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Identifying Your Skills

2020 Turn Challenges into Skills

Has there ever been a more challenging year for you?

We are almost at the end of 2020 and I am sure that it has proven to be challenging in more than one way for most people.

For many that challenge has been with their employment.  Some people lost their jobs, others had reduced hours or perhaps even increased hours depending on the industry.  For some there was the challenge of working from home, perhaps coupled with home schooling.  For others it was the challenges that their work places presented, whether that was dealing with retail customers or caring for those affected by COVID-19, while others were making important decisions in situations that they have never faced before and no doubt never want to face again.

Whatever the case has been for you, now is the time to reflect and think about how you can use those challenges to highlight your personal strengths and build them into your new resume.

What new skills did you master?  Even if you were unfortunate and lost you job – reflect on how you handled that situation – did you call on your inner strength and use your resilience to stay positive and identify skills that you could enhance.  Did you take any free online training courses?

What about the decisions you needed to make over this time?  How did you go about solving problems, juggling work and life?  Were you coordinating a variety of activities?  Perhaps scheduling a busy day/week?  Were you managing a significantly decreased personal / work budget?  How did you priortise the funds available to you?  Did you branch out and turn your side-hustle into something more substantive?  What hurdles did you overcome to make that transition go smoothly?

Did you come up with creative ways to beat boredom or to stay in touch with your family and loved ones?  Did you make a conscious effort to keep in touch with friends or relatives who live a long way away? What did you do to celebrate the small wins?

Did you contribute to your neighbourhood or community in some way?  Were you sewing facemasks or did you make a donation to a local foodbank?  Did you keep a watchful eye on your neighbours or friends that you know that may have needed some extra support?

All of these things demonstrate your skills and abilities – both hard (technical) skills and soft skills (your personal characteristics that make you who you are). 

So, take some time now, grab a notebook and pen, or your favourite online app, and think back over the last six months and do a stocktake – I am sure that you will find that you have come a long way since March 2020 and are headed into 2021 with some skills that you have sharpened and can be proud to list on your resume.

Need help to create a new resume?

Email: kate@professionalresumesandjobapplications.com