Changing careers can make your experience feel harder to explain. You may worry employers will see only your old job title and miss what you can bring to a new role.

The answer is not to claim that every skill transfers, or to hide your previous industry. It is to identify the parts of your experience that matter to the job you want, then prove them with clear examples. Transferable skills on a CV in the UK should be connected to the target role, supported by evidence and written in language the employer recognises.

This guide gives you a method for finding those skills, a mapping exercise and examples for different career moves. It also explains how to handle gaps in qualifications or industry knowledge honestly.

What are transferable skills?

Transferable skills are capabilities you have used in one setting that can also help you perform in another. They might include planning, customer communication, analysing information, solving problems, training colleagues, organising stock or keeping accurate records. Some are technical; others relate to how you work with people and tasks.

The National Careers Service describes transferable skills as including soft skills such as teamwork, communication and problem-solving. It recommends looking at job descriptions, past work and education, daily life and other experience to identify your strengths. Its skills guidance is a useful starting point—but your CV still needs to show what you actually did.

A skill is not transferable simply because it sounds positive. “Leadership” needs evidence, such as allocating work on a busy shift or coaching a colleague. Show where you used the skill and how it relates to the vacancy.

Start with the job you want—not a list of your strengths

Before editing your CV, choose a real vacancy or a clear target role. Read the job description and person specification. Highlight repeated responsibilities, essential criteria, tools, qualifications and outcomes. Separate what the employer says is essential from what is desirable.

Then ask, “Where have I done something similar, even if my job title or industry was different?” A retail supervisor may have planned rotas, resolved service issues and monitored stock. A school administrator moving into healthcare administration may have handled records, scheduled appointments and worked within procedures.

Do not assume that matching a few words is enough. The employer needs to understand the scale, context and result of your contribution. The National Careers Service advises tailoring your CV to the specific role and highlighting skills requested in the advert. Its CV guidance also recommends clear, concise formatting and using relevant work, placements and volunteering as evidence.

A four-step method for finding your strongest transferable skills

1. Break down the advert

Create a short list of the requirements that matter most. A project support role might ask for coordination, communication, accurate records and confidence with spreadsheets. Focus on repeated or essential criteria rather than copying the whole advert.

2. Search your experience broadly

Look beyond your job title to paid work, volunteering, education, community projects and relevant caring responsibilities. The setting may differ while the actions are similar. Protect others’ privacy; personal details are not needed to prove a skill.

Ask yourself:

• What did people rely on me to do?
• What problems did I solve or prevent?
• What information, equipment, money or time did I manage?
• Who did I communicate with, and what did they need from me?
• Did I improve a process, support a colleague or help someone make a decision?

3. Match each requirement to proof

Make a simple two-column note: “What the new role needs” and “Evidence from my experience.” Add a third note if you need it: “What I still need to learn.” This prevents you from overstating your fit and helps you spot any genuine training gap.

For example, “attention to detail” is not enough on its own. Evidence might be checking weekly invoices against delivery records and identifying errors before payment. “Communication” might mean explaining a delay to customers, updating colleagues and agreeing the next action.

4. Choose the strongest examples

Prioritise the examples most relevant to the vacancy and that you can discuss at interview.

How to write transferable skills into your CV

A clear CV has a profile, relevant skills, employment history and education or training, arranged so your best evidence is easy to find. You do not need a separate “Transferable Skills” section. For many career changers, skills are more convincing in the profile and work-history bullets, with a short skills section as a signpost.

Use the profile to explain the move

Your opening profile should quickly identify your direction, relevant experience and the value you can bring. Avoid a vague statement such as “Hardworking professional seeking a new challenge.” It does not tell the employer what role you want or why your background is relevant.

Example:

Customer service team leader moving into recruitment coordination, with experience arranging shift cover, handling high-volume enquiries and maintaining accurate customer records. Skilled at building rapport, managing competing priorities and communicating sensitive information clearly. Currently developing knowledge of applicant tracking systems and recruitment administration.

Only use claims that reflect your real experience. If you have a specific course or credential, name it accurately. If you have not yet worked in recruitment, say that you are moving into the field rather than implying direct experience.

Turn duties into evidence-led bullets

A useful bullet often follows this pattern: action + context or challenge + outcome. You do not need a number for every result. If you have a reliable measure, use it; if not, describe the practical effect without inventing a statistic.

Generic: Responsible for stock and deliveries.

More useful for an operations role: Coordinated daily deliveries, checked orders against records and flagged shortages early so the team could adjust stock availability.

Generic: Helped customers and dealt with complaints.

More useful for a client-support role: Resolved customer queries across phone and email, clarified the issue before proposing next steps and escalated cases that needed specialist approval.

Generic: Trained new staff.

More useful for a training or people-support role: Showed new starters how to use the booking system and follow service procedures, then checked their first shifts and answered questions.

These bullets work because they explain the action in language a new employer can understand. Adapt the wording to the role, but keep the facts unchanged.

Transferable skills examples by career move

These examples show how to translate experience without claiming something that is not yours.

Retail to office administration

A retail role may involve rota coordination, cashing up, handling stock records and communicating with suppliers. For an office administrator vacancy, choose evidence of accurate record keeping, scheduling, written communication or dealing with competing requests. Do not call retail till work “financial reporting” unless you genuinely prepared reports; describe the actual process accurately.

CV bullet example: Maintained daily cash and stock records, checked discrepancies and raised issues with the duty manager before the end-of-day close.

Hospitality to customer success

Hospitality workers often manage several requests at once, respond to complaints and coordinate with kitchen or service teams. These experiences can support a move into customer success or client services, where listening, follow-through and clear communication matter.

CV bullet example: Coordinated guest requests with reception and housekeeping during peak periods, keeping customers updated and resolving routine issues before they affected the rest of the service.

Teaching or tutoring to learning and development

Teaching can provide examples of explaining complex information, planning sessions, adapting communication and checking understanding. For a workplace training role, describe the audience, material and evidence that people understood or applied what you taught. Avoid assuming that classroom experience alone meets every requirement for designing corporate training.

CV bullet example: Planned weekly learning activities for mixed-ability groups, adjusted explanations when learners struggled and tracked progress to identify where extra support was needed.

Project or event volunteering to project support

Volunteer work may show that you can coordinate schedules, brief helpers, manage supplies and respond to last-minute changes. Be clear that it was a volunteer project, and describe its scale honestly. Do not inflate a small activity into a formal programme-management role.

CV bullet example: Coordinated volunteer rotas and event-day tasks for a community fundraiser, shared updates with participants and rearranged cover when two volunteers were unavailable.

Show where your transferable skills came from

A skills list can help readers scan, but each skill needs proof. If you list “planning,” show what you planned in a job, project or volunteering entry. For “data analysis,” say what information you used and what you did with it.

Use concrete verbs such as coordinated, checked, explained, resolved and improved. Use job-advert terminology only when it accurately describes your experience, and support claims like “strong communication” with evidence.

Be honest about skills you do not yet have

Transferable skills do not replace a required qualification, licence or technical skill. If you lack a required certification, do not imply adjacent experience is equivalent. Check whether the criterion is essential or training is available.

Describe learning accurately: “Completed introductory training in X” is clearer than “Proficient in X” if you have only used it in a course. Mark qualifications as in progress and add an expected completion date if known.

A skills gap can show what to do next. A course, portfolio project, volunteering or entry-level role may give you missing evidence. The National Careers Service notes that volunteering and training can help develop skills. Choose an activity that addresses a real requirement in your target role.

Common mistakes when presenting transferable skills

Listing buzzwords without examples. A recruiter cannot assess “adaptable” or “organised” without seeing what you did. Add a brief example in the employment history.

Copying the job advert. Use its language only where it truthfully describes your experience. Repeating requirements without evidence can make a CV sound generic.

Hiding your old industry. Your previous sector is part of your experience. Explain the connection rather than disguising job titles or changing dates.

Making every task sound strategic. Accurate scope builds trust. “Helped coordinate” may be more credible than “led” if you supported someone else’s decision.

Using a skills-based CV to conceal the timeline. A skills-led profile can be useful, but employers still need to understand where and when you gained the experience. Keep employment dates clear and use a readable structure.

Final check before you send your CV

Compare your CV with the vacancy and ask:

• Can the employer see what role I am targeting within a few seconds?
• Have I addressed the most important criteria with genuine examples?
• Does each skill I list appear in evidence somewhere else on the CV?
• Are my claims, dates, qualifications and results accurate?
• Have I explained technical gaps honestly rather than using vague wording?
• Is the document clear, consistent and easy to scan?

Frequently asked questions

How do I identify transferable skills for a career change?

Compare the new job’s essential criteria with tasks you have done in work, education, volunteering or relevant projects. Choose examples that show the same action or outcome, even if the setting differs.

Where should I put transferable skills on my CV?

Mention your strongest relevant skills in the profile, add a concise skills section if useful, and prove them in employment or project bullets. Avoid relying on a skills list alone.

How many transferable skills should I include?

Prioritise the few that matter most to the vacancy and that you can support with clear evidence. Relevance and proof matter more than a long list.

Can I use volunteering as evidence of transferable skills?

Yes. Identify it clearly as volunteering and describe your real responsibilities, the people or tasks involved and any outcome. Do not exaggerate its scale.

For more help matching your CV to a particular advert, read CVProWrite’s guide to tailoring your CV to a job description. If you are making a larger industry change, see the CVProWrite career-change CV service, which focuses on reframing relevant skills and achievements for a new sector.

Your experience can travel—but the evidence has to travel with it

You do not need to start your career story from scratch. Find the real overlap with the role, explain it in the employer’s language and support it with examples. That is how transferable skills on a CV in the UK become a credible case for your next move.