Identifying your skills

When applying for your first graduate job, the best thing to do is think about the skills that you already have, and how they might benefit your future role.

This exercise will help you do that, and it'll come in handy later, when it comes time to put together your CV and covering letter.

Take a sheet of paper and list out all the skills that you possess, paying special attention to any particular knowledge or experience that might differentiate you from other candidates. You don't need to have taken endless work placements during university, or have a flawless academic record. Instead, this is about all the skills that you've learnt up from each experience - ones that you can transfer to other fields.

Here's a quick example:

Think about the presentations you've ever given in classes. These will have allowed you to build your oral communication and public speaking skills. Group projects? They've taught you leadership skills, such as delegation and coordinating. And if you had a part-time job during uni, that'll have taught you how to balance your workload and prioritise deadlines.

If you're struggling to list more than a few, visit our section on dealing with a lack of experience - to help you find skills you may not even know you have.