As you begin your internship search, you will be tempted to launch straight into work on your resume. While that is an appropriate goal, that task will be far easier if you unearth your skills first.
“Skills?” you might wonder. “I have no skills. I’m just a student who has only ever worked at a summer camp….Chick Fil A….dad’s warehouse….”
But truly, you have skills. The trick is to translate what you’ve done into skills with meaning.
1.click here to go to a stupendous list of “Skills as Verbs.”
2. For each of the verbs you see, identify those that you can use to identify things you have done. Here are some examples to get you started:
Designed—“Designed flyers to attract neighborhood children to my summer camp”
Conceptualized—“conceptualized enhancements to our warehouse inventory system to my boss in order to streamline the processing of orders.”
Motivated-“Motivated junior counselors to devise new activities on rainy days.”
Researched-“researched potential new clients for my dad’s law firm.”
Photographed-“Photographed images of students in various activities for my school’s website.”
Your ability to “design, conceptualize, motivate, research and photograph” are all skills.
I have worked with a young man who works in the warehouse of a micro-brewery. I assigned him this exercise as homework. Much to my astonishment, he filled in an example for every single word.
Here are some of his examples:
Coped—Coped with numerous equipment malfunctions, lack of resources, time and unreliable help during the busiest times of the season.
Supervised—Supervised five employees while managing other warehouse activities.
Assembled-assembled and built orders for both beer and POS for shipment to distributors.
Devised-Devised idea for new assembly line for variety packs and played a major role in its construction that resulted in efficiency and fewer defects.
Note that in the last one, he showed the results of his efforts. When possible, this is a wonderful strategy as it gives further credibility to your skills.
Let me know if you need help unearthing your skills.