Skills For A Job – Skills Set

I started working life in banking, mainly due to parental pressure (there we go again).  I hated it from the minute I walked through the door, but it was a good career, with prospects and a job for life!  However, after three short years I was pigeon-holed – BANKER!! No matter what skills I had for a job, I was firmly labelled “Banker”!

So, deciding to “get out”, I sat down to write my CV. That said BANKER too.

I went to recruitment agencies, and all they could say was, “Oh, I see you’re in BANKING, haven’t got any BANKING vacancies at the moment”.

Job Skills Set

The mistake I made was simply to show what I had done (BANKING if you hadn’t guessed yet!) and not the work skills and abilities I had gained.  Job skills and abilities that could easily have allowed me to make a career change.  I had started to develop the skills I mentioned earlier, I was already good at getting people to see my point of view, explaining things well (you had to in the Bank).  I had good communications and letter writing skills, I was good with money and budgets and was genuinely hard working.  All skills that industry, at the time, was begging for.

However, all anyone could see was BANKING, and I hated it!

I had made the cardinal sin of not showing these highly marketable skills in my CV.  Now I look at it, I realise these skills were the root of all the good things I did (and still do).  Once I realised the mistake and put these skills into my CV, I doubled my salary overnight, and, nine months later achieved my goal of a move into sales with a major blue chip company.

Amazing, isn’t it?

Incidentally, I hope you don’t mind me using myself as a case study.  I do it simply because it is the case I know best, and it does illustrate the point I am making extremely well.  The point is this;-

Know how important it is to understand your job skills and abilities (you may hear them called key competencies nowadays by the way).

Work Skills

It cost me dear, don’t let the same happen to you!  You can do these things and do them very well, they are things you do not need qualifications for, and things that many people find difficult.  You can also get paid very well for these skills, particularly if you market them well.

So, the message?  Well, know your job skills, know what you want, and then be creative in marketing those skills to ensure you do get what you want.  Decide what your key competencies are. Think about what you have accomplished and how.  What skills for a job did you use and how?  What did you accomplish in school?  The local whatever club?  Your hobby?  Past jobs?  What about family accomplishments?  Then ask what do I know that helped me achieve these things, and remember these are not necessarily “formal” skills.

As an example, try not to think of understanding the Widget & Co ISO9002 Quality Manual down to the last word, but also think in terms of how you are able to understand, make sense of and impart knowledge to others in really complicated issues.

Try not to think of yourself as only a computer programmer, but think in terms of being able to explain the use of complex technology to business people you work with as well.

Don’t just market your total knowledge of Lichensteinian tax laws (although very handy), but also think in terms of how you are easily able to decipher complex rules and regulations so that others may easily understand.

I hope you see the distinction, because it is so important when you come to market yourself, particularly if you are looking to change direction in your career.

Incidentally, don’t think I am telling you to leave your detailed knowledge out of your CV.  If you think that, you have not grasped what I am saying.  You need to market your specialist knowledge, but you also need to market the other competencies those skills have allowed you to develop.  You have to “mix and match” your approach depending on the job you are applying for and how the compare to the skills you have for a job.