СƬƵ

Skills Employers Value


This is a link to a PDF version of the webpage with identical content
Career Exploration and Development
261 Schwartz Center
330-672-2360
www.kent.edu/career

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.
- Assess needs.
- Prioritize tasks.
- Set and meet goals.

- 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