Ep 2. How will identifying my transferable skills move me forward in my career?

🎙️ Welcome back to IPAA Insiders! This podcast continues to be your essential guide to navigating and thriving in the public sector. Designed to answer your burning questions, each episode delivers actionable insights from experienced professionals inside and outside the sector.

🌟 Episode Highlight: In our second episode, we dive into Transferable Skills and Their Impact on Your Career Journey. Anthony Mitchell and Natalie Micarone from Bendelta, Jo Brown a recruiter from Beaumont People, Donna McLeod from Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, and Lisa Alonso Love from Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality and Sport discuss how the vital and versatile skills can elevate your career across various roles and sectors.

Key Takeaways:

• The importance of identifying and leveraging your transferable skills for both personal and professional growth.
• "Distil your motivations, be crystal clear on these," says Jo Brown, offering expert advice on standing out from the competition and showcasing your unique strengths.
• Practical tips for effectively communicating your skill set to enhance career opportunities and achieve success.

🎧 Whether you're looking to pivot roles, step up in your career, or simply refine your professional toolkit, this episode is packed with insights to help you thrive.

Tune in now to learn how to leverage your skills, differentiate yourself, and advance with confidence!

SHOW CREDITS
Host: Jo Rose
Writers: Alessia Campagna, Nicola Hardy and Jo Rose
Producer and Editor: Alessia Campagna
Technical Producer: Anthony Watson
Executive Producers: Jo Rose and Nicola Hardy

Music Credits:
Let The Good Times Roll: Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/ra/let-good-times-roll
License code: DNAIHKYCKOUU6HBT

Enchanted Puzzle: Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/andrey-rossi/enchanted-puzzle
License code: YTN0OYX8RBDDUQ73

Easy Flow: Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/hybridas/easy-flow
License code: R2FTWOYRCB7YOW21

Not That Easy: Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/not-that-easy
License code: MYQOVXXWAFZULECH

On Tiptoes: Music from #Uppbeat
https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/on-tiptoes

We would like to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land on which the podcast is taking place today. We pay our deep respects to all Elders past, present and emerging. We would also like to extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples listening today.

Transcript

IPAA NSW acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands and waters this podcast is recorded on and pay our respects to elders past and present.  Through sharing stories on IPAA Insiders, we pay homage to the rich story telling history of the world’s oldest living culture, the traditional custodians of the lands on which we live, work and play. We extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People listening today.

Welcome to IPAA Insiders, the podcast that takes the topics that are top of mind and shares unique perspectives and actionable advice from senior leaders, blue sky thinkers, and IPAA members across the sector.

Jo Rose

In preparing for this episode, I had a trawl through the archives. 

Wanted, women who like to spend their time all day speaking to people. That's what our Mr. Smith does. She's a bright, happy individual who spends most of her day talking with business people, making appointments for our sales team, and she's successful. So she's making a lot of other people happy, us and our clients. But she needs help. That's why we're asking you to speak with us. That is, if you're a person like our Mrs. Smith, and have the experience to do a job like hers. 

A reputable agency seeks to fill this vacancy position at its head office in Sydney. We are looking for an enthusiastic worker in the preferred age range between 25 and 40. We are prepared to offer a top salary and conditions to attract the right man. Applications along with the tested copies of testimonials and experience should reach this office within 15 days of publication of this advertisement. 

Those are real Australian job ads over the years. I certainly had a chuckle reading through those types of listings. The world has come a long way since those types of job advertisements.

Thankfully and rightfully, we're no longer recruiting based on gender, age or physical appearance. Job advertisements of old were brief, often focused solely on qualifications, job title and key responsibilities. 

They were much more technical skills or specific qualifications, with cultural fit definitely less of a priority. And soft skills, they were largely overlooked. Those days are long gone. Jobs are now expressed in terms of capabilities, not in specific subject matter expertise. And that's deliberate. The more capabilities you build during your career, the more likely it is that you will be ready for any opportunities that come your way.  

     The capability framework for the NSW public sector was developed for exactly this reason. 

In this episode, we’re taking a look at what you need to build a career-ready skillset.

We call them Transferable Skills, and you certainly have many in your toolkit already. Whether you're considering a career change, seeking out new opportunities, or looking to grow in your current role, transferable skills are your secret weapon.

Today, we’re going to help you identify your transferable skills so you can be more flexible, competitive, and ready for whatever challenges your career throws your way.

Episode Two - How will identifying my transferable skills move me forward in my career? 

Anthony Mitchell. 

I'm Anthony Mitchell. I have the ridiculously overblown title of Chief potential Officer at Bendelta. You can make of that what you will.

Natalie Micarone

I'm Natalie Micarone, founder and director of Bendelta, alongside Ant.

Jo Rose

Anthony and Natalie co-founded Bendelta 21 years ago. It’s a leadership and organisational design management consultancy that uses a blend of neuroscience, psychology, and strategic business approaches to help organisations improve their performance. Working with so many different types of organisations gives them a layered view of the current world of work.  

When I asked Anthony and Natalie to share their perspective on what we’re currently seeing in the workplace, the word they came back with was unsettled.  

And I think it’s a really good description of what so many of you are telling us you feel right now. 

If we think about the last decade, we have already seen all sorts of different disruptions in the world of work. Then Covid came along and massively accelerated two of the biggest changes we've seen - virtual collaboration and hybrid working. This has sprouted some really different attitudes to employee engagement and work-life integration. Throw into the mix that we're now seeing six or more generations in the workforce, from Gen Z right through to Boomers, and it’s no wonder we're in this unresolved state of flux, shifting the rhythm of work.

Anthony Mitchell 

and so a lot of these things haven't settled. You know that these they stay unsettled. We're never going back to where things were like, but nor are we going on a linear trajectory from where we were going while we were in the pandemic. That would be my, my word for it, if I was just to choose one, it's unsettled. It's unresolved.

Natalie Micarone 

Yeah, I think unsettled is a good word, and it's not surprising, if you think about pace at which we're moving and the complexity within which we're working has catapulted, and then we've added to that, this complete shift in the way in which we work, which is far less boundaried, far more technology driven, and has led to some really different ways of working.

Jo Rose

We are seeing so much change within the public sector particularly in how we do the work. Remember when teleconferencing was THE online meeting? And trying to juggle with lots of different platforms just to get work done?

Recently, someone was describing to me how the budget papers used to be handwritten and hand-delivered – they still have copies of them now in the archive. And I think it would surprise a lot of people to think that someone used to sit there and, in their neatest handwriting, write up the budget papers and if they made a mistake, they had to start the page again. Fast forward to now, and it’s all done digitally. The speed at which we’re working means you need to be even more precise with your movements. 

It also means that the pace we’re working at doesn’t leave much space for downtime. 

Here's Natalie again: 

Natalie Micarone

And I think one of the interesting things is in that more manual, more face to face world it just had in built elements that followed the rest and recovery, or that, or the peak in recovery cycle that the human brain and body need. And so part of what's the challenge at the moment is things are happening sort of spontaneously and automatically. We've kind of concertina the gap between things. And so this period of time is, how do you inject that back in, whilst not losing the wonderful benefits and innovation that's come from this new way of working.

Jo Rose

One of the common themes I see across the sector, is that some people are really struggling with the pace and level of work and their ability to disconnect. A lot has changed and continues to do so. 

And it’s not just the way we work. The way we look for jobs and the types of jobs we want have changed, too. 

Jo Brown 

Since COVID There's been a huge shift in the way we recruit, which has been reflective of the way that people are looking for jobs and what jobs mean to them. So, you know, work from home was very much lovely if you had it situation before COVID, whereas for most of us in office space roles these days, it's absolutely the norm.  And I think that has opened up a new recruitment landscape completely for people, and changed the way we work.

There's also been a shift, I think, in the last couple of years, is that we're really seeing Gen Zs, or Gen Zs, coming through and wanting something different, demanding something different from their employers as well. So there's been a huge amount of change in the recruitment landscape. And it, you know, barely a couple of months goes by before we find people wanting new and different things. New technology, obviously, AI, you know, is huge, and people can apply for jobs using AI. Now, you know, that's something as recruiters that we've needed to be incredibly aware of as well.

Jo Rose

This is Jo Brown. She’s the recruitment manager and executive search consultant for Beaumont People. We know Jo because her speciality area is professional associations and member organisations. 

When Jo first started recruiting back in the UK, people would fax their timesheets in to her, so she has definitely seen ALOT of change in her time.

All the outside of the sector experts we spoke to for this episode said the same thing. Covid accelerated many workplace trends, some considered good and bad. Now with the explosion of AI and other technologies these trends won’t be slowing down any time soon. 

So, with the Future of Work already here, we need to start thinking about how traditional linear career paths are becoming increasingly fluid and unpredictable.

The notion of staying in one role for decades is becoming something our parents did. Instead, we're now seeing a shift toward careers that evolve and transform, requiring us all to be increasingly adaptable.

And this is where your transferable skills become your secret weapon. 

But what are transferable skills? 

As Jo explains, they are the skills you can take from job to job, no matter your sector or industry. You might also have heard them described as soft skills, things like leadership [pause], negotiation, organisation skills [pause], being able to untangle a web of complex information, customer service excellence and strategic thinking - they can all be thought of as transferable. They're skills that you can dip into to get the job done and that might be daily, weekly or even less frequently.

Jo Brown 

I guess to give an example of how and why you might think about your transferable skills is, imagine you've got a background in business development, but you find a project manager position that you want to pursue. Your previous job title sounds different, but you still likely spend time planning, developing processes, timelines, delegating, collaborating, organizing with your team to reach your business development goals. They're all transferable skills that can help you land your new job in your new sector as well. But here's the trick, it's making sure that you clearly explain in your cover letter or your resume what your transferable skills are helpful to the next role. We know that the average time that somebody looks at a resume is often eight seconds or less. So it's got to jump out of people to get to the next stage and to be on the Yes pile, not the no pie. So you might say something like in your cover in my previous role, I had to source new leads, cold call people, build rapport quickly. What this means for this new role is is that I'll be able to quickly assess key stakeholders and ensure I bring them on the journey during the project. My negotiation skills will likely be a key asset in this role, in negotiating with all involved to make sure that the project's delivered, so there's an example of how you could make your old job and asset for your new job,

Jo Rose

This is excellent practical advice. We often hear from members that one of the hardest parts of applying for jobs is identifying those transferable skills. Most of you are looking for tangible skills and traits that you can develop and emulate to get to that next phase of becoming a leader or a specialist in the sector. I asked Jo what she thought the desirable (or essential) transferable skills were within the public sector.

Jo Brown

Particularly, I think, for the public sector problem solving, or as I like to call it, with my team solution bringing. So please don't come to me with just the problems and expect me to do the solving. And the next step to that as well, is critical thinking. Is a really key transferable skill that you'd be able to bring to any role in the public sector. showing your employer that you're able to evaluate and interpret information, provide an action plan, execute, multitask, prioritize around multiple deadlines.

They're all highly desirable transferable skills, and who wouldn't want somebody like that on their team? The second really strong transferable skill that we see people asking for a lot is analytical reasoning. So I would describe this as the ability to break down complex business issues into smaller, more manageable chunks, and to identify solutions and provide more than one course of action. And I imagine any of you listening in the public sector will recognize that that's probably needed on a day to day basis in your current role.

And then the third transferable skill that I really love and I'm passionate about, but especially for this sector, is leadership skills. I truly believe that everybody requires leadership skills. You might be a leader and have leader or manager in your title, and that's great however. You might not, but you might still need projects. You might need to manage up the chain. You might need to lead something less tangible, like change or culture change. You might champion a particular project, like we're seeing people being AI officers and things like that. Now that's not officially part of their role, but unofficially, is a really important role to play, and you might simply lead new thinking. So I always say that everybody is a leader in any business or any department they work in, as you have to lead yourself. You have to work towards joint outcomes, bring the best to the table every day. And look, if you can't lead yourself, you're likely the weakest link in the chain, and nobody wants to be that. 

Jo Rose

The skills that Jo is describes here tie rather nicely with what Bendelta is seeing.  

Here’s Anthony again. 

 Anthony Mitchell

I might be a little bit provocative and say that skills in the sense that we've traditionally known them may be less relevant for the future because of the increases in technology. There's a whole lot of things we needed to be able to do, because there wasn't the kind of technology that we have today to do it for us. Instead, you know, you can already see that in terms of what Gen AI is doing, that used to require a team of 100 to work on that might now be done by two people with some AI support And so therefore, I think we move a little bit away from a skills orientation to some core characteristics. And those things, I would suggest, haven't changed for many hundreds of years and maybe pretty robust well into the future as well.

The sorts of thing that I'm talking about there transcend skills. I'm talking about qualities like initiative, that ability and orientation to make things happen rather than waiting to be told what's happening, that sheer brilliance of creation, where something didn't exist before, but someone brings it into reality if you combine that with things such as a disposition for optimism, an internal locus of control, and clearly, the ability to work well with others, those sorts of things are always going to be transferable, and in the future, I suspect employers will only look for those things more.

If I want to go to the extreme and talk about where Gen AI might take us over the next three to five years, you could suggest that many of the traditional sources of competitive advantage might be eroded completely. You know, it used to be that an organization would say, we are really good at x, or possibly we are really good at x, y and z, and we will continue to hone those things. But with Gen AI, the opportunity is to say, Well, yeah, but what could be really valuable tomorrow or the next day? And by the way, we can catch up really quickly. So therefore the base of competitive advantage will not be core capabilities, so much as it will be the capacity to adapt and learn really quickly, and to have a culture in which it's possible to do that, in which there can be such a strong learning on orientation and nimbleness. What I've just described is just as relevant for New South Wales Health or service. New South Wales doesn't matter. I could go through any agency and exactly what I said would apply.

Jo Rose

The mindset and behaviours that Anthony is describing are key to a successful public service career. 

We recently ran a Developing an Internal Consulting Mindset session that explored this concept. It was hugely popular and focused on how people within the sector can develop the skills, traditionally sourced from consulting firms, questioning, problem solving, research, and listening.  

Here’s Natalie again: 

Natalie Micarone

I know that IPAA is having a lot of conversations around that consulting mindset. It's really one of problem solving for that ability to ask that question, what is the actual problem that we're trying to solve? What is the pain point that we can remove, or the unique benefit that we can supply to our customers, that ability to think about what is the diverse set of skills and minds that we want around the table to solve for this problem, it's not going to come from one individual. It's going to come from a diverse set of viewpoints, and to be able to facilitate that towards something to test, something to learn from,

Lisa Alonso Love 

Thinking and problem solving like sometimes there's limited resources. Sometimes you've got to do something faster than you think you can do it maybe you're a teacher in a classroom, and really unpredictable things happen, and you've got to work out, what am I going to do now you're a nurse in a hospital, or you're thinking about the same thing and people running projects or running an IT system, all are going to come up against something unexpected happening. 

If you can work through a way of solving those problems, staying calm, how do I assess what's going on? Who do I need to talk to to solve the problem? How am I going to explain it? What do I need to write down about it? All of those skills are really transferable And actually, you kind of use some of the same skills at very different levels, whether you're sort of beginning or you've been at the Public Service for 25 years, some of those skills just in different ways and with different levels of kind of complexity. 

Jo Rose

This is Lisa Alonso-Love. She is the Deputy Secretary for Corporate Services in the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism, Hospitality, and Sport. Lisa entered Public Service life 28 years ago, when, as a psychology university student, she applied for a role as a child protection caseworker based in Orange. Her mum knew someone who worked in the office, so Lisa popped in and dropped off her CV. 

Lisa Alonso Love 

So I popped in and said, Here's my CV. I'd be happy to take some temporary work, and I think I started the next week. So definitely not an ideal kind of, you know, way to be trained and interviewed and all of those things. But it was the beginning of a really long time and a love for being in the public service. 

Jo Rose

Lisa’s career has given her exposure and experiences in a variety of roles at different levels of seniority. Even spending a little bit of time in the ACT public service. 

What those roles taught her is that she has more transferable skills than she actually thought she did. 

Lisa Alonso-Love 

If I think about my executive roles. I spent a really long time as a director. And when I was at that level, I got experience in lots of different things, so lots of sideways kind of moves and lots of acting opportunities. 

So I did operational managing a big area of Western New South Wales, in child protection and out of home care. I did some policy work at the New South Wales Law Reform Commission for six months. I did some legislative work in the head office around child protection and out of home care. And that was really taking those opportunities as they came up. 

I have always been the person that if I hear something that I think I might be interested in, or if someone offers me an opportunity, even if I think, well, I don't know why you're asking me, like, not sure I'm up for that, I pretty much just say yes. 

      And so that has meant that I've gathered a whole bunch of different skills, So when I came to this role, I had done a similar thing at deputy secretary level. So I'd acted in a couple of Deputy Secretary roles at education. Then I'd set up a new division around early childhood. And then the time came when I didn't get a role that I went for, I decided, actually, maybe this is a sign for me to kind of see what is the next part of my adventure. 

And this role that I mean, came up as a six month relief opportunity and if you had asked me even three months before I came here, would I be doing this? I would have thought really creative industries, you know, tourism, hospitality. I would have said, I don't know why you think I would do that role, because that doesn't seem to me to be a logical next step. But actually it brought together a whole lot of skills that I had, that I'd gathered in different roles. And also it just was fresh I really liked change, and I landed in it, loved it, and then it became an ongoing role. And so, you know, those opportunities just have to grab them.

Jo Rose

It’s an impressive CV, and I wanted to know if there was a particular skill that she felt had been a constant in her journey. Surprisingly, it was a skill no one else had raised so far. 

Lisa Alonso-Love

 It is probably in most roles. It's certainly been a feature for me, is writing. How do you write in a way that works for the person you're writing it for? So it's one of those skills that you've got to develop a bit over time. You probably need to do training in it, but then you develop it on the job. But people who can write and adapt that writing, depending on who the audience is, and can put themselves in that person's shoes and go, What would I want to see? How would I present it like that's going to get you a long way, because it means that all the work you do, the work that your team does, all the thoughts you have actually can kind of come to life and make an impact. 

And that can be whether you're writing a letter to a customer, they've made a complaint. How do you respond to that in a way that means something to them? You're writing something for the expenditure review committee or cabinet, and those people that are sitting there, the ministers have got hundreds of pages to get through. How do you get your point across quickly? So it's a real skill that is present in all of those roles.

Donna McLeod 

My name is Donna McLeod. I work for the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. I'm based in Coffs harbor. My role is Director workforce, capability and talent, and I've been in the public sector for almost six years

Jo Rose 

Donna’s journey into the public sector is very different to Lisa’s. Donna started her career working with two of the big 4 consulting firms where she led the talent acquisition teams.

As Donna recalls over time she began questioning the culture and what she personally really wanted out of her career.  

Donna McLeod

There were a few things culturally that I was just really starting to question. You know, it was almost some nights keeping me away, and I started to really think through, what is it that's a little bit misaligned with my values being in the Big Four, and for me, then I started to think what I really needed to be happy in a role. 

Talent Acquisition is talent acquisition. People are people. I think, there's lots of transferable skills, but the culture was really important to me, and I really wanted to be an environment where I could be a service that was also something that, having done a bit of soul searching and reflecting, was important to me. And I started to talk to a few recruitment agencies, and I'd never really thought through the concept of public sector, and one agency bought it up. And, you know, at that point, I was sort of, oh, I don't know, public sector. And she then set me up with three or four coffees with people that were executives in the public sector that had moved from private sector, and said, Look, go meet them. Go understand their journeys and see if that might be different to what you think. And I met these incredible people that I'm still connected to today, and just hearing their journeys and hearing about the work they did and the culture in the public sector, it was so far away from what I had imagined it to be, I thought that sounds really exciting. That absolutely sounds like somewhere I want to be. And I've been here in public sector for six years now, and I adore it. 

Jo Rose

Donna definitely realised that her transferable skills were her secret weapon, and she was able to make that leap from the Private to the Public sector. 

She echoes much of what we’ve already heard this episode when she defines skills that aren't tied to a specific job or field.

This makes them really valuable to any profession or if, like Donna, you're considering making a career change.

Donna McLeod

Transferable skills are abilities and competencies that can be applied across various roles, industries or work environments. And for example, the one I always come to is communication. You will communicate day to day, whether it's at low level, you're a graduate and it's within your team as you progress, that might be with ministers or with senior executives or with Secretaries, communication is still dealing with people. I think you adapt slightly, and you learn. And one of the beautiful things is there's lots of people to learn from in the public sector, but again, I think we need to harness these transferable skills and really actively build on them. The things that you can do day to day, just in your work. You don't need to do it through a formal qualification. You might do it just by osmosis, sitting next to somebody and hearing how they talk. I always think listening is one of the best things you can do when you're in a workplace, because all the time I hear different people speak, and I'll say, Gosh, that was a really lovely way that they put that Oh They're so eloquent, or the way they phased that was really polished, you know. And I'll think to myself, Okay, think about that. And how could you weave that into your day to day? Work

Jo Rose

IPAA runs a Skills for Success micro learning sessions every month. This bite sized learning helps you develop your own capabilities further or uncover new areas of interest.  Donna definitely has some great advice for recognising your transferable skills and deciding what to develop and where you might want to invest some time. 

Donna McLeod 

in terms of developing transferable skills, find people you trust and ask them, as well as a little bit of self reflection, it's always a bit scary to hold up the mirror and to say, hey, what am I really, really good at? And what am I not so good at? And then honestly think, if it's something I'm really good at, how can I build upon and how can I help others develop it if it's something you're not so good at. And again, people always say, know your gaps and build on them. I actually say, know your gaps and actually think, are they things that are going to serve you well in the future? Use that time wisely to build on skills that are going to set you up for success. Identify roles and go and shadow leaders. You know, I'm a big fan. I've got a team, and I create opportunities for them to shadow me. At the end of every meeting, we'll then have a debrief, and I'll ask them for feedback. I always think mentoring and shadowing can work both ways. It's not always upwards. Some of the most valuable insights I get are from junior people giving me feedback on how I can improve. I think also keep being curious. I'm a voracious learner. I will read and read and read .And I just think it makes for really good conversation. You know, you've always got something to bring to the table, and don't be afraid to have a viewpoint. 

Jo Rose

I think it’s important to remember that you don’t have to just think about building transferable skills if you want to move jobs. Building these skills is important at any stage so you can be ready for whatever comes your way. It’s about being adaptable and prepared even when you love the job you’re in. 

Donna McLeod

So even in your current role, if you really enjoy your current role and you love the people you work with, be asking, is there a project I can take on that's a bit of a stretch that I can do? In addition, could I take on, some volunteer work? Could I take on a board role? Could I maybe spend a day a week working in another team? Do you know what? That's a little learning piece for you. We call them stretch opportunities. I also think, you know, you always get out of anything, what you put in. And our secretary often jokes that I'm always silver lining, fully optimistic. I just think that helps so much. You know, I genuinely believe everything will work out as it's meant to be. But I think you can certainly help yourself. You know, if I had to hire a candidate that constantly learning, constantly developing and constantly seeking growth opportunities, versus somebody, when I say, what if you developed in your skills in the last 12 months? And they say, I've just been doing my job,  would absolutely go with the one, even if that is, you know, they've done something outside of work as a hobby, be it sewing, be it amateur dramatics, I'd still go with the person that's had passion to grow

Jo Rose

And so, what happens when you decide you do want to take that next leap and change to a completely different role? What should you be doing to give yourself the best fighting chance? Here is our resident recruiter, Jo again with some practical tips: 

Jo Brown

You really need to put yourself in the shoes of the person that's going to be looking at your application, reviewing your resume and interviewing you. You know you, you know what skills you already have, and what you'll bring to the role, but they don't, and you need to really be able to sell yourself, So firstly, I'd break it down, and I'd really distill your motivations. You know, you're highly likely to be asked in a in a career transition situation, why? Why the change? Why our department numerous times throughout the process. So I really would advise being crystal clear on these and yes, I do mean practicing, whether it's in front of the mirror or, you know, to your husband, your wife at home, to your best friend, to your dog. It doesn't matter, but practice saying this out loud, and make sure it's more than just, you know, well, I quite like the idea of the additional super you need a really strong reason. You'll be up against other people, probably with sector experience, so you've got to really cut through and sell yourself. This starts with your resume, your small profile section at the top of the resume, if you can submit a cover letter, great opportunity to nail the why you want to transfer. 

Second tip would be, know your transferables, so really know what your transferable skills are and make the link for them. Really spell it out. This is why this skill is good for this job, and that will really help with them seeing you in the role before you get the job. I would also take some time to learn the language and use it. Simple things, what does the department call the people that use their services? Is it clients? Is it customers? Is it consumers? Is it the public? For example, Secretariat, instead of admin, stakeholders, instead of clients, policies or frameworks instead of regulations. Then make sure you use them in your resume, cover letter interview as well, because you need to adopt the language where you can, and you need to be seen to understand the area you're applying for. And then build your connections, if you can, you know, utilize your network. Are you currently in a role where somebody at work interacts with a government organization. Can you shadow them? often it's getting to where you want to be? Might have several stepping stones and a process to it.

if you are available immediately you could really consider temping or contracting, which would gain exposure and credibility on your resume in the areas that you want to move to. 

Finally, I guess my final point on this is be resilient. It's not going to happen overnight. It might take a few applications, but tailoring your application to every role and persevering will be needed. So really flex those transferable skills such as grit, tenacity, determination as well. Every interview is a really good experience. Most people get better at interviewing the more they interview. So mindsets huge here, and if you don't get the job that you interviewed for, it's a great chance to reflect on what you can do better next time. So always ask for meaningful feedback if you get to interview stage and then, and then take that on board to help you as well.

Jo Rose

So you’ve practiced your interview skills, memorised all of your key achievements and prepared your questions to ask the interviewer. You definitely feel like you did all the right things in the interview, even spelling out your transferable skill super powers and how they’ll help you in this new role.

But you find out you don’t get the gig. What do you do then? Here’s Lisa again: 

Lisa Alonso Love

 At any point in time, there's a number of people who apply for a job, but then at the end of the day, the panel has to make a choice between a number of people. I've had times where I've had to talk people through and say, Actually, this other person had more skills, more experience, and it was a pretty clear decision about why someone didn't get a role. But other times, it really is kind of working with people who are almost equal in terms of the skills and the experience and those sorts of things that they bring. But perhaps there was a decision to be made on who might be the right fit in the team at the time, so who brings some diversity of skills or diversity of thinking to a bigger team? Because that's also important. It's important, if you've been disappointed in not getting a role, to understand a little bit about why that might be, and sometimes you're going to get detailed feedback, and other times you're not, because people have a range of other things on but I think trying to talk to someone who you really trust to say, Okay, I didn't get that role. What do I know about it? What might help? But also realizing that sometimes there's just a whole lot of circumstances outside of your control, and you might not get it first time, second time. Keep going. I think the best advice is apply for the things you're really interested in that you think will grow you. Like, where's the bit where you think it's going to give you some growth, and you get to do something that you're not completely confident in, and if you don't get it, it's okay, because the experience of going for it is also useful. But you've got to understand, there's really different circles of decision making that sit within that and particularly at the moment in the public service, there's a lot of change for people in senior roles. There's a reduction in the number of them. So actually, what people are looking for might be different. You've got to roll with that a little bit.

Jo Rose 

We’re constantly faced with new challenges, especially in the public sector, it’s a part of the DNA. In episode one, we talked a lot about resilience and the ability to bounce back. It’s definitely something that we need to tap into as we continue to build our transferable skills over time. 

Here’s Natalie again: 

Natalie Micarone

The art of resilience. I'm not sure there's a bigger topic and a more important muscle to be building in us at the current time. So a lot of resilience is about the looking back piece. So something trips us up. You have a conversation that lands badly, or a piece of feedback that you've got, or something that didn't go to plan. And I think the art of being able to see things as a framing exercise becomes really key, not in terms of denying reality, but the ability to use your mind to your advantage. What we think becomes what we feel becomes how we tend to act. And so making friends with that cycle is really important, and in learning some tips around, how do you reframe? How do you actually use things like a wide lens or a looking back lens to say what will matter to me three months from now, things that help us put things in perspective and stabilize our emotional state so that we can move forward fairly swiftly, 

I think, in this day and age that we're in now, it's equally as important to think about it in a proactive fashion, and so our ability to self regulate becomes even more important, because one of the things that we see from a resilience perspective is it's not unlimited that the body needs to fill back up and recharge. You can't be bombarded with things on a constant basis, and keep that resilience and so that self regulation, where we understand the ability to pause and to tolerate a level of uncertainty or anxiety without moving straight to action, minimizes a lot of disruption that we can sometimes create for ourselves, which means we're putting out more fires than we need to. And so that sense of what kind of activity am I doing to have myself in a strong state to begin with, is really important that everything from boundaries around work to having hobbies that are actually different, that fill us up in different ways, through to getting in a habit of meetings, finishing five minutes to the hour, just so we can take a break, all of those things cumulatively build a base of state in us where we can actually take on and handle a lot more than if we don't. And so I think at a collective level that resilience is really important when we hit tough times, we lean into the best of who we are and how can we actually do this even better than what we thought by leaning into to what we've built, rather than what we might fear.

Jo Rose

We're facing new challenges all the time, and change is a constant companion. I hope today's episode helped you realise that transferable skills really are the future. We've already got them, but the key is how to adapt them to your next role. You might not get every job you apply for, but it's how you process that feedback that's really important so you can prepare for the next opportunity that comes along. Analyst moving into project management. A regulatory officer wanted to step to design thinking. who you simply love your customer facing service job building those transferable skills will help you wherever your career journey may take you.

IPAA Insiders is a production of IPAA New South Wales. Our producer is Alessia Campagna with mixing and sound design by Anthony Watson. 

Our executive producers are me, Jo Rose and Nicola Hardy. If there is anyone you know who might get something out of this episode, please share it with them. If you want to ask our community a question, you can message me on LinkedIn.

If you're enjoying this series, we want to know. We always love your feedback. Leave us a review on whatever podcasting app you use. It's just one key to getting new people to discover the show. See you next episode for IPAA Insiders