Telling your skill stories
One part of the recruitment process that many find challenging is providing evidence of the skills and competences required. People know they have the capabilities, but struggle to put it across. Often, questions like the following are found the most challenging:
“Give an example of a situation in which you solved a difficult problem.”
If you can develop the skill of answering these questions well, you will be better prepared not only within written applications but also for interviews.
The technique we will explore here is that of creating a ‘skill story’ – a story that demonstrates an example of your use of a key skill.
Earlier we looked at the power of narrative in relations to people’s career histories. In the same way, narrative can be a very powerful way of organising and presenting information about specific situations that show your capabilities. This means is that you should organise the information in a structure, which we suggest should be:
Let’s see an example of this structure.