14. Transferable Skills: How to Describe Your Strengths on a CV and in Interviews - Youth Corper Empowerment - Empowering Youth Corpers

14. Transferable Skills: How to Describe Your Strengths on a CV and in Interviews

"I don't have any experience." It's what many fresh graduates and corpers say when they sit down to write a CV. But experience isn't only a job title. Four years of study, a service year in a new state, and a few group projects have probably taught you more than you realise. The challenge isn't having skills. It's describing them in a way employers recognise.

What Are Transferable Skills?

Transferable skills are abilities that carry from one setting to another. Good communication works in a lecture hall, a clinic, a bank, or a startup. So do problem-solving, teamwork, and time management. Employers value them because job-specific skills can be taught, while habits like reliability and clear thinking are harder to train.

Common examples include communication, teamwork, leadership, adaptability, critical thinking, organisation, research, digital literacy, and customer service.

Where Your Skills Are Hiding

Look beyond paid work. Useful sources include:

• Your degree: research projects, presentations, group assignments, lab work, final-year dissertation.
• NYSC: orientation camp, your Place of Primary Assignment, Community Development Service, and living in an unfamiliar state.
• Leadership roles: class representative, platoon leader, society executive, or religious and community groups.
• Volunteering and side projects: tutoring, event planning, blogging, selling products, or helping a family business.
• Online learning: courses, certifications, and projects you've completed.

If you're wondering how to build more skills while you serve, our guide on upskilling in your service year lists ten worth learning.

Step 1: Mine Your Experience

Set aside 20 minutes and write down every activity you have been involved in over the past three to four years. For each one, answer:

1. What was my role?
2. What problem or task did I handle?
3. What did I do, specifically?
4. What was the result, even if small?

Don't judge anything yet. Your list will probably be longer than expected.

Step 2: Translate It Into Employer Language

Employers scan CVs quickly, so turn vague statements into clear, results-focused ones. Compare:

Before: "Was a platoon leader in NYSC camp."
 After: "Led a 60-member platoon during a three-week orientation programme, coordinating schedules, resolving disputes, and ensuring on-time attendance at daily activities."

Before: "Did a final-year project on customer satisfaction."
 After: "Designed and administered a survey of 120 respondents, analysed results using spreadsheet tools, and presented findings to a faculty panel."

Before: "Worked at my PPA."
 After: "Supported daily operations at a mid-sized organisation, managing records, drafting correspondence, and improving a filing process that reduced retrieval time."

Notice the pattern: action verb, specific task, and where possible a number or result. If you don't have exact figures, use honest estimates and be ready to explain them. Never invent achievements.

Step 3: Put Skills on Your CV

Summary: Open with two or three lines naming your strongest skills and what you're looking for. For example: "Detail-oriented Economics graduate with experience in data analysis, team coordination, and client communication, seeking an entry-level analyst role."

Experience and projects: Use three to five bullet points per entry, starting each with a strong verb such as led, organised, analysed, designed, coordinated, or improved.

Skills section: List relevant skills clearly, mixing technical ones (spreadsheets, social media tools, basic coding) and soft ones (communication, adaptability). Tailor this to each job description, and use similar wording where it truthfully fits, since many employers use software to filter applications.

Keep it clean: One or two pages, simple formatting, no photos unless requested, and no spelling errors. Our post on building a professional LinkedIn profile covers how to mirror this online.

Step 4: Talk About Skills in Interviews

Interviewers often ask, "Tell me about a time when..." The best way to answer is the STAR method:

• Situation: Set the scene briefly.
• Task: Explain your responsibility.
• Action: Describe what you did.
• Result: Share the outcome and what you learned.

Example for "Tell me about a time you handled conflict":

"During NYSC camp, two members of my platoon disagreed about duty rosters (Situation). As platoon leader, I needed to resolve it before it affected our performance (Task). I met both separately, listened to their concerns, and proposed a rotating schedule everyone agreed to (Action). The platoon met all deadlines for the rest of camp, and I learned how much listening matters (Result)."

Prepare four or five stories in advance covering teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, handling pressure, and learning from failure. One story can often answer several questions.

Common Mistakes

• Listing skills without proof ("good communicator" with no example)
• Using the same generic CV for every job
• Overusing buzzwords like "hardworking" and "team player"
• Exaggerating or inventing achievements
• Ignoring NYSC and volunteering experience
• Rambling answers with no clear result

A 20-Minute Exercise

Pick one job you want. Highlight five skills in its description. For each, write one example from your life using the STAR format. You now have CV bullets and interview answers ready to go.

The Bottom Line

You probably have more experience than you think. The work is in noticing it, wording it clearly, and backing it up with examples. Do that, and your degree and service year start to look like what they really are: proof that you can learn, adapt, and deliver.

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