• Use your transferable skills to demonstrate competence and credibility.secretary image by T.Tulic from Fotolia.com
  
  You are applying for an executive position in your firm or one in a related industry. Alternatively, you may be considering a career change. In either case, you must reinvent yourself with a new resume that highlights your transferable skills. These skills, which have been well honed in past and present positions, will propel your career to the next level or a different playing field.
  
  

Communication

• Employers often seek effective communicators who can easily express their ideas in oral and written form. Critically analyze your profession or occupation and give examples of transferable communication skills. Educators introduce new ideas, facilitate group discussions and provide appropriate feedback. Lawyers analyze complicated texts, develop a well-structured argument and express ideas in a clear and persuasive manner. Social workers and counselors are empathetic listeners with well-developed interviewing skills. Customer service representatives effectively deal with requests and complaints using a variety of methods--telephone, email and face-to-face.
  
  

Management

• You make decisions on a daily basis, often when the supervisor is not present. When you write accomplishment statements for your resume, use strong action verbs and expressions to demonstrate your managerial abilities. In his book "Gallery of Best Resumes," David F. Noble provides the following examples: "Managed a structured, stimulating classroom with responsibility in all areas of teaching, assessment, behavior modification and coordination of academic and social activities"; "Furnished sales support with product and application knowledge. Provided understanding of market, competition and sales process. Recognized by management as a market expert."
  
  

Computer Expertise

• Most jobs do not require specialized computer knowledge; they simply require a comfort level with the present technology and a willingness to keep up-to-date. You are familiar with a number of software applications and may have also developed programming skills. If your computer skill set is an impressive one, create a Technical Summary section that clearly demonstrates your expertise. This section can include computer languages and platforms, operating systems, hardware, database and Web applications.