College Students: Time to Take Inventory

College Students: Time to Take Inventory

College grads often do not think they possess the skills employers seek in entry-level employees, but it's most likely you do. Use these inventories to help you discover yours.

This article is one in a series excerpted by permission from How to Get Any Job with Any Major, Ten Speed Press, (c) Donald Asher. To reproduce, write to Donald Asher. Donald Asher, also known as "America's Job Search Guru," is the author of nine books on career-development issues.

Think you don't have any of the experience that employers look for in entry-level employees? Think again! Brainstorm beyond paid employment, and you will likely come up with many experiences that have helped you develop and polish the skills and attributes employers seek. These inventories will help you remember all the relevant things you've done.

Part I: Sources of Evidence That You May Possess Skills, Experiences, and Attributes of Interest to Employers:

Employment
Volunteer and community service
Political activism
Class projects, papers, labs
In-class presentations
Research
Independent study
Thesis or capstone project
Practica
Special training (e.g., on equipment)
Attendance at lectures, seminars, workshops
Research assistant to professor
Residence hall advisor
Theatre
Music
Sports (intramural, intercollegiate, individual)
Student newspaper
Government (elected and appointed)
Speaker's and entertainment committees
Admissions correspondent or tour guide
Orientation leader
Scouting
Military service
Outdoor guide or trip leader
Tutor, instructor, teaching assistant, test proctor
Ethnic affinity club or activist group
Professional / career affinity club
Honor societies
Awards (all types)
Mentoring
Sorority / fraternity (especially leadership and service roles)
Publications (even a letter to the editor)
Licenses and credentials
Attendance at academic meetings and conferences
Presentations of research
Table topics
Speeches
Travel (even if you enjoyed it)
Languages
Computer skills
Hobbies and pastimes
Family exposure and experiences
Religious involvement
Student member of professional organizations Informal (e.g., poetry readings)

Now that you've remembered relevant paid, unpaid, academic, or recreational experiences, think about the skills, experiences, and attributes you've gained from these experiences. Many of these qualifications are just the things employers are looking for.

Part II: Skills, Experiences, and Attributes You Have That Might Be of Interest to Employers

Professional appearance
Punctual
Productive without direct supervision
Graceful under stress
Successful teamwork experience
Writing to persuade
Writing to explain
Writing to summarize
Research -- library
Research -- Internet
Research -- telephone survey or face-to-face interviewing
Research -- running a focus group
Research -- experience with field or location research and working with original materials
Reading for meaning
Reading and summarizing
Reading and synthesizing large volumes of information
Editing experience
Peer tutor in the writing center
Prepare marketing materials and other official documentation for release
Knowledge of main style books (Chicago Manual of Style, AP, New York Times, APA)
Press releases
Experience working with the press
Experience working with both print and broadcast media
Successful working with the public
Successful working with difficult people; calm, able to deescalate a potentially volatile situation
Sales experience -- the customer came to you
Sales experience -- you initiated contact with the client/customer
Negotiating and purchasing experience
Source, vet, and manage vendor relationships
Trained in negotiating techniques
Public relations experience
Public speaking experience on behalf of a cause
Other public speaking
Professional and articulate, can make client presentations, represent company to outsiders
Advanced skills with PowerPoint
Can design audio-visual support for training and client presentation purposes
Skill in designing visual depictions of quantified data (charts, graphs, comparisons)
Training experience (even casual)
Tutoring experience (even casual)
Teaching experience
Design of custom curriculum for training purposes
Can make decisions with ambiguous, incomplete, or conflicting information inputs
Flexible, can deal with fast-paced and rapidly evolving assignments
Computer skills (prepare list of all)
Easily learn new computer applications
Can self teach on new computer applications
Talent for teaching computer skills to others
Math skills
Comfortable with numbers
Can analyze raw data to provide information to support the management decision-making process
Can design new analytical methodologies as needed
Market analysis
Competitor analysis
Economic analysis
Applied statistics
Basic bookkeeping skills
Accounting skills
Auditing skills
Accounts payable and accounts receivable
Financial and management accounting skills
Budgeting skills, for student group
Budgeting skills, including variance analysis
Prepare pro forma cash-flow projections
Experience with "best and highest use" analysis
Knowledge of discounted cash flow models
Manage independent projects
Write/develop business plans
Experience developing action plans, action item lists, and other project management tools
Project planning and management skills
Organized new group on campus
Reorganized existing group on campus
Experience designing policies and procedures
Can focus the energies of others onto a common goal
Supervise others
Hire, train, supervise and motivate others
Can delegate assignments
Manage complex work flow and multiple deadlines
Can share authority and work in a matrix management structure
"Can do" attitude, not afraid of hard work, will take on any assignment
Comfortable with flat, organic business structures where assignments may vary
Technology skills
Can teach technology skills to non-technology managers and workers
Laboratory skills (list all equipment, even the obvious)
Travel to countries where an employer may have markets, clients, subsidiaries, supply sources
Language skills related to those countries
Ability to learn a foreign language
Other foreign language skills
Basic, intermediate, proficient, business proficiency, fluent, bilingual (specify languages)
Bilingual/bicultural (specify)
Knowledge of European/Japanese/Asian/Arabic/Latin American business practices and protocols
Willing to travel or relocate as needed for continued advancement
No restrictions on business travel or relocation
Trustworthy
Successful in the past in positions of considerable responsibility
Cash handling responsibility
Trained in loss prevention and techniques to reduce employee theft
Meticulous
Attention to detail
Experience in environments where accuracy was critical
Leadership training
Leadership experience
Fundraising experience
Event planning and management
Marketing and promotions
Knowledge of psychographics and demographics
Comfortable with both the creative and the analytical sides of marketing
Organize and manage community service programming
Mechanical skill (can fix things)
Read, understand and apply information from tech and spec manuals
Can construct things from written instructions or diagrams
Read and understand blueprints and schematics
Knowledge of floating point critical path project planning
Modular and component-level understanding of computers and other electronic equipment
Diagnostician for computer hardware problems
Install, update, migrate, modify and troubleshoot most common computer applications
Proven ability to bridge disciplines and find innovative solutions to problems
Strong work ethic, very career-committed
Energetic, high personal energy level
Proven ability to handle heavy work load
Not afraid of competition, comfortable in competitive environment
Strong ability to execute plans, to finish projects in spite of obstacles or challenges
Can work with strong egos, comfortable being a lieutenant, don't always have to be the captain
Experience working with a family business in the past
Tough, resilient personality, can handle stress and pressure
Counseling skills
Peer counselor
Mediation training or skills
Bring out the best in others
Earned ____% of my college expenses while full-time student
Comfortable in a scientific and/or technical work environment
Strong general science background
Laboratory experience
Understand the critical need for integrity in scientific data
Effective communicator to scientists, engineers, other technically oriented people
Ethical
Trained in applied ethics
Trained in group dynamics and interpersonal problem solving
Have social skills that allow richer client interaction
Have athletic skills (golf?) that allow richer client interaction
Active in professional associations
Active in the community, leader in the community

This material from How to Get Any Job with Any Major, Ten Speed Press, (c) Donald Asher, used with permission. Donald Asher, also known as "America's Job Search Guru," is the author of nine books on career development issues, and is a contributor to WSJ online at CareerJournal.com and CollegeJournal.com, NACE Journal, San Francisco Chronicle, jobstar.org, monstertrak.com, and similar. He is well known to career services staff nationwide as a speaker and consultant on hidden job market and self-directed search issues. He is the keynote speaker for the Career Development Series of national teleconferences sponsored by the University of Tennessee. He presents at over 100 colleges and universities annually. His books of interest include How to Get Any Job with Any Major, Asher's Bible of Executive Resumes, The Overnight Resume, From College to Career, and Graduate Admissions Essays. When not on the road, Asher divides his time between San Francisco and Northern Nevada.

To reproduce this article, write to Donald Asher.

Be sure and take advantage of all of Donald Asher's terrific material for college students and new grads, as well as all of our Quintessential Careers resources for those seeking entry-level jobs.

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