How to tell about your skills and expertise

1. How to tell about
your skills and
expertise
Career Services at the University of Turku
Autumn 2023

2. Career Services’
info sessions
 found in the Study
Guide & event calendar
1. Working in Finland
2. How to tell about your
skills and expertise
3. The Hidden Job Market
4. CV & Application
5. How to succeed in a job
interview

3. If you want to complete the course, 1 ECTS:
1. Write your name and student number in the chat (use
private message-mode)
2. Enroll for the course in Peppi in your PSP
3. Attend all five info sessions
4. Sign into Moodle, where you can find more information:
https://moodle.utu.fi/course/view.php?id=27192
Job seeking in Finland

4. Content
• What is competence,
expertise?
• Skills needed in working life
now and in the future
• Self-reflection and
identification of your
expertise
• Expressing your skills
• Employer expectations

5. What is competence and
how does competence
accumulate?

6. Know-how
Competence
Expertise
Professional
competence
Field-specific
knowledge and skills,
methods,
technologies,
information, “hard
skills”.
General competence,
working life
competence
Basic IT-skills,
languages, social
skills, project
management,
networking skills,
“soft skills”.
Metalevel
competence
Learning skills, self-
reflection, self-
regulation, adaptability,
prioritizing,
giving/receiving
feedback etc.
Competence,
expertise
3 levels

7. Where we learn
• Formal learning
• Degrees
• Nonformal learning
• For example, staff training organized or funded by the employer, hobby and language
courses at civic and employee colleges, continuing vocational training courses, driving
school, dance school, etc.
• Informal learning
• Informal learning is a learning activity that is less organized and structured than other
education. Informal learning is not institutionalized, ie it is not the responsibility of any
organization. It does not include student-teacher setup, schedules, or admission
requirements.
• learning that occurs away from a structured, formal environment
• Informal learning can take place almost anywhere, regardless of location; with family or
friends, at work and in everyday life. Informal learning can take place self-directed or,
for example, guided by a family or other social context.
• Continious learning  learning to learn, flexibility

8. Competence of
graduates, skills
needed in working life
now and in the future

10. Learningskill
Ability to organize
andmanage
time
Personal
strenghts
Problemsolving
skillsand
analytical skills
Lifemanagement
Interaction skill
Listening
skill
Oral
communication skill
Written
communication skill
Communicationskill
Abilitytocoordinate
Abilitytomake
decisions
Ability to
lead
Abilitytocontrol
conflicts
Ability to plan
and organize
Leading
peopleand tasks
Ability to
comprehend
Creativity,
beinginnovative
sensitivitytochange
Ability to
takerisks
Ability to
visionize
Accelerating innovations
andchanges
Workinglifeskills Individual resources that
support working life, regardless
of profession

11. Sense-Making
• ability to determine the deeper meaning or significance of what is being expressed
Social Intelligence
• ability to connect to others in a deep and direct way, to sense and stimulate reactions and
desired interactions
Novel & Adaptive Thinking
• proficiency at thinking and coming up with solutions and responses beyond that which is rote
or rule-based
Cross-cultural Competence
• ability to operate in different cultural settings
Computational Thinking
• ability to translate vast amounts of data into abstract concepts and to understand data-based
reasoning
Skills needed in the future working life?
Institute for the Future, 2020

12. New-Media Literacy
• ability to critically assess and develop content that uses new media forms, and to leverage these
media for persuasive communication
Transdisciplinarity
• literacy in and ability to understand concepts across multiple disciplines
Design Mindset
• ability to represent and develop tasks and work processes for desired outcomes
Cognitive Load Management
• ability to discriminate and filter information for importance, and to understand how to maximize
cognitive functioning using a variety of tools and techniques
Virtual Collaboration
• ability to work productively, drive engagement, and demonstrate presence as a member
of a virtual team
Skills needed in the future working life?

13. What employers look for
Competence
Fit in a work
community
Potential

14. 67%
62%
50%
48%
45%
44%
41%
26%
17%
0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80%
Ability to tell about own skills
Other work experience
Internships
Degrees' combination of subjects
International experience
Other studies, education
Contacts, networks
Volunteer work or hobbies
Activity on social media-platforms
Source: Career monitoring, Career services (N = 1802)
Impact on employment
(very important – important)

15. What employers appreciate in interns?
Self-directing
Interest and
ability to learn
something new
Being active
Positivity and
enthusiasm
Ability to
comprehend
things on bigger
scale
Kindness Self-initiative Critical attitude
Flexibility
Courage to ask
questions and
take
responsibility
Interaction skills Competence of
studied topics
Activity and
diligence
Attitude
Conscientious-
ness and
diligence
Writing skills
• The intern’s initiative, learning
alibity and diligence were clearly
emphasized in the employer’s
responses
• Reliability and adaptability to the
comminity are also valued
qualities
• Other imporant factors were e.g.
attitude, industry knowledge and
courage
Source: Internship feedback 2021-2022

16. Identifying your
skills and strengths

17. • Listing and splitting experiences -
think in “3 levels”
• Think about yourself in different
environments/roles: hobby,
volunteering, gardening, family,
paid work, studying
• Collect your study work, go
through the course descriptions:
what topics, what methods, what
did you learn?
• Ask someone: How would they
describe your skills?
• What is your core competence?
• What is one thing you want people
to associate with you?
• What is your role in teams?
• How do you start tasks? What kind
of details are important to you?
• How do you deal with unexpected
things?
• What kind of things are in your
comfort zone? What's not? Why?
• Is your weakness your strength
anyway?
Questions to help to identify your
competence

18. • What do people admire about you?
• In what situation have you received good feedback?
• What kind of things do you really enjoy doing?
• Describe the achievement you are proud of. What did it take
to get there?
Also:

19. Expressing your
competence and skills

20. • Job application
• CV
• LinkedIn
• Social media/blogs
• Demostration of skills (e.g.
own website, portfolio)
• Job interview
• ”Elevator pitch” / Presenting
oneself
• Networks
• Meetings
Written / Spoken (Oral)

21. • Who are you writing/telling?  customization
• What is important?  prioritization (esp. cover letter)
• What connects your skills & experiences?  story
Try to connect the dots even if your background is “all over the
place” and there are many red threads. Maybe it tells an
interesting story about how you have ended up where you are
now?
Find a common thread

22. • Instead of just listing your experiences, tell about knowledge
and skills
• Give an example that concretizes to the listener what you
mean
• Description: How did you do something?
• Eg. ”I have good project management skills. When I have done group work with a
group of students, I have created a common schedule and planning platform for us
and tried to ensure that we stay on schedule.”
Describe with examples

23. • Does another industry expert understand the terms you use?
• What kind of terms are commonly used in the industry?
Imagination and precision evoked by the terms
• project management / time management / coordination /
organization
• communication / presentation / production
• research / analysis / information retrieval / systematic thinking
Terminology

24. • An alternative to the traditional chronological CV
• In a competence-based CV, 3-6 key skills/areas of competence
(core competence) and examples are highlighted
• The aim is to describe the skills in more detail on the traditional
CV and to tell where the relevant skills were acquired
• With a competence-based CV, you can present skills and
achievements from other areas of life than just working life
• Generally more recommended if you are switching careers later
on in life
Skills-based CV

25. • Summarize your skills, background, and motivation
• Talking time ~ 30-60 seconds
• Tailor to your situation and audience: what could your
possible future employer be interested in?
• Your elevator pitch and CV are your first impressions.
Remember to answer the why questions:
• Why are you interested in the organisation you are approaching?
• Why are you interested in your field of studies?
Practice your elevator pitch

26. • Competence in relation to others: eg. people in the same field
vs. people from different fields
• The scale of competence is difficult to define
• The more experience, the greater the understanding of what
one does not know
• More meaningful to describe the quality of competence
(“what kind”)
• As a novice, it also makes sense to describe the potential
(“what I would like to practice, learn”)
Am I really good at this? What if
someone is better?

27. Tell your network what kind of work you are
looking for. Be open about it. It is said that
looking for a job is a fulltime job.

28. Final thoughts
Getting really good at things requires practice
and exposure. In many respects, abilities are
built, rather than discovered.
The question "What am I good at?" narrows down
the options. Sometimes it's better to ask: "What
could I be good at?"
Discovering a career that aligns with your
interests often involves the element of 'being in
the right place at the right time’.

29. John D. Krumboltz, Prof. of education and psychology (1999):
• Not everything can or needs to be planned.
• Your career is influenced by the events you participate in, the people
you connect with, how you approach others, and how you present
yourself.
• By staying open for unexpected possibilities and doing things you enjoy,
you're more likely to find yourself in situations that offer new
opportunities.
Planned: deciding what to do and putting things in place
Happen: to occur by chance and unforseen
Stance: the view of attitude you take – being open
Planned happenstance
Seizing opportunities

30. Career Q&A
Get to discuss and ask your questions regarding job
seeking and working in Finland in our on-site
Career Q&A sessions in November!
The sessions are loosely bound to the following
themes:
• 15 Nov at 14.00-16
Work life culture in Finland
• 22 Nov at 14.00-16
Job seeking and networking
• 29 Nov at 14.00-16
What employers look for
The sessions are held on campus (Calonia) by the
Career Services.
Register: Career Q&A | University of Turku (utu.fi)

31. Tips for working life and job searching: