Career Development Center

If you would like personalized assistance, please contact the CDC for an individual appointment, or stop by during drop-in hours Monday through Friday between 2 P.M. and 4 P.M.

Job Search Skills: Skills Exploration

This exercise will help you identify and analyze your skills by requiring you to recall life experiences, projects, and jobs. After identifying the tasks you will extract the skills from them.

Make 3 vertical columns. List each job title or project, then the tasks, followed by the skills or abilities required to do the job. Rank the tasks and skills according to expertise and interest.

After completing this exercise you will begin to notice a pattern in the skills column. Identify the skills that keep repeating and use them to set the theme of your resume. An example follows:

Title	Tasks	Skills
Assistant	Supervised and delegated responsibilities to 10 staff members	Supervision of Personnel Organizational Skills
Manager	Established and stayed within a budget of $120,000	Budget Analysis Management Skills
	Worked with diverse community groups	Managerial Skills
	Researched and wrote articles for professional publications	Writing Skills Public Relations
	Marketed and promoted community events	Communication Public Relations
	Led committee meetings	Leadership Skills
	Coordinated large group discussion	Public Speaking

Macalester College · 1600 Grand Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55105 USA · 651-696-6000
Comments and questions to cdc@macalester.edu