Identifying your skills
Knowing what skills you have to offer is an important step in the career planning process, this awareness will help you identify how well you match the requirements for a particular job role or employer and what skills you still need to develop. You will also need to be able to outline and demonstrate your skills in any kind of written application and during an interview.
Thinking about the skills you have to offer involves looking at all aspects of your life including your academic studies, your work history (this includes work experience, work shadowing, paid / unpaid employment and voluntary work) as well as the things that you do in your social life such as membership of teams, societies or activities in your community.
For example:
|
|
Evidence |
Skills gained |
|---|---|---|
|
Work |
Working in a call centre Working in a restaurant |
Communication skills (listening / speaking) Working under pressure |
|
Leisure / Social |
Backpacking around Europe Treasurer of the Film Society |
Organisational skills Numerical / problem solving skills |
|
Academic |
Writing a dissertation Working on a group project |
Research skills Teamwork skills |
For help in identifying the skills developed during your academic studies, the Options with your subject series, produced by Prospects, outlines the skills that are likely to have been developed for a range of degree areas. You can also look at Employability Profiles that highlight the skills you develop as part of your studies and provide an insight into how employers might view you.
You can find further advice on thinking about the skills you already have and those you may need to develop by taking a look at the section ‘What jobs would suit me?’.
Further advice and information
- For help with identifying your full range of skills you can complete a Skills profile, you can then compare your skills against those valued by employers and start thinking how you might provide evidence of your skills by completing the worksheet.
- Our Disability, equality and diversity guide – for students who feel that their personal issues may affect or disadvantage their career planning or job selection process.
