Yale Students with Disabilities: Transferable Skills

What are Transferable Skills?

Transferable skills are a set of skills that one develops over time and can be useful to employers across various jobs and industries. There are certain skills that a student with disabilities has developed over time. This page will help students with disabilities identify some transferable skills and learn how to incorporate them into one’s job search or graduate school application process.

Five Steps to Incorporate Student with Disabilities Transferable Skills into the Job Search/Graduate School Application Process

  1. Identify the examples of students with disabilities transferable skills that closely match your own skill development.
  2. Reflect on which skills are most relevant to the opportunity.
  3. Articulate these skills with explanations that can be incorporated into your Resume and Cover Letter.
  4. Match these skills to specific experiences that you can elaborate on and provide supporting details.
  5. Practice articulating these experiences in your Interview Preparation including the STAR Method.

Step 1 – Identify the examples of transferable skills that closely match your own skill development.

Everyone has their unique strengths. With every disability, there is another ability that you have strengthened to compensate.

Below are examples of transferable skills to consider:

  • Adversity
  • Advocacy
  • Problem solving
  • Empathy
  • Critical thinking
  • Time management
  • Resilience
  • Determination
  • Innovative
  • Adaptive
  • Self-starter
  • Communication
  • Self-aware
  • Mental toughness
  • Organized
  • Learn from failure
  • Persistence
  • Goal oriented
  • Creativity

Step 2 – Reflect on which skills are most relevant to the opportunity

  • Review the Job Description or Graduate School Application and identify which of your transferable skills are best suited for the opportunity. Look for keywords and any examples that are provided. Do this every time you apply for a new opportunity.
  • Ask yourself: What do you bring to the potential employer/ graduate school? Do your abilities align with the job description and the qualities they value?
  • To look for specific skills needed on various jobs, use the Skills Discovery Tool located on the Students with Disabilities page, which allows you to search by various job types and shows you the top skills needed.

Step 3 – Articulate these skills with explanations that can be incorporated into your Resume and Cover Letter

Review the list below along with Writing Impactful Resume Bullets and Sample Cover Letters to help you elaborate on these skills. Once you have written these examples out, include them in your Resume and Cover Letter.

How to Explain potential transferable skills:

  • Self-starter based on doing many things on your own in a completely different way than others.
  • Problem solving and innovation to overcome challenges.   
  • Time management skills to be more focused on how you spend your time.
  • Empathy for others with an increased sensitivity and awareness of others’ challenges.
  • Adversity and Resiliency because of health challenges faced.
  • Critical thinking about how to approach a new situation.
  • Creativity and problem solving – when a typical way of doing something doesn’t work, you are engaged in coming up with an alternative solution.
  • Strong advocacy and communication skills developed to make sure that you are receiving the services needed.  
  • Adaptability and flexibility in many situations where things pop up unexpectedly and you successfully handle it.
  • Leadership in helping other students with disabilities or mentoring incoming students with disabilities.
  • Focusing on one project for hours at a time.
  • Ability to thrive on multi-tasking and working on several projects at once.  

Step 4 – Match these skills to specific experiences that you can elaborate on and provide supporting details.

Use the Accomplishment Story Grid Worksheet (page 1) to write these skills and experiences out.

Step 5 – Practice articulating these experiences in your Interview Preparation including STAR Method

Use the Accomplishment Story STAR Method Worksheet (page 2) to write out these skills in a format that is used in answering many behavioral interview questions.

Keep in mind that advisors from the Office of Career Strategy are happy to meet with you along the way as you reflect on your personal transferable skills and how they fit into your career path. The Meet with an OCS Advisor page provides details on how to set up an appointment.