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Introduction

At every stage of your application process, it will be important that you can describe your skills and experiences in the best possible way. Throughout the process, remember that you are marketing a product, and that product is yourself. You need to present yourself positively and effectively for each job you apply for.

This unit will show you how to describe your skills and experiences in a way that will attract potential employers to your application.

DISCOVERING YOUR STRENGTHS AND TALENTS

Watch a video clip about finding your strengths and talents

As an introduction to this unit, and to start you thinking about what you are good at, watch the video below. After you watch, make Exercise 1 in the next slide.

Exercise #1

Consider your own strengths and talents

Ask yourself and ask people who know you what they consider to be your strengths and talents. You may find the sentence beginnings help you.

  • I think I’m good at ............
  • People sometimes ask me to help them by ............
  • I really enjoy ............
  • When I have spare time, I like to ............
  • My friends and family say I’m good at ............

When you apply for a job, think carefully about the strengths and talents you have which are relevant to the particular position you want. Read the job description carefully, and consider what the position requires. It is a good idea to refer to your skills and talents in order of importance, placing the key ones first.

Discussing your degree and the benefits you have gained

The knowledge, skills and experiences you gained from your degree course are enormous.

Those years you spent studying were highly formative and you learnt many things, from all aspects of life. These include the information you acquired, the teamwork activities you did, the confidence you gained, the places you visited, the life skills you learned, and so much more.

Make sure your potential employers know what you have gained, and how these things can benefit their organisation.

Try to think back to the sort of person you were before you started your course, and look at how far you have developed, and in what ways. Link this to the sort of job you are looking for, and aim to show how your degree has prepared you for it.

Discussion #1

Write a paragraph to show what you gained from your degree course. Explain why the degree subject is important for the job you want and give examples. Make sure that any employer values the knowledge you bring.

Begin with the sentence, ’My degree in ........... is an excellent foundation for this job because ...........’. Then, post your paragraph onto the discussion board.

Read other students’ posts on the discussion board and note the terms they use to describe their course. Share your ideas and learn from each other.

Open Discussions

Describing Your Degree Course

It is likely that at some stage of the job application process, you will be required to describe your degree course in detail. It is worth preparing carefully for this question. Your answer will include some or all of the following.

  • The title of the degree course
  • The modules you chose
  • The title of a dissertation or of some long essays you wrote
  • Study methods, including attending lectures, using media technology, online research, visits to relevant places, group and collaborative work, seminar participation
  • What particularly interested you, and why
  • What you are currently doing to further your knowledge of the subject
  • Areas you would like to research further
  • How your studies will benefit the potential employer

Discussion #2

Write your responses to the 8 points in previous slide.

Aim to use rather formal language and make the points as impressively as you can. Share your responses on the discussion board and see what you can learn from your peers’ responses.

Open Discussions

Making Your Achievements Sound Good

The language you use to describe your achievements can make an enormous difference. Think carefully about how you can present yourself in the best possible way. Do not undersell yourself because you are feeling shy. If you have done something impressive, make sure everyone knows and values what you did!

Here are some things that you can do to make sure your achievements sound as good as they really are.

  • Use ‘action’ verbs
  • Use positive adjectives to describe yourself
  • Give numbers and statistics where applicable

Use 'action' verbs

Action Verbs are words which show powerfully what you have achieved. They do not just refer to what the job required. They show what YOU actually DID. In a job application, they are most often used in the past tense, to stress that the action has been completed.

In the action verbs list, there are some examples of ‘action’ verbs. These are suitable for you to use when you apply for a job.

Exercise #2

Your Turn #1

You can find a useful list of action verbs, arranged according to skill sets, by clicking the following link.

Action Verbs for Resumes

Read the list carefully, and choose verbs you could use in your application.

Use positive adjectives to describe yourself

Remember that employers normally know the key characteristics of the people they are seeking.

Be sure to include some positive adjectives about yourself in your job application, your CV and your covering letter. When you see a job advertisement, read carefully and make sure you mention the characteristics that they are looking for.

Exercise #3

Give numbers and statistics

Giving numbers and statistics will help to create an accurate picture. Without these, hiring managers could underestimate the size of your achievements, and this would be unfortunate.

Compare the following sentence, written by an applicant for a position as a Visitor Experience Manager at a London museum.

  1. "As a Museum Assistant, I patrolled the exhibits to make sure they were in good order, and helped visitors with their enquiries."
  2. "As a Museum Assistant, I patrolled the 57 exhibits displayed in 3 large halls, to make sure they were in good order. The museum welcomed over 400 visitors daily, and on average I helped over 20 people each day with their enquiries."

You can see that the second sentence carries far more meaning and highlights the size of the accomplishment.

Exercise #4

Grammar: Using Correct Tenses

When you are applying for a job, you are in effect considering your past, present and future. This can make it difficult to use the tenses appropriately.

Try the following exercise, to find out how well you can use the tenses. When you have finished, check your answers and read the explanations given. Make sure you are able to use these structures correctly, as you will need them when you are applying for jobs. If, after doing this exercise, you still feel unsure of how to use the tenses correctly, consult a good grammar book.

Exercise #5

Taking Ownership of Your Successes

Use the first person pronoun ‘I’ whenever applicable. Sometimes, job applicants lack the confidence to claim ownership of their achievements. Some applicants might feel reticent to talk about their own role.

For example, an applicant may state:

  • We telephoned the retailer to obtain a refund.
  • OR The team telephoned the retailer to obtain a refund.
  • OR It was our responsibility to telephone the retailer to obtain a refund.
  • However, if the applicant took the action, he or she should state this clearly. I telephoned the retailer to obtain a refund.

Exercise #6

Analysing Your Skills for a Particular Job

The number of skills needed in the world of work is enormous. Most of us do not even realise all the different skills we possess.

Sometimes, when we see a job advertisement, we might not believe we have the skills needed. However, with some thought, we can often think of some experiences which demonstrate that we do indeed have the required skills.

Remember that writing about yourself only gives potential employers a brief snapshot about you.

They do not see all the great things you may be doing in your daily life. They do not meet your friends or colleagues. In the early stages of your job application, your writing is the only thing they can use to judge your suitability for a job.

Sometimes, we may expect employers to infer our skills and qualifications.

We may assume, for example, that because we work with children all day long, employers will know that we have good communication skills. However, we should not expect people to infer things from what we write. In reality, it is more likely that if we do NOT explicitly mention a certain skill, our readers will assume we do NOT have that skill. As a general rule, job applicants should list their relevant skills clearly, and give evidence for these.

Without evidence, an applicant’s claims will be less convincing.

Do not wait until the interview stage to demonstrate your abilities. This must be done in writing, clearly and directly in the job application.

Sometimes, it is necessary to think for some time before finding a really good example to evidence a particular skill you have.

MATCHING YOUR SKILLS WITH THE SKILLS REQUIRED IN A JOB ADVERTISEMENT

Exercise #7

Considering What Your Degree Qualifies You to Do

It is a good idea to consider your skills well before you see an advertisement for a job. If you follow the link below, for the UK’s National Careers Service, you will find a list of almost 800 jobs. Read through the profiles of some of the jobs that your degree qualifies you for.

Job Profiles - UK's National Careers Service

Using the Star Model to Evidence Your Competencies

The STAR model is a framework for answering questions so as to give evidence of one’s competencies. The model is widely trusted by employers and is considered to be a reliable indicator of a candidate’s future behaviour. According to the model, you can divide your answer to a competency based question into four clearly defined sections, namely Situation, Target, Action and Result, and these are described as follows.

Identifying the Sections of the STAR Model

  • SITUATION: What was the situation at the beginning? Was there a problem of some sort? What was the context and why was the issue important?
  • TARGET: What needed to be achieved in order to sort out the problem? What was your target for solving it?
  • ACTION: What did you do to solve the problem? Describe the steps you took and the stages involved. Which of your skills did you use, and how?
  • RESULT: What was the outcome? What have been the positive effects for your organisation, for individuals, and for yourself? What has all of this taught you and how has it assisted your professional development?

Exercise #8

Discussion #3

Practise using the STAR model to evidence one of the other skills required for the above Marketing Manager position. Choose either public speaking or negotiating. As this is just practice, you can use some imagination for your answer! Write a sentence or two for each of the four sections as you practise following this model. Then post it on the discussion board and ask for peer feedback.

Open Discussions

Review

In this unit, you have considered in detail how to describe your skills and experiences. You have learnt to identify your own individual skill set, and to describe all the benefits that you can bring to a potential employer. You have considered which jobs you should consider applying for, and have identified the steps you need to take to supplement your current skill set. You have analysed the STAR model and can now use this to describe your own skills.

Make a note of three things that you have learnt from this unit and be sure to use them when you apply for a job.

Your learning in this unit will be useful and relevant to all of the following units.