Employers are looking for certain attributes in an applicant.
They want to make sure you can do the job. An application should show the actual skills
you possess, and where you learned those skills.
It is important to show the employer all the skills you do have.
If you have no work history, it is easy to assume you do not have many skills,
but this is not the case!
Some basic skills employers are looking for:
Communication (verbal, written, and listening)
- Have you taken public speaking class at school?
- Are you involved in any peer counseling at school?
- Are you involved in any clubs?
- Are you involved with the school newspaper, radio or TV?
- Do you volunteer anywhere? {i.e. Spend time with elderly people, read to kids at Boys and Girls Club, etc.}
- Are you involved on any kind of sports team?
Computational
(perform basic arithmetic functions)
- What math classes have you taken at school?
- Do you have your own checking account?
- Have you started your own lawn mowing or babysitting business?
- Are you involved in the financial aspect of any club or organization? {i.e. treasurer}
Read & Follow Instructions
- What is your grade point average? {Usually a high GPA denotes a good
listener and direction follower}
- Have you been involved with any projects or organizations? {Did you help a family member organize a fund-raiser? Did you complete a scouting project or paper drive?}
- Is one of your favorite hobbies reading? {This is a hard one to show quantitative results for, but something nice to put in the hobbies/talents section of a job application}
- Are you involved with sports at all?
Thinking Skills:
Thinks creatively
Are
you involved in any clubs? [Have you had several creative ideas on
how to increase membership]- What creative classes have you had? [i.e. Creative writing, drama, dance, anything that causes you to creatively express your ideas, or figure out new ways to do things]
- Did you design flyers to advertise anything?
- Are you on any kind of sports team, where you must creatively try existing techniques or develop your own?
Make decisions & solve problems
- Are you involved in school leadership? Anything to do with school government? Are you an officer in a club or other organization like a church group, scouting or volunteer organization?
- Are you involved in any sports?
- Have you done any kind work, be it babysitting, mowing lawns, or selling lemonade?
- Once again a high GPA usually tells the employer that you make good decisions and know how to solve problems when they arise.
Knows how to learn & reason
- Have you ever held a leadership role?
- Your grade point average factors in here again!
- Have you helped organize any kind of event with a club or organization? [show how you learned during the process of organizing the event.]
- Again, are you involved in a sport?
Personal Qualities
Responsibility & dependability, self-esteem/self-worth, self-management/self-discipline, honesty, attitude & initiative, and judgment.
Have
you ever done any volunteer work? {Volunteering shows that you can
commit to something & be responsible for showing up when you are
suppose to}- Are you involved with any sports?
- Are you involved with any clubs or other organizations?
- Have you won any awards for poetry, sporting activities, leadership, grades, drama, dancing, karate, etc? {excelling in any of these activities lets the employer know you have self-discipline, initiative, self-management and a host of other job related skills}
It is important to remember when filling out an application
that
you can’t just say “I communicate well,” or “I
am a fast learner”.
If you do not back up such statements, they have little value.
You must justify where you learned to communicate well,
or why you consider yourself a fast learner.
Also, do not sell yourself short!
Brainstorm all the things you have done, even if they seem minor and
than pull out the most relevant information and skills as you need them!
Most likely they show that you can do one of the things the employer
is looking for.
Consider your hobbies, how do they fit into this framework?
Here are a few more skills employers are often on the
lookout for:
- Effective use of time, money and facilities
- Working well with others, team work
- Teaching, training or sharing skills with others
- Customer service
- Leadership abilities
- Negotiation ability, problem solving
- Working well with diversity
- Using computers to communicate information
- Monitoring & correcting your performance
- Always trying to improve
- Positive attitude and good work ethic
