Why your EXPERIENCE working at your local shop is important.


My girlfriend and I go on weekly walks; I push the stroller with the babies and she takes charge of the dog. We discuss everything from Mortgage rates to baby puke. Yesterday, we got on the topic of her job at a franchise coffee place and she told me that her current Manager, who still attends university, was in the process of writing resumes to find a job post-university in her field of study. Oh, and she wasn’t going to put anything about her Managerial role at said franchise business. It was, in her words, “Not acceptable, because I’m studying Finance.” I had one of those moments where I wanted to find the closest wall and smash my head against it, repeatedly.

I have talked about transferabl skills on this blog in the past and the importance of said skills. Managerial roles provide the necessary skills for a person to deal with people from a wide range of different backgrounds therefore teaching you to manage your time and your resources. In this Managerial role, she would have been involved in writing up balance sheets, setting annual goals; budgetary or otherwise, coordinate rosters, order supplies, communicate with vendors, employees and customers. All these skills can be transferred to another job. In fact, it shows that she can handle responsibility, stress and can manage resources. In what world did she get the idea that she wasn’t suppose to talk about all the Managerial tasks that she had to complete. These tasks that most of her peers would never have had the chance to experience?

There is something seriously wrong, when a girl with so much to offer was given the advice or got the idea that she wasn’t suppose to talk about all these transferrable skills because it wasn’t related to her field of study. The sole purpose of a resume is to sell you, it is to make yourself look amazing, competent and brilliant. Very few students get direct experience in their field when they are studying. The only to make yourself stand out is to highlight your transferrable skills. They are important; they show your ability to adapt situations, to communicate with people, and to manage resources.

Don’t ever belittle the experience you gain from your job. Break down your job to individual tasks and think about all the skills you learnt while doing them, and then write them into your resume. Your experience shows your worth, make it known, don’t leave it out.

Additional resources


Using our transferable skills by By Sheila Ramsay, AACC Member.
Employability Skills Framework covers the transferable skills that is desirable when searching for a job.
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