In a recent blog post for the National Associations of Colleges and Employers, Kevin Collins offered “four ways to help students to showcase their full range of strengths in their applications and interviews.”
We’ll go through them one at a time.
Do a Pre-Search Skills Inventory. It has been my experience that a lot of students begin their initial career center appointments with statements or questions about their self-identified deficiencies as candidates (low GPA, lack of internships, little participation in extracurricular activities, etc.).
While self-awareness of areas needing improvement is important, it should always be accompanied by a knowledge of one’s strengths and skills—those unique factors that set candidates apart from others and are an integral part of their brand.
While there are a number of formal assessment instruments that can assist students in skills identification, much can be learned through conversations. For example, in my first appointment with a student, I will often ask them to tell me why they decided on their particular major, or what classes they enjoy the most. Generally, those things that students enjoy doing are things at which they are proficient.
Helping students to recognize their strengths and to encourage promoting these strengths in their communications with potential employers (even those strengths that students initially dismiss as non-relevant) will go a long towards ensuring that they are presenting a more complete candidate profile to recruiters.