Throughout our articles on the people we work with, one theme comes up again and again: people have more skills than their qualifications show. Women returning to work, veterans, mature-age workers, people who have worked overseas and people who have been out of work all bring capabilities that are real, but hard to prove.
This article explains what transferable skills are, how to identify your own, and how Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) can turn experience into a nationally recognised qualification.
What are transferable skills?
Transferable skills are abilities that are useful across many jobs and industries, regardless of where you learned them. They include:
- Communication: explaining things clearly, listening and handling difficult conversations
- Teamwork: working with others towards a shared goal
- Organisation: planning, prioritising and managing time
- Problem solving: working out what has gone wrong and how to fix it
- Leadership: guiding others, taking responsibility and making decisions
- Technical skills: operating equipment, using software or following procedures
You can build these skills in paid work, but also through caring, volunteering, running a household, community involvement, military service or study.
Identifying your own skills
Many people find it hard to name their skills because they take them for granted. A useful exercise is to think of a few things you have done that you are proud of, at work or anywhere else, and ask: what did I actually do? What decisions did I make? What problems did I solve? Who did I work with?
The answers usually reveal skills that can be described in the language employers use. Pre-employment workshops are a good place to work through this with others.
How RPL works
Recognition of Prior Learning is a formal assessment process. A registered training organisation compares the skills and knowledge you already have against the requirements of a nationally recognised qualification. If you can show the evidence, you can be awarded all or part of the qualification without repeating training in things you already know.
Evidence can include:
- work history and position descriptions
- references from employers or supervisors
- examples of work you have done
- previous training certificates or licences
- practical demonstrations or conversations with an assessor
RPL is not a shortcut. It is a rigorous assessment, and it suits people who genuinely have the skills and can show them. Where there are gaps, gap training can fill them.
Learn more at rpl.org.au
We created rpl.org.au (opens in a new tab) as a free, independent guide to RPL in plain English. It explains who RPL suits, what evidence looks like, what quality RPL should involve and how to avoid common pitfalls. You can read about the launch in Introducing rpl.org.au.
Where we fit
Asset Community is not an RTO and does not conduct RPL assessments. Through our partner registered training organisations, currently Asset College (RTO 31718), participants can explore whether RPL suits them. We help people understand their options, gather their thinking about their experience, and connect RPL or training to the work they want.
Your experience is evidence. RPL is one way of putting it on the record.
If you would like to talk about whether RPL or training could help you, get in touch or call 1800 993 557.