How Identifying Your Skills Will Get You the Job

By Peter Fisher

When you apply for a job, it is essential that you understand your own personal strengths and weaknesses and get ready to address them. By knowing your strengths and special skills, the chances of you getting the job you want will be much higher, so this is how identifying your skills will get you the job.

However, don't get too confident since appearing to be too confident or as a know-it-all will make your interviewer think you are not the type of employee they want and unfit for the job.

Identifying your skills

Start by identifying your skills. This is the way you get that job and being able to talk about your abilities and expertise gives you the best shot.

Lots of people have a hard time talking about their skills and abilities as it can sound like bragging, but you should not be shy or afraid to discuss your genuine skills.

It is important that you convey to your prospective new employer what your talents are. You should be able to sell your abilities to your employer, because that is how you will get the job that you want.

Whilst it is important that you don't appear arrogant or condescending, you must also avoid selling yourself short. When the interviewer asks you about your strengths or what separates you from the other applicants, you need to ready with a good answer. Of course, make sure that your resume highlights your skills and talents for your prospective employer to recognize.

Hard Skills and Soft Skills
There are two main types of skills, hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are the things that you do such as knowing how to operate different kinds of machinery; having detailed knowledge of a specialized computer program, the ability to type fast or ability to use different types of tools.
Soft skills are abstract in nature and include personal qualities; being a good team player, having the ability to work on your own, being enthusiastic or organized and decisive. Work out how you can describe yours and you will get the job.

How To Start Identifying Your Skills That Will Get You The Job

Make a list of your previous jobs and experience you gained.

First thing to do is to make a list of all the organizations that you previously worked for and the things that you learned from these jobs. In other words, what can you now do (better) than you could before. There will be a lot of things to list and you should be careful enough not to forget even the smallest things or activities that you were involved with or organized yourself. It is also a good idea to list the volunteer activities that you participated in.

Look at your hobbies:
Although it might sound trivial at first, it is also very helpful to write down a list of your hobbies. There are a lot of abilities that your prospective employer may get from your hobby list. This will also give an idea of your personality. For example, if you were part of the college debating team, then your employer will understand not only that you have speaking and communicating skills, but that you have good analytical skills too. If you were a good cricket player, then your employer will see that you are good at team activities.

Think also of your daily life and the things that you do. Are you a well organized person who always keeps your things in proper order? Are you an extrovert that makes friends in a matter of minutes? These may seem ordinary and normal things to you, but your future employer will learn something about your personality from this.

Deciding what career you want:
After listing all your skills and all the things that you do well, you can think about what field or career you want to take up. Select the skills contained from your list and match it with the employment you are interested in. Looking at ads in the newspapers is a good way to find out what skills are wanted. Always take time to consider if your skills are relevant to the job that you are after.

It is important to know your skills every time you are job hunting as this is how identifying your skills will get you the job.

Peter Fisher is Coach and Webmaster for http://www.Your-Career-Change.com where you can download your free Special Career Change Report and 63 page PDF e-book "Big Book of Job Hunting Tips".