The Value of Transferable Skills: How to Use Your Corporate Experience to Land Your dream Purpose-Led Job

Transitioning to purpose-led work doesn’t necessarily mean throwing away your corporate career - there are lots of transferable skills that you can ‘shine up’ to take with you.

If you’re reading this, you probably aren’t wildly enthusiastic about your current corporate job, and are ready to Cinderella your way into your dream career. 

That said, working at a traditional company does have its benefits - and we’re not just talking about the office coffee machine. While climbing the corporate ladder, you’ve likely gained a whole host of transferable skills - from people management, to technical knowledge - and these are worth their weight in gold.

Why, you ask? Given that many purpose-led organisations function as social enterprises or businesses, or have the same departments (like Finance, Legal, Marketing, etc.), your corporate experience and transferable skills can actually be quite relevant for purpose-led organisations. 

With a little repacking magic, and some purpose-led passion sprinkled in, you can fairy godmother your transferable corporate skills into your next exciting ‘for-good’ job (“You will go to the ball!”).

Bippity boppity boo! Unique job titles

Although many purpose-led jobs carry the same title as they would do in a corporate environment, sometimes they have slightly different wording. It’s worth checking out the Escape the City Job Board to investigate what other synonyms are used by employers for your field of expertise (e.g. Sales, Legal, HR, Marketing, etc.). This can help you stay alert to jobs that you are qualified for and can transfer your skills over to, and also be used to diversify the wording on your CV or cover letter.

Here are some examples that we found on our job board for inspiration:

• Corporate Lawyer > Social enterprise lawyer
• Sales > Fundraising Manager, Grants Lead, Partnerships Manager
• Banking or Finance > Team Rewards Officer, Finance Manager
• HR > Happiness Officer, Team and Community Officer
• Teacher > Education Consultant, Coach

Passion for the win

Having done a deep dive into the transferable corporate skills listed in real jobs on our Job Board, we found that there were two main elements that purpose-led employers are looking for. For jobs where a degree and X number of years’s experience in a field like law, HR, sales or marketing were required, employers are also looking for:

• Good alignment with/passion for their mission and values e.g. ocean conservation, gender equality, etc.
• Some exposure to the subject area e.g. pro-bono or volunteer work, personal exposure

If you look back at your early work experience, very specific projects you’ve worked on, courses you’ve done, activities in your free-time, or personal connections, you might be surprised to find that you can draw a link between an organisation’s mission and your interests/experience.

Picking up a part-time and short-term volunteer pro-bono project is a great way to use your corporate skills in a way that shows passion for a subject area, too. We're specifically talking about using your professional capabilities (legal, marketing, social media, HR, operations, etc.) for a charity, NGO, or a local cause, as opposed to traditional volunteering (handing out food at a food bank, collecting rubbish at a beach, etc.). Making a list of potential organisations and offering them your professional skills can get the ball rolling! In this way, you're actually transferring your corporate skills over into a purpose-led subject area... ta-daa!

Transferable skills treasure

The transferable skills most requested on our Job Board for corporate-style jobs (e.g. lawyer, sales manager, HR manager, marketing manager, etc.) at purpose-led organisations are:

• Proactive and can-do self-starter 
• Positive attitude 
• Good communicator (especially under stress)
• Ability to prioritise competing workloads 
• Independent - ability to work under pressure with minimal supervision
• Decisiveness
• Takes responsibility for own work
• Adaptable and responsive in a changing environment
• Highly organised
• Great attention to detail 
• Results focused
• Willingness to roll up your sleeves
• Curious / a love of learning
• Thrives in a diverse global team

What attributes do you already have from this list? How can you use them to boost your next job application and show your passion for the organisation’s mission?

We hope that this article has helped you to reframe your corporate skills, value them more and think about how to repackage them to your advantage!

Take a look at our Job Board and don’t forget to save this list to refer back to when you apply! Happy job searching!