“Regardless of profession or title, at some level we are all hired to do the same job. We are all problem solvers, paid to anticipate, identify, prevent, and solve problems within our areas of expertise. This applies to any job, at any level, in any organization, anywhere in the world, and being aware of this is absolutely vital to job search and career success in any field.”
― Knock ‘Em Dead 2016: The Ultimate Job Search Guide
Transferable skills are those that you can build on and develop throughout your career. They tend to bring the following benefits for candidates and employers:
- Flexibility. In an increasingly competitive job market, companies want to recruit employees who can diversify and complete multiple tasks and roles. When you have a diverse skill set, this will set you apart from the other applicants and shows you have greater flexibility.
- Diversity. The more transferable skills you have, the more diversity you can offer to a potential employer. The experiences that you have had during your studies, work experience, or side projects have all allowed you to develop a range of skills, many of which can be put to good use in any role.
- Portability. The nature of transferable skills means they can be taken with you when you move jobs. As you progress, the skills that you currently have will improve and you will also gain new ones too.
- Employability. Even if you have very little work experience, building a strong CV around your transferable skills will strengthen your chances of success. Although you may not have direct work experience, these transferable skills will demonstrate that you can adapt to new demands.
Who does the job market need?
In the report published by Linked In “The Skills, Companies Need Most in 2019 – And How to Learn Them” authors have listed 5 most important soft skills and the good news is that cabin crew have all of them.
Furthermore, amongst the hard skills companies need most in 2019 according to Linked In there are many, which cabin crew already have or display a great potential to acquire. They are: People Management, Video Production, Sales Leadership, Translation, Social Media Marketing, Business Analysis, Journalism, Digital Marketing, Customer Service Systems, Computer Graphics, Corporate Communications
Future of Jobs Survey 2018 published by World Economic Forum is listing amongst the trending skills another set, which cabin crew members should be familiar with; Creativity and initiative-taking, Emotional intelligence, and Problem-Solving.
Job roles by country
In Eastern European and Central Asia country software engineers are in top demand, other job roles that are offered are HR Specialist, Recruiter, Marketing Specialist, Business Strategy Analyst, Data analyst, UX designer, Manager of Product Management, Accounting specialist and Human Resources Consultant. In this part of the world the job roles, which are already declining in demand, are Sales Manager and Administrative Assistant.
In Western European countries the most trending jobs are: Software Engineer, Marketing Manager, HR Specialist, Marketing Specialist, Recruiter, HR Consultant, Business Development Specialist, the jobs are in decline are Salesperson, Journalist, Admin Assistant, Food and Beverage server, Editor and Graphic designer.
Figure 10: Top ten most emerging and declining roles between 2013 – 2017 as observed in hiring trends, by region.
The top transferable skills of cabin crew
1.Problem-Solving Skills: Problem-solving is an essential skill for professionals at any level within an organization. The ability to navigate complex situations is required from professionals, cabin crew face many unforeseen situations in their daily work, as human behavior can be surprising and unpredictable.
2.Interpersonal Skills: Effective communication is a critical skill for any professional who takes up any role within an enterprise, to communicate efficiently with various teams and work together smoothly. Cabin crew are facing hundreds of various passengers on a daily basis and work within diverse teams, frequently with people they do know. They need to engage and build good rapport very quickly in order to fulfill their duties.
3. Leadership: Leadership is increasingly becoming a highly sought after quality in younger professionals as well today, especially for those businesses that have a lean organizational culture and that want leaders to both to manage teams and guide business processes, as well as provide subject matter expertise. Leading people is one of the skills senior cabin crew develops once they take up a managerial role on board.
4. Adaptability: Flight attendants must be true masters of that skill. Aviation is often faced with changes and unforeseen scenarios. Crewmembers deal with things like delays, technical problems of aircraft, changes of flights, aircraft, etc. with calm and patience. Constantly traveling and changing countries they adapt to different environments quickly.
5. Sales Skills: As the aviation industry is already quite competitive, more and more airlines introduce paid onboard service, on to of duty-free sales. In some airlines cabin crew have sales targets to meet as their salary is influenced by how much they sell. Sales skills are extremely useful; no matter if you will be working for someone, starting your own business, or will be applying for a job, they will come handy.
6. Social Media Marketing: Many cabin crewmembers have already very strong social media presence as they share the highlights of their jet-set lifestyle with their followers. Some of them become bloggers or build strong influencer presence and are ready to start collaborating with brands willing to promote their products amongst the audience gathered by the crewmember.
7. Ability to learn: The conclusion described in the World Economic Forum “ The future of Job 2018” report is that there is an unquestionable need to take personal responsibility for one’s own lifelong learning and career development. We can rest assured that in the upcoming job market changes we will need to acquire new knowledge and skills. Cabin crew are used to studying, as passing the annual recurrent exams in order to maintain their flying license is a must.
Need help getting the job done?
Changing your career generate many questions and doubts.
If you are looking for a place where you can get answers and support, join my upcoming online course BUILD RESILIENCE. TOOLS TO REGAIN CONTROL IN TURBULENT TIMES.
Do you know that people with high level of resilience :
- bounce back quicker from setbacks, i.e: find job quicker
- are more happy with their life
- have better physical and mental health
- adapt faster to the new work environment
It’s time to focus on building your resilience now.
