By CHERYLE DEDIOS and DENISE GEE

If you are a job seeker in today's job market, knowing how to describe your transferable skill set elevates you to from the "candidates" pile on someone's desk to "for serious consideration" pile. This pile, of course, is much smaller than the previous. Transferable skills are skills and abilities you have gained from employment, odd jobs, volunteer work, projects that transcend jobs/positions, a variety of work settings and life experience.

These skills can be transferred from one job to another without much effort or additional training. Knowing your transferable skills can help you search for positions that fit your knowledge, skills and abilities regardless of the position title; it also helps you connect with the employer's needs.

To help you identify your transferable skills, you may want to use a skills inventory checklist like the one listed on the North Carolina Office of State Personnel website: www.osp.state.nc.us and a transferable skills checklist as shown on the Rogue Community College website: www.roguecc.edu. HELP of Southern Nevada uses both of these tools to help clients identify transferable skills.

A sample list of key transferable skills include:

4 Meet deadlines

4 Classify data

4 Research

4 Ability to delegate

4 Compare, inspect or record facts

4 Create new ideas

4 Ability to plan

4 Count, observe, compile

4 Design

4 Results-oriented

4 Research

4 Speak in public

4 Customer service oriented

4 Detail-oriented

4 Edit

4 Supervise others

4 Take inventory

4 Write clearly

4 Locate answers or information

4 Communicate verbally

4 Manage money

To begin, focus on transferable skills most employers seek in a candidate such as organization, communication, flexibility, teamwork and problem-solving. Secondly, focus on transferable skills needed in today's job market. For instance, a homemaker who was a caregiver to three children has learned the strengths and weaknesses of each child and is good with time management -- skills that are transferable to the human resource specialist field.

Consider the following example of the duties of a homemaker, excerpted from "The Elements of Resume Style" by Scott Bennett (AMACOM Books, 2005):

"Manage schedules and logistics for family of five. Balance priorities to create and implement budget. Motivate, coach, and counsel children. Teach and model ethics. Work with teachers to closely monitor academic performance of children. Plan, organize and co-supervise extracurricular school activities. Mediate disputes among family members and facilitate solutions. Shop for clothing, food, and supplies. Prepare and serve nutritious meals for five. Coordinate medical care for all family members. Establish clear requirements and discipline children. Drive children to schools, team sports, music lessons, and more. Negotiate with suppliers. Pay invoices. Reconcile accounts. Arrange for home and vehicle maintenance and repairs. Maintain clean home and clean clothes for family. Plan and create dinners to entertain mate's employers, colleagues, clients, and prospects. Collaborate with mate to manage investments."

Your transferable job skills should play a crucial role in your job search and the creation of your resume and other job-search documents/activities, including your biography on websites such as www.linkedin.com. The following tips may help:

n Research careers. Learn about careers in today's market and what skills are required. One way to do this is to read job descriptions in the Las Vegas Review-Journal's employment ads or online postings. You can acquire additional information by contacting professional organizations such as your local chambers of commerce, professional and trade associations, such as the American Marketing Association or American Nurses Association. Nearly every profession has a professional/trade association. Government resources such as the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Department of Labor offer up-to-date information on growth occupations and employment industries.

n Network with professionals in your field. People working in your field of interest are great resources for understanding transferable skills needed. To find networking groups in Las Vegas, go to www.ehow.com/how_2118091_networking-groups-las-vegas-nevada.html#ixzz1MYFFf2QU.

n Build your resume. When developing a skills-based resume, focus on your transferable skills that are applicable to the position you are seeking as well as any formal work-related skills you may have. Make sure the skills listed in your cover letter and resume address the skills listed in the job posting or classified ad.

If you have multiple skill sets and wish to pursue diverse career options, you will need a separate resume for each. For example: I (Cheryle Dedios) have 15 years volunteer experience working in different churches, 10 years experience directing a nonprofit organization that encouraged employees to use alternate ways to commute besides driving alone, eight years experience working for a university/teaching hospital/clinic encouraging employees to use alternative methods of commuting and one year of experience working at a college admissions office.

From this work history I can build five resumes: Program coordinator, commute options specialist, nonprofit professional, university administrator and medical office receptionist. These resume choices are based on the necessary formal educational requirements for each. Since I have no formal medical training but knowledge of medical offices and a hospital/clinic environment, I would be better suited to the receptionist position.

What are my transferable skills for these five resumes?

n Program coordinator: Meet deadlines, ability to plan, accept responsibility, results oriented, solve problems, meet the public, team player, written communications, computer skills.

n Commute options specialist: Interview others, communicate verbally, logical, patient, high energy, pleasant, accurate, follow instructions, speak in public.

n Nonprofit professional: Manage money, persuasive, counsel people, insightful, understand big picture, motivate people, negotiate agreements, plan, self-motivated.

n University administrator: Manage money/budgets, decisive, run meetings, organize people, audit records, adaptable, research, take orders, direct others.

n Medical receptionist: Accurate, listen, sensitive, articulate, supportive, understand, write clearly, outgoing, tactful.

A note here about marketing yourself: If you can't toot your own horn, take music lessons. Many job seekers are not comfortable with promoting themselves or recounting their accomplishments and skills. With some practice, you can become your own best sales agent.

Think of yourself as a product. Who is most interested in this product? Why would they want this product? What is the best way to get my product before the targeted users?

n Maxim No. 1: A good sales person knows his or her product. If you have followed the above guidelines for identifying your transferable skills and building your resume, you are off to a good start.

n Maxim No. 2: A good salesperson is a good listener (or savvy reader in this case). A customer is not interested in buying a pair of socks if he or she is looking for a refrigerator. Make sure your resume and skills match the job description or position you are applying for.

n Maxim No. 3: A good salesperson knows his or her market. This takes you back to the researching and networking tips above.

When assessing your transferable skills, don't be shy. Explore all the experiences in your life and draw out all the hidden treasures of your abilities. You may be very pleased where it will take you, both personally and professionally.

For those with a military background, you can visit www.Military.com, which is one of the best resources to help the veterans understand what their transferable skills. The website www.Military.com utilizes a military skills translator based on the veteran's current or previous military career field. The skills associated with that career field would be displayed along with the equivalent civilian occupations utilizing those skills. The site also shows the associated civilian terminology for those skills.

Additional resources include Nevada Job Connect and Workforce Connections. HELP of Southern Nevada's Work Opportunities Readiness Center, with funding from the state of Nevada Department Employment Training and Rehabilitation, offers 24 free workshops annually for displaced homemakers who have been supported by someone else for at least two years and lost that source of income. The workshop curriculum includes: Writing a Career Plan; Transferable Skills; How to Complete an Application; What is a Cover Letter and Thank You Letter; Job Search Techniques; The Hidden Job Market; Networking; Dress for the Interview, Dress for Success; Time Management; S.M.A.R.T. Goal Setting; and Online Resumes.

In addition, through the Workforce Investment Act-Youth Program, funded by Workforce Connections, HELP provides low-income, at-risk youth (homeless or near-homeless youth ages 16-21) with long-term accomplishments, such as basic educational and employment skills; completion of academic certificates, including high school diplomas and equivalents; and placement in employment, post-secondary education and/or training.

These programs provide pre-employment services that empower participants to enter or re-enter the labor market. For more information, contact HELP of Southern Nevada at 702-369-4357 or www.helpsonv.org.

ReviewJournal.com offers job readiness sessions -- generally two before its career fairs. These workshops are offered at DeVry University in Henderson and the Dr. William U. Pearson Community Center in Las Vegas. The workshop sessions have a mix of the classics: resume writing, interviewing skills, LinkedIn training and basic computer lessons, with a dash of the unusual from "Highlighting You! Sell Yourself in One Minute or Less" to "Go From Unemployed to Employed With the Right Words!" A session on transferable skills is offered by HELP of Southern Nevada.