Georgia DOL Job Search Handbook , Chapter 4, Skills Identification "What can you do?" - All great job hunters define their skills and achievements concisely. Be ready to describe your skills and give examples of specific times when you used those skills.
Organize your skills into a Skills Triangle
One of the most useful systems for organizing your skills is called the SKILLS TRIANGLE. It will help you assemble your skills and abilities into categories.
Transferable Skills are common to a number of jobs and can be adapted to a particular employer's need.
Job Content Skills are related to job-specific tools and tasks. They usually have a vocabulary of their own.
Self-Management Skills - Personality traits which help an employer decide if your temperament suits a particular job. They are clues to how well you may adapt to situations and solve problems. These are most important because very few employers offer training in these areas. Development of these skills is an individual initiative.
Identify Your Skills View and print a list of transferable skills. Choose at least 10 that apply to you. Only choose skills that you have a reasonable amount of experience performing. (You may add others to list.)
View and print a list of self-management skills. Choose up to 10 that describe you. As before, feel free to make additions.
View and print job content skills worksheet. Job Content Skills are unique to your experience and job objectives. They describe what you did on your last job. Describe your 10 most important skills performed on your last job.
Prove Your Skills
Now that you have accumulated an impressive list of skills, you must be able to offer concrete examples of how you have demonstrated these skills. This exercise is called Proof by Example, the easiest way to convince an employer to hire you.
Proof by Example Format Identify the Skill Handle Money (cashier, retail sales, bank teller) Present a Concrete Example Describe where and for how long you used this skill One year of experience at XYZ Department Store. Qualify Example: Describe Circumstances who, what, when, why, how Assisted approximately 100 customers per day - calculated costs - processed credit card and cash payments. Reinforce with Measurable Data numbers, dollars, percentages, volume per month, year, etc Handled approximately $3,000 per day = $750,000 a year. Give Results...What Happened? How did the company benefit from your skill? Accomplished monetary transactions with the lowest error rate of any employee. Received only 2 complaints that year. After six months was promoted to Senior Cashier.
Using your top three skills from the previous lists, complete the Proof by Example worksheet. Imagine yourself as the employer. How will each worksheet help you determine if hiring the person with that skill would... increase profits?decrease turnover? or improve productivity?
Once you have identified your skills and have practiced presenting them to the employer, the next step is to determine where your skills can be best used by selecting appropriate job goals.
