With so much competition in the job market, how can you use your skills and experience to your advantage? With planning and preparation, you can take control of your career and make advancement. How?

Know What Employers Really Want

Let’s start with a confidence booster: Skilled and experienced workers are in demand. One Oxford Economics report includes data on the qualities employers want most in their employees. What made the list?

• Ability to manage complex or ambiguous issues

• Being a team player

• Co-creativity

• Critical thinking

• Cultural sensitivity

• Finding balance between opposing views

• Managing diversity

• Relationship building

Your Skills and Experience Are an Advantage

If you’re a Baby Boomer or from Generation X, you might think the competition is way ahead of you. Millennials are so digitally connected that it makes some candidates feel intimidated. But Millennials have other characteristics that differentiate them from previous generations. Some of those characteristics are very desirable, but others can leave employers wondering how to compensate for what’s lacking. Consider what experts say about millennials:

• More focused on family
• More savvy with technology
• Expect more independence, freedom, and autonomy
• Less likely to be team players
• Less likely to be agile under pressure
• Less likely to be loyal to an employer

Your experience and adaptability give you an advantage.

How to Sell Your Skills and Experience

Present your work history as more than a chronicle of where you worked and when. Create a skills-based résumé, and have variations of it for different types of positions. Consider ways to highlight your achievements on your résumé and during your interview.

Your résumé

• Professional Summary

  – The top of your résumé should feature a professional summary. Use five to ten bullets to highlight your skills and experience that directly relate to the position you want.

• Work experience

  – For each position listed, include a brief description that features responsibilities that relate to the job you’re seeking.

• Volunteer experience

  – Marketable skills and experience include volunteer assignments. Skills acquired at charitable organizations are transferrable to a paid position.

Your interview

• Determine what’s relevant

  – What relevant skills and experience do you have for the position? Think of examples throughout your work history that show the extent of your abilities.

• Behavioral-based interview questions

  – These interview questions are designed to reveal your skills and work ethic. Be prepared with specific examples to show how you handle assignments in challenging or unexpected situations.

• Share specific examples

  – Not every interviewer asks behavioral-based questions. If you aren’t asked for specific examples to demonstrate your transferable skills and experience, look for opportunities to briefly share a few of them while discussing your work history.

Interested in Advancing Your Career?

If you’re ready for career advancement, search for opportunities with Priority One Staffing. We have partnerships with employers who value skilled and experienced professionals like you.

Explore Job Openings or Contact Us to learn about opportunities near you.