1.6 Find Your Hidden Skills
As you might have guessed, hidden skills are the ones you don't know you have.
Here's how to find them.
Suppose you work in a coffee shop. Not much to learn here, you say. Think again. You've
really learned a lot more than you think. For example, you've learned how to:
- follow recipes, mix ingredients, set temperatures, bake muffins, mix a variety of hot and cold coffee and tea drinks;
- work with complex equipment;
- operate a cash register, make change, and balance the day's receipts;
- work with others under sometimes busy or stressful situations.
Here are some transferable skills that you developed that you can use in another job:
- manual skills
- computer skills
- financial and numbers skills
- teamwork
- patience
And you learned other things, too, such as:
- how to manage time responsibly;
- how to organize your work;
- how to serve customers in a professional manner;
- how the business operates;
- health regulations related to selling food to the public;
- how employees are promoted, and why;
- how to take responsibility for someone else's property;
- how to manage store inventory;
- how to display products so people will buy them.
More skills are hidden here:
- marketing skills
- communications skills
- promotional skills
- creative skills
- planning skills
Do you know what other transferable skills can be found in this job? It is all in how
you talk, or write about what you do. In every job you develop a certain level of responsibility,
skills and experience that will make you a good candidate for another job down the road.
So let's look at the things you have done, or learned. Make a list of things you've learned through your hobbies, work, or volunteering.
Example:
- I have developed "marketing and creative skills" while developing window displays to attract customers.
- I have developed "communications skills" while serving customers and working with my co-workers.
- I have developed "promotional skills" while helping customers decide what to order.
- I have developed "planning skills" while organizing my daily tasks and responsibilities.
- I have developed "financial skills" while making change, ordering inventory and balancing the day's receipts.
Now you can fill in some of the things that you have learned:
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
- ________________________________________________
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