Skills Employers Value
How Do I Develop the Qualities and Skills Employers Value?
- Obtain part/full-time work experience
- Complete a career related internship
- Seek out volunteer opportunities
- Join student and professional organizations
- Study abroad
- Acquire a leadership position
- Request additional responsibilities at work
- Participate in campus and community activities
- Commit to meeting deadlines in school and at work
- Seek out helpful coursework and training opportunities
Do You Have These Critical Skills?
| Skill/Quality | Ability to ... | Sample Resume Bullet | What I Have Done ... |
| Communication (Listening, Verbal, Written) | - Listen objectively and respond to verbal and nonverbal messages. - Prepare concise and logically written materials. - Interact effectively with peers, superiors, and subordinates. - Speak effectively to individuals and groups. - Use various media to present ideas imaginatively. - Debate issues without being abrasive or judgemental. - Possess courteous telephone and email skills | - Developed an employee procedures manual for distribution to all staff during orientation. - Organized and facilitated two, in-service training programs for residence hall advisors. - Developed and presented over 30 technical trainings to customers (groups of up to 40) and consistently received positive evaluations. - Efficiently addressed guest complaints to achieve customer satisfaction. | |
| Honesty/Integrity | - Define and explain ethical behavior. - Practice ethical behavior in difficult situations. | - Maintained security of critical documents and sensitive reports. | |
| Global Perspective (Multicultural Awareness/ Sensitivity) | - Interact with and appreciate people from diverse cultural, social, and religious backgrounds. - Speak and understand other languages. - Demonstrate awareness of cultural differences. | - Utilized listening and verbal skills to resolve professional and interpersonal conflicts among staff from diverse backgrounds. - Collaborated with colleague to develop a semester teaching unit on culture, ethnicity, and identity for international students. - Served as translator for patients from Saudi Arabia receiving medical care. | |
| Motivation/Initiative | - Demonstrate drive, passion, and enthusiasm through words and actions. - Work independently with minimal supervision. | - Led design engineering team and won award for most projects completed on time and within budget. - Achieved highest annual, sales volume among 90 employees at retail store. | |
| Strong Work Ethic | - Work in a dedicated and tenacious manner to finish the project. - Be dependable and reliable. - Arrive to work daily on-time, ready to work, and responsible for own actions. | - Assumed additional tasks while also planning successful volunteer recognition program during supervisor’ s absence. - Sited as “most dependable” employee with fewest, annual absences. | |
| Teamwork | - Collaborate effectively on projects with appreciation for member’s strengths and weaknesses. - Work with others in a professional manner to achieve common goals. | - Directed group of 60 sorority members and increased group unity by designing team building activities. - Worked cooperatively with a team of eight to publicize company events. | |
| Computer/Technical | - Understand computer hardware and software, especially word processing, spreadsheets, email, industry specific applications. | - Provided network and desktop support to over 100 users across six departments. - Designed and developed company website. | |
| Analytical/Critical Thinking (Problem Solving, Creativity) | - Find solutions to problems using creativity, reasoning, and past experiences along with available information and resources. - Assess a situation, seek multiple perspectives, gather information as necessary, and identify key issues that need to be addressed. | - Identified and implemented new, streamlined procedures for maintaining customer records. - Saved 1.5 million dollars in company expenses by implementing a computer standardization program. | |
| Flexible/Adaptable | - Embrace new ideas and concepts. - Work well independently or as part of a team. - Successfully manage multiple tasks or projects. - Adapt quickly to changing priorities and unexpected demands. | - Partnered with Campus Police Department to respond to crisis situations. - Adapted quickly due to shifting priorities and customer needs in a fast- paced, retail environment. | |
| Organizing/Planning (Time Management) |
- Design, plan, organize, and implement projects and tasks within an allocated timeframe. | - Organized fundraising and promotional events. - Organized travel and daily activities for annual backpacking week for 40- member club. | |
| Leadership/Management/ Supervisory | - Understand steps involved in effective decision-making - Facilitate groups in the decision-making process - Motivate others towards common goals. | - Motivated staff to meet high performance standards during a period of workforce reductions. - Represented student body to cabinet and solicited student input into academic policy. | |
For additional help with preparing for your career, visit www.kent.edu/career
To get involved on campus or in the community, visit the Center for Student Involvement, www.kent.edu/csi and the Office of Experiential Education and Civic Engagement, www.kent.edu/oeece