
Mar 12, 2021 - 08:12 PM
- Think back on your work experience.
- Review your resume.
- Highlight your soft skills.
- Highlight your hard skills.
- Carefully read job ads in your desired industry.
Go through your resume with a highlighter. Every time you encounter a skill, highlight it. You may even want to divide each skill into the five main soft skill categories: communication, leadership, interpersonal, problem-solving and personal traits. Use a different colored highlighter on hard skills like management abilities or knowledge of software programs.
Once you finish highlighting your resume, pick out a handful of job ads you're interested in applying for. Carefully read through them to highlight every skill that applies to you.
Now that you've formed a list of skills from your resume, cover letter and job ads, you'll want to make sure to cover your bases. Reflect on your work history up to this point. What did you do regularly? What were your greatest accomplishments? Pull up your old job descriptions if you can find them. List all of the skills that come to mind. Now you'll have a solid list to work with as you build out your resume and cover letter.