Whether you want to continue studying, get straight into work or combine both, there are a lot of options to choose from at 18. 

The right path for you will depend on your qualifications and work experience so far, your interests and whether you already have a job or career in mind. 

Transferable skills can make you really stand out to employers, even if you don’t have specific experience in their industry. If you don’t have any previous work experience, these can be gained from also from hobbies, voluntary work or even playing sport. If you can normally get out of doing the dishes, you’ve inadvertently been practising your influencing skills!

You are likely to have a whole set of valuable skills you can take with you from one job to another.

It’s worth knowing what skills are most wanted by employers so you can highlight them in upcoming job applications. 

1. Creativity

Whether you come up with a new, inventive idea or find a solution to a difficult problem, thinking outside of the box and displaying creativity can make a real difference in many jobs.

2. People Skills

Convincing others and listening well are really valuable, particularly in customer service and sales jobs.

Working as a team not only drives greater productivity for the business, but it also builds healthy and supportive relationships to make it a great place to work.

3. Adaptability

Being adaptable means you are able to respond quickly to changing ideas, responsibilities, expectations, and other processes at work. It’s a good way to show you’re flexible and eager to learn.

4. Leadership

Being someone who can coach, empower and support those around you is a great skill in the workplace. It helps you get the best out of the team you are working in.

5. Time Management

Being able to monitor your workload and meet deadlines is an important skill in any job, and it helps you make the most of your time to accomplish, more in shorter periods.

 

When you next apply for a job, start by making a list of all ways you’ve built up transferable skills, and explain how you have used them in your CV or job application. You might just find a new career is closer than you think.

 

Make sure to consider applying for jobs in critical industries which are expanding right now such as logistics, food retail, and agriculture. Many vacancies require little or no experience with training on the job.

 

The National Careers Service can also help you consider jobs or careers that could fit your transferable skills by using their interactive checker (external website)and if you’re looking to brush up some digital or numeracy skills, then check out the free online bite-sized courses (external website) at the Skills Toolkit.

LinkedIn and Microsoft are offering free online learning (external website) for a range of jobs in demand – including programmers, IT support, design and customer representatives.

The Google Digital Garage has lots of courses (external website) to help you develop your career skills, including CV writing, project management and wellbeing.