied to specific professions.
On the other hand, soft skills like active listening and assertiveness are personal traits that define how you interact and work with others. While less measurable in the traditional sense, these skills are just as critical, shaping how you collaborate, lead, and problem-solve in any setting.
Every professional builds a robust set of transferable skills that boost career growth and adaptability from part-time jobs to internships, volunteering, and beyond.
Why are transferable skills critical?
While technical expertise is important in many roles, landing the right job takes more than simply ticking the right boxes. Employers are looking for well-rounded candidates who excel in their specific field and bring versatile, transferable skills that can be applied across multiple industries.
These skills—communication, teamwork, adaptability, and versatility—make you stand out and show your true value in a competitive job market.
Transferable skills are the key to career success, and here’s why they’re so crucial.
Enhance Adaptability
The more transferable skills you have, the more adaptable you’ll be in a new environment.
With a diverse skill set, you can be ready to tackle unexpected challenges and thrive in any work environment. Adaptability will be a key skill when embarking on a new career to embrace new things; it demonstrates your ability to embrace change and make a positive impact. With the power of transferable skills, you’ll require less supervision and become a key contributor to your team’s success.
Versatility
Transferable skills are defined as those that can be versatile and applicable to many different roles.
As mentioned, you can use these capabilities in almost any position or responsibility. For example, if you possess project management skills, you can use them in any leadership role, regardless of the industry. As you transition through different roles in your career, your transferable skills will evolve, often becoming more technical or refined. You may use certain skills occasionally in specific jobs and more often in others, providing opportunities to strengthen and expand them over time.
Employability
Establishing a solid foundation of transferable skills can tremendously enhance your appeal as a job candidate by illustrating that you offer more than technical expertise.
An employee who brings a well-rounded set of soft skills like teamwork, organization abilities, and problem-solving qualities makes for a more desirable candidate to an employer. Highlighting your transferable skills on your resume and discussing them in interviews shows employers that you’ve got the versatility and adaptability they’re looking for, putting you head and shoulders above other candidates.
Easy to Learn and Understand
Highlighting the soft skills is essential because while you may lack some technical experience at first, emphasizing the transferable traits will demonstrate to employers that you’re willing to learn and eager for a new challenge.
Take teamwork, for example; you can quickly develop this in-demand skill by collaborating and communicating effectively with your colleagues. Employers are constantly looking for candidates with these versatile abilities, making transferable skills your secret weapon for accelerating career growth and standing out in any industry.
Transferable Skills for a Digital Marketing Career
Updating your resume can feel overwhelming if you’re considering transitioning to a career in digital marketing. Remember that even if you haven’t worked in digital marketing, you likely have a wealth of transferable skills. While digital marketing requires technical expertise, such as mastery of SEO, social media, and content marketing, don’t underestimate your existing skills.
The featured guests on the “She Leads Digital” episode highlighted key transferable traits that aided their journeys into this field.
Analytical Skills
Understanding and utilizing data is essential for anyone pursuing a career in digital marketing. Regardless of what area of digital marketing you choose, the ability to analyze data and performance and turn it into actionable insights is key to a successful
marketing strategy.
Having a solid grasp of numbers and strategically applying them is crucial. Martha Van Berkel, a TDMM guest and CEO of Schema App, shared that her former job compelled her to be “data-driven,” always backing up her ideas with solid numbers.
Persuasion
At the heart of it, a marketing professional intuitively possesses many traits of a sales professional. They must understand target audiences, craft compelling content, and leverage media channels to reach the ideal customer. But before that, they must sell the campaign concept to the brand, showing them its relevance to their audience.
As CEO of Life’s Looking Good creative consulting agency, Adele Beiny, says, “I would say selling was my greatest teacher in what I’m doing now because great marketing requires you to put yourself in the mind of the person who’s absorbing what you’re marketing.”
CMO of Sun and Ski Sports Sicily Dickenson says her training in Big Pharma showed her to effectively convey a message in 30 seconds to get people’s attention, forcing her to develop strong persuasion tactics to make the sale.
Problem-Solving
Digital marketing demands sharp critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. Professionals must make quick, informed decisions and adapt strategies to keep campaigns on track. Successful problem-solvers don’t just react to issues; they anticipate them and seek innovative solutions aligned with business goals.
Shelly Fagin, the head of Growth Acquisition at Digital Ocean, exemplifies this mindset. Her passion for digital marketing began with a desire to solve problems, leading her to self-teach coding and SEO to address website challenges and drive traffic. Her proactive mindset exemplifies what drives success in digital marketing.
Organization and Project Management
Organizing, delegating, and tracking digital marketing strategies are vital project management skills. Professionals often juggle multiple client campaigns requiring strong organization to manage time, budgets, and teams while ensuring high-quality results.
Tracy Murray, Sales and Marketing Manager at Optidge embodies these traits. She credits her past managerial roles in physical therapy for honing her project management expertise. She shared that leading teams, developing talent, and solving complex challenges prepared her well for digital marketing, where effective project management is crucial for successfully managing campaigns.
Adaptability & Flexibility
Adaptability is essential in digital marketing’s fast-paced landscape, especially in hybrid work that requires cloud tools and video conferencing skills.
Former TDMM guest Akvile DeFazio embodies this adaptability, shifting from physical therapy to digital marketing.
Similarly, Vicky Charleston shared how her early digital marketing learning curve led her to ODEO Academy to strengthen her skills.
Relationship Development
Building solid relationships is essential for career success and fostering trust, communication, and productivity-especially in digital marketing, where client and peer connections drive long-term success. Positive relationships boost engagement and enhance job performance, creating a fulfilling work environment.
Navah Hopkins emphasizes the value of mentorship, a skill she cultivated in college that shaped her career. Purna Virji, principal consultant of Content Solutions at LinkedIn, highlights how mentorship and peer relationships have been vital to her growth, providing support and shared learning.
Creative Thinking
Creative thinking is essential in digital marketing, requiring an open mind and a willingness to learn. Creativity helps markets adapt and stand out as the field evolves rapidly, crafting unique content and strategies that captivate audiences.
Mailchimp influencer Emily Ryan highlights how her theater background supports her digital marketing career, blending creativity and technicality. Similarly, Optidge SEO Team Lead Batli Joselevitz encourages aspiring digital marketers to take risks, explore new ideas, and remain open-minded to discover their passions, whether in SEO, paid search, or other areas.
Collaboration
Digital marketing is inherently collaborative, with teams uniting to turn ideas into successful campaigns. It’s about understanding the bigger picture, where unique strengths and perspectives create more impactful results.
Ampersand CEO Allie Danzinger illustrated this by building a social media department, learning through industry connections and mentors, and later emphasizing teamwork in her business. Similarly, Dragon Metrics’ Digital Marketing Director, Sarah Presch, highlighted on the podcast the importance of diverse voices in decision-making to strengthen collaboration.
Ultimately, digital marketing thrives on teamwork, sparking creativity, and delivering results through collective effort.
A Career in Digital Marketing
As a college professor and owner of Good AF Consulting, Amalia Fowler explains embarking on a career in digital marketing doesn’t require a formal education in the industry or previous experience. She argues that “both paths have equal value in some way, “ adding that a person’s journey defines their professional pathway in this industry.
If you feel inspired about your transferable skills or want to develop more technical ones, why not look into ODEO Academy?
This high-level online platform offers a wide range of digital marketing courses designed to fit your needs, regardless of your transferable skills.
Click here to view ODEO Academy‘s courses and learn more about their offerings.
Ready to turn your transferable skills into a thriving career in digital marketing? Get started today!