Basic Skills Employers are Looking For.

Communication (verbal, written and listening)

• Have you taken a public speaking class at school?

• Are you involved in any peer counseling at school?

• Are you involved in any clubs?

• Are you involved with the school newspaper, radio or TV?

• Do you volunteer anywhere? (i.e. Spend time with elderly people, read to kids at Boys and Girls Club, etc.)

• Are you involved on any kind of sports team?

Computational (performing basic arithmetic functions)

• What math classes have you taken at school?

• Do you have your own checking account?

• Have you started your own lawn mowing or babysitting business?

• Are you involved in the financial aspect of any club or organization? (i.e. treasurer)

Reading and Following Instructions

• What is your grade point average? (Usually a high GPA denotes a good listener and direction follower.)

• Have you been involved with any projects or organizations? (Did you help a family member organize a fund-raiser? Did you complete a scouting project or paper drive?)

• Is one of your favorite hobbies reading? (This is a hard one to show quantitative results for, but something nice to put in the hobbies/talents section of a job application.)

• Are you involved with sports at all?

Thinking Skills
Think creatively

• Are you involved in any clubs? (Have you had several creative ideas on how to increase membership?)

• What creative classes have you had? (i.e. Creative writing, drama, dance, anything that allows you to creatively express your ideas, or figure out new ways to do things.)

• Did you design flyers to advertise anything?

• Are you on any kind of sports team, where you must creatively try existing techniques or develop your own?

Make decisions and solve problems

• Are you involved in school leadership? Anything to do with school government? Are you an officer in a club or other organization like a church group, scouting or volunteer organization?

• Are you involved in any sports?

• Have you done any kind of work, be it babysitting, mowing lawns or selling lemonade?

• Once again, a high GPA usually tells the employer that you make good decisions and know how to solve problems when they arise.

Know how to learn and reason

• Have you ever held a leadership role?

• Your grade point average factors in here again!

• Have you helped organize any kind of event with a club or organization? (Show how you learned during the process of organizing the event.)

• Again, are you involved in a sport?

Personal Qualities

• Have you ever done any volunteer work? (Volunteering shows that you can commit to something and be responsible for showing up when you are supposed to.)

• Are you involved with any sports?

• Are you involved with any clubs or other organizations?

• Have you won any awards for poetry, sporting activities, leadership, grades, drama, dancing, karate, etc.? (Excelling in any of these activities lets the employer know you have self-discipline, initiative, self-management and a host of other job-related skills.)

• Effective use of time, money and facilities

• Working well with others; teamwork

• Teaching, training or sharing skills with others

• Customer service

• Leadership abilities

• Negotiation ability, problem solving

• Working well with diversity

• Using computers to communicate information

• Monitoring and correcting your performance

• Always trying to improve

• Positive attitude and good work ethic

Tips for Completing Job Applications

• Read the entire application first

• Follow the directions on the application

• Complete each work history

• Use complete words

• Salary requirements--it is best to give a salary range or to respond with "negotiable"

• Do not write "see resume"

• Meet the application deadline

• Do not leave unexplained gaps in employment history

• If you only completed the 10th grade but have a GED, mark applications that ask for highest grade completed as 12th

• Illegal questions--applications may contain questions that are tricky or even illegal. If the question doesn't bother you, answer it. If it does, you may want to use N/A or a dash (-) but beware, you may get screened out

• Present a positive, honest picture of yourself

• Show you are the right person for the job

• Think of what you would look for in an employee

• Target your qualifications

• Carefully select the words you will use on your application to avoid using unnecessary space

• Research the company prior to filling out the application

• Carry a completed application to use as a guide for filling out other applications