Dance Transferrable Skills

[pygmalion]

I'm being influenced by my recent bout with unemployment and underemployment, I admit. :lol: But what transferrable skills, if any, do you think a dancer or dance teacher could put on a non-dance resume?

I've actually spent time thinking about this. Dance teachers have myriad skills -- teaching, directing, managing ... What about dancers? I'm thinking self-starter, self-discipline, public presentation skills ... Thoughts, anyone?

[jon]

Social skills - being comfortable with new people quickly.

[DWise1]

I'm being influenced by my recent bout with unemployment and underemployment, I admit. :lol: But what transferrable skills, if any, do you think a dancer or dance teacher could put on a non-dance resume?

I've actually spent time thinking about this. Dance teachers have myriad skills -- teaching, directing, managing ... What about dancers? I'm thinking self-starter, self-discipline, public presentation skills ... Thoughts, anyone?
Always being on-time?

[my apologies for that wise crack]

But seriously:
social skills?
showing involvement outside of work and thus being a more balanced person?

[Chris Stratton]

I think the answer depends a lot on what type of approach to dancing the person takes: primarily social and interactive, or primarily driven and technical (aka competition oriented). Both would seem to have business world parallels, but rather different ones. Though I'd think in both dancing and business there is a role for those with both interactive and technical skills.

Let's see - a good example might be learning how to explain a technical concept to someone not used to thinking about an issue in that sort of way.

[Genesius Redux]

Alas, I think we live in a society in which transferrable skills have been abandoned in favor of explicit credentials. This is the downside of Equal Opportunity laws. Often, when a position is advertised, specific credentials are mentioned. Hiring someone without those credentials but with similar skills is an uphill battle.

I'd sneak it in under interests or even a public service section of a resume just so it's on there. That way, when your resume comes up against another with similar credentials, yours stands out.

[Sagitta]

It is a matter of how one describes one's skills. It helps if one can relate the dance skills to how they can be applied in one's job. The place where this can be done most effectively is at the job interview. Tough to do on a resume. What I've learnt from my current job is not as much the technical skills, but people skills, and dancing has really helped me with that. If you look at successful companies carefullly you will see that they are successful because of the open and honest communication that occurs at all levels of their companies. That is the one clear commonality among all of them. :)