Communicating Your Skills
Step 1: Gather Your Information
- List your experiences (paid and unpaid)
- Look at the list of classes you've taken and make a note of any research projects, case studies, or large assignments you completed in those courses
Step 2: Carefully Read and Annotate the Job Description
- Underline key responsibilities for the job
- Highlight key skills for the job
- For each responsibility or skill, think about and write down a time when you used that skill or had that responsibility in previous work or volunteer experience, or in the classroom
Step 3: Communicate Your Skills
Resumes: WHO Method
Write a bullet point for each of the responsibilities and skills you found in the job description using the following framework.
Example Responsibility: Maintain lab equipment according to safety standards
What: What did you do?
- Think of what tasks you performed or how you worked on projects – provide context!
- Example: Cleaned and maintained kitchen equipment, including the fryer, grills, and prep stations, during closing shifts.
How: How did you do the work?
- Think about your skills, strategies, methods, tools, and techniques.
- Example: Followed food safety and sanitation protocols, using cleaning supplies and equipment to ensure a hygienic and safe work environment.
Outcome: Outcomes associated with your experience
- Think of the results, impact, contribution, and feedback.
- Example: Ensured compliance with health and safety regulations, contributing to a cleaner, more efficient kitchen and positive health inspection results.
Final Bullet Point:
- Maintained kitchen equipment by following strict food safety protocols ensuring clean and safe work environment that contributed to passing health inspections
Interviews: PARK Method
Practice discussing your skills and responsibilities for questions like:
- Tell me about a time when....
- Describe a situation where you...
- Can you give me an example of...
Example Question: Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a conflict in a group.
Problem: What happened?
- Example: Last semester, I was on a student advisory board asked to improve faulty-student communication, but the group struggled with conflicting ideas, leading to tension.
Action: What did you do?
- Example: I asked members to break down their ideas with post-it notes to visually compare and find commonalities.
Result: What was the result?
- Example: We identified overlapping ideas and reached a unified recommendation, which we successfully presented to the faculty.
Knowledge Learned: What did you learn and how did you apply it?
- Example: I learned that structured methods, like breaking down ideas, and visual tools can help resolve conflicts and clarify complex discussions.
Final response: Just add each element of PARK together to formulate your response to the question and be prepared to share more details if needed.