Take an Inventory of Your Skills

The list you create will help you:

• Identify your favorite things to do, which will help you narrow down the types of jobs you want to look for
   
• Build your resume
   
• Plan how to present yourself in job interviews
   

In conducting your inventory consider all of your experience at work, in volunteer activities, hobbies, your education and life in general.

As you review your experiences, write down the skills and knowledge you acquired through them as well as the results and recognition you achieved. Be sure to list quantifiable results, such as “improved my department’s productivity by 15%” or “increased sales by 12%.”

Also, as you consider your experiences, identify the ones you most enjoyed, and why, and which you liked the least. And were there some tasks that co-workers or supervisors asked you to handle because you were good at them, even though they weren’t in your job description?

Then consider which of these types of experiences or responsibilities you would like to continue—or avoid, if possible—in your next job.