How to explain your skillset
Oliwia
According to experts, every person has up to 700 skills ready to
Global Executive Recruiter
be used at any time. While the internet is full of articles
suggesting new essential and must-have skills every other week,
the best practice is to stick to one skill classification and
understand how to make the best use of it in your job search.
One of the most popular skill classifications suggests diving
them into three categories:
• Knowledge based skills
• Personal traits
• Transferrable or functional skills
Every job posting includes a long list of requirements, the
majority of which can be classified into one of these three
categories. Even if you don’t have all the knowledge-based skills
required, you can be an equally valuable candidate for the role, if
you offer a broad set of personal and functional skills. In other
words, your skills can easily balance themselves out in between
these three categories. So, how do we make use of this
classification when crafting a resume and applying for a role?
Knowledge is the beginning of practice; doing is the
completion of knowing
Knowledge-based skills have always seemed to be an essential
requirement for every role. How can you perform in a
programmer role, not knowing the basics of coding? How can
you win a recruitment process for an accountant role, not having
any knowledge of how to interpret financial records?
There will always be a level of certain subject knowledge, which
you need to build, in order to be able to perform in a specific
role. It is usually acquired through education, training and on-
the-job experience. Try to list down five knowledge-based skills,
which are specific to your personal profile. Justify each of them
with any specific training or course you have completed. Also,
make sure to showcase your knowledge-based skills
by describing when and how you have been applying this
knowledge in your previous roles. Knowledge-based skills
1 How to explain your skillset
unjustified with a real-life application example are not worth
mentioning in your resume.
Soft skills will make your career
The World Economic Forum “Future of Jobs” report suggested
that complex problem-solving, critical thinking, creativity,
people management and emotional intelligence are the most
important soft skills required in the workplace. Personal traits
and attributes have never been more sought for in the
workplace. Some employment market experts tend to claim that
80% of the job profile are one’s personal soft skills and just 20%
are the knowledge-based skills.
Here is some useful information about this:
• Educate yourself on what the hot soft skills in your industry or
role are.
• Talk to your leaders, managers and coaches, network with
people and see how they brand themselves when it comes to
the personal traits they have.
• Try to define your personal brand using three soft skills which
you have mastered.
• Talk to your colleagues and friends to learn how they perceive
your brand. What are you really good at? What are you known
for? Are people looking up to you in a specific area? Having
defined your strongest personal traits, think of some good
examples when they have helped you achieve a business
result, close a successful project or perhaps helped the team
perform better.
The agility of transferrable skills
Nothing completes your profile as much as transferrable or
functional skills. These are typically the actions you take to
perform a task, transferrable to different work functions and
industries. Being based on your ability and aptitude, they scope
within a wide range among analytical, organizational and writing
skills. If you ever struggle to meet all the knowledge-based role
criteria, make sure to underline the best transferrable skills you
can offer, as they will surely be appreciated by the hiring team.
They may not necessarily land you on the job, but they will help
you put your best possible self forward. While reviewing a job
description, think of any transferrable skills of yours that can
support your performance in the role. List them down in a
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separate resume section. Aim at naming three skills and justify
the choice sharing a particular business context in which you
have successfully applied these skills. Try to support this with
any numerical facts or statements.
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