Throughout your lifetime you will have developed a series of technical and transferable skills. It is important for you to be able to reflect on the experiences where you developed these skills to help you identify and articulate your skills
Technical skills are skills that are directly linked to a particular industry i.e., coding is likely to be needed for software engineering. These skills are likely to be gained through university taught experiences and industry related work experiences.
Transferable skills are skills you will use in every job no matter the position or industry i.e., communication or teamwork. These skills can be developed through a variety of experiences such as part-time jobs, volunteer work, hobbies, clubs and groups, societies.
Write down a list of all the experiences you have, then for each experience, think of all skills you developed through that experience with examples.
For example,
|
Skills |
Example |
|
Teamwork |
Part-time work: notice team is busy at checkout tills, I would jump on tills to help them out during busy period Uni society: work as part of a team to win the game |
|
Communication |
Part-time work: communicating with customers and colleagues to ensure job is carried out effectively |
|
Analytical skills |
University module: analysing the benefits of two different software's |
|
Time management |
University module: working towards deadlines |
The ability to reflect on your skills is important because it will enable you to write better applications for jobs and prepare for interviews.
You will be asked during an interview to explain your suitability for the role by demonstrating your sills – these are often called competency-based questions
Remember to check out the careers webpage to help you further with this topic!