Not sure how to describe your nursing experience when starting a new career? Find your transferable skills in 30 minutes or less, and describe them impactfully.
This post was first published on my Medium blog—follow me there for the most up-to-date entries!
If you’re a nurse who wants to make a pivot to a role beyond the bedside, you know you have transferable skills — but when someone asks what you can do, you freeze.
Time to warm up! Remember, your job title doesn’t reflect the full scope of what you do. Maybe you’ve worn a dozen hats and don’t know which ones actually count. Or maybe you’re pivoting to something new and you’re struggling to explain what makes you a strong candidate.
Stay with me as I walk you through a rapid-fire activity of five focused steps to uncover the transferable skills you already use every day — whether or not they show up in your job title or description.
I promise, if you take 30 minutes to tackle the questions I’m about to ask, you’ll have a short list of strengths you can plug straight into a resume, a LinkedIn summary, or your next interview. More importantly, you’ll be able to talk about them with clarity and confidence.
Step 1: Think beyond the badge
You’re more than a nurse.
Some of your most useful, marketable skills may have nothing to do with patient care, and may not have started in the clinical area. Before you list your transferable skills, write down 8 strengths people counted on you for — across any role you’ve had:
- Nursing
- Volunteering
- Side gigs (waitressing, tutoring, caregiving, babysitting, etc.)
- Community roles (PTA, church, event planning, etc.)
- Camp counseling, sports teams, group projects — you name it!
Use this prompt to get started
“I was the one who ______.”
- I was the one who trained the new hires.
- I was the one who handled the angry customers.
- I was the one who remembered the details.
- I was the one who spoke up when no one else did.
- I was the one who made it make sense.
- I was the one who kept track of everything.
Don’t overthink it. Go with your gut.
Step 2: Decode the skill underneath
Take each example from Step 1 and ask yourself:
- What was the real skill I was using?
- If I took away the job, what action or strength was behind it?
You’ve heard me talk about 5 categories of transferable skills. But I’m upping the ante here. Match your answers to one or more of these five categories of transferable skills.
Communication
- Translating medical jargon into plain language
- Giving difficult feedback with clarity and care
- Listening for what’s not being said
- Explaining things differently based on who’s listening
- Leading team huddles, shift reports, or quick debriefs
Critical thinking and decision-making
- Prioritizing under pressure when everything feels urgent
- Noticing when something feels off before the vitals show it
- Sorting through conflicting information to figure out what matters
- Making confident choices with incomplete data
- Spotting patterns in chaos
Organization and time management
- Keeping track of 8 patients, 12 meds, 3 families, and more
- Creating order during messy shift transitions
- Making sure nothing falls through the cracks
- Planning ahead while staying present
- Managing tasks that aren’t yours (but got handed to you anyway)
Education and teaching
- Showing a new grad how to navigate without panic
- Explaining procedures to families or patients
- Teaching without sounding like you’re lecturing
- Writing patient instructions that actually get followed
- Helping peers understand policy updates or tech rollouts
Emotional intelligence
- Reading the room before speaking up
- Staying calm when everyone else is losing it
- Defusing anger without backing down
- Building trust with people who didn’t want to be there
- Being the “safe person” for overwhelmed teammates
Step 3: Group your real-world examples
Here’s your task: Sort your items into the five categories. Which categories show up most often?
Highlight the one that repeats. Then identify the 3–5 strongest transferable skills or moments you’ve identified.
Step 4: Pressure-test your top 5
For each of your top transferable skills, ask:
- Have I used this in more than one setting?
- Do I want to keep using this skill in future work?
- Can I describe this in a sentence that doesn’t use nursing jargon?
- Can I point to a result — what changed because I did this?
- Would I be proud to talk about this in an interview?
If one doesn’t pass the test, replace it with something stronger from your list in step 2.
Step 5: Write your plug-and-play sentences
Use one of these templates to write a sentence you can drop into a resume, bio, or interview answer:
- Known for [action], especially in [situation or setting].
- Skilled in [skill or behavior], with a track record of [result or effect].
- Recognized for [strength], used to [solve problem or improve outcome].
Here are some examples of what you might come up with, sorted by the transferable skills categories from step 2.
Communication
- Known for translating complex medical language into clear, actionable instructions.
- Skilled in adapting communication to fit the listener — patients, families, or cross-functional teams.
Critical thinking and decision-making
- Skilled in rapid prioritization and confident decision-making in high-pressure environments.
- Recognized for catching early warning signs others missed.
Organization and time management
- Known for coordinating complex care plans without letting details slip through the cracks.
- Strong follow-through — I create structure in chaos.
Education and teaching
- Experienced in peer education and onboarding, explaining systems and shortcuts that help others succeed.
- Skilled in patient teaching that actually changes behavior, not just checks the box.
Emotional intelligence
- Recognized for staying calm during tense situations and helping others do the same.
- Trusted by teams for creating psychological safety in high-stakes settings.
Write your five plug-and-play sentences and use them anywhere you’re asked what you bring to the table.
Your transferable skills
Here’s my challenge to you: Write everything down instead of trying to track it in your head. You can use your journal, or this free PDF worksheet:
📄 Grab the free fillable worksheet here
It walks you through each step in this post and gives you plenty of space to reflect, write, and keep your results for later. Perfect if you’re planning a pivot or just getting ready to talk about what you bring to the table.
You already know you have valuable, transferable skills — the trick is getting them down on paper. Then you can learn to talk them up and market yourself the way you deserve.
Pursuing a new career doesn’t have to be difficult or scary. Book a discovery call with me today and we can work through your next steps.
This post was first published on my Medium blog—follow me there for the most up-to-date entries!