A skills cluster is a group of skills that all relate to one another, often they’re interconnected and they complement each other. It means they’re usually used simultaneously in specific job roles or functions.
Skills clusters are a useful way of attaching value your experiences, especially when you are moving industry, or going through resettlement. It’s about looking at the skills and competencies you have up to this point and matching them with a role that you’d be likely to excel in.
Plus, it’s a useful way of looking at progression. For example, if you’re looking to develop yourself with a particular profession in mind, focusing on the whole cluster will mean you’re a well-rounded candidate for that position.
Spotlight on Sales and Customer Management
Roles in this skills cluster involve acquiring and retaining customers. There’s a heavy focus on revenue and success will often be depend on targets and goals. As a military candidate, you’re likely to have many of the skills required for this cluster: clear and concise communication, teamwork, and strategic thinking, to name a few. Let’s dig into it.
Leadership - Crucial for managing relationships with your stakeholders and responding to customer needs. In the military, strong leadership is vital to ensure the success of missions and keep teams working effectively. This means you also need to be able to communicate clearly, as miscommunications within teams is essential. Plus, you’ll be comfortable speaking to people of all ages, backgrounds and positions in the hierarchy.
Negotiation - How you turn your relationships with customers into revenue; it’s essential for closing deals, addressing customer concerns and reaching agreements. This means you also need to be resilient, to avoid getting caught up if a deal doesn’t go exactly as you’d like. In the military, negotiation can be the difference between success and failure as conclusions are reached with other units, local populations or allies.
Strategy - There’s a need to understand market trends and devise effective sales plans accordingly. A good strategy will also include mitigating and preempting issues with clients or stakeholders in order to successfully get deals over the line. If you’ve served, this will come easily to you. That's because strategising and anticipating next steps is vital for mission success. You’ll be well-versed in thinking ahead and will have an adaptive, strategic mindset.
So while the context and the specific day-to-day actions varies from life in the military, the cross over in skills means that you’d likely do well in a Sales and Customer Management role if you identify with the above.
In the UK, there are over 28,000 veterans working in these types of roles. Aside from proving the skills cluster is highly translatable, it means finding people to network with shouldn’t be difficult.
If you're not yet using Redeployable, head to the platform now to find roles in Sales and Customer Success.
Good Luck.
