They are as follows:

Specialist: These are qualities that are unique and specific to the job itself, and include technical skills, knowledge and experience in a particular field of work or specialist area.

General Business: These are general business skills that are required to maintain a business. Even though as an employee you are not responsible for the overall running of the company, you must still show some general business skills that will be valued by the organization. This includes looking for efficiencies, economies and having a profit-oriented understanding.

Personal: These are your personal qualities and skills that are not unique to the job itself, but relate to how you get along as a person, and how you motivate and channel yourself to achieve and get things done.

People: These skills relate to how you interface and deal with other people, your ability to work with them and to get on with them positively.

Most jobs require varying combinations of these four types of skills. Employers do not just look at your specialist skills. Rather, employers want to maximize the benefit to their business and this includes looking at a candidate’s aptitude to make the business more profitable and efficient. This is the reason that the four categories of skills above are extremely important.

The following tables give more insight into the types of things you would include under each of these four types of skills.

SPECIALIST Company-specific skills - Specialist knowledge, eg product or market knowledge; specialist skills, eg IT packages; unique language skills, Chinese; specialist interpersonal skills, eg public speaker Technical skills - Professional, sector-based or functional skills, eg journalism, research, aerospace engineering, tax accounting, counselling, creative design, economist, personnel, sales, marketing Understanding commercial goals of company - Specialist understanding of an organisation’s goals, priorities and future direction (combination of self-reliance, business acumen and people skills)

GENERAL BUSINESS Problem solving - Achiever, successful, results-orientated, project management, creative, practical, logical, astute, agile mind IT/computer literacy - IT skills, software packages, common sense, taskorientated, progressive, specific, office skills, keyboard skills Flexibility - Multi-disciplinary, flexible, versatile, multi-skilled, willing, obliging, mobile, adaptable Numeracy skills- Accurate, logical, problem-solver, detailed, methodical, consistent, quick thinker, analytical, thorough Business acumen - Competitive, entrepreneurial, enterprising, commercial, foresight, budgeter, risk-taker, effective written communication Commitment - Dedicated, trustworthy, conscientious, reliable, loyal, punctual, knowledgeable, experienced

SELF-RELIANCE Self-awareness/ confidence Purposeful, focused, reflective, perceptive, honest, self-belief, objective, realistic, balanced Self-promotion skills Positive, persuasive, pleasant, proactive, persistent, ambitious, opportunistic, promoter Initiative and proactivity Resourceful, energetic, drive, flexible, self-starter, self-reliant, initiative, self-disciplined Networking skills Initiator, trustful, personable, relationship builder, persistent developer, resourceful, adaptable Willing to learn Motivated, adaptable, enthusiastic, active, keen learner, inquisitive, continual improver Action planning Decision maker, planner, organised, negotiator, responsive, evaluator, forward thinker, target-driven, able to prioritise

PEOPLE Teamworking - Supportive, facilitator, organised, co-ordinator, deliverer, imaginative, delegator, open-minded Leadership - Dynamic, motivator, team-builder, confidence booster, energetic, capable, outward-looking, accountable, visionary Interpersonal skills - Listener, adviser, counsellor, politically aware, initiator, professional, co-operative, constructive, assertive Customer orientation - Welcoming, friendly, caring, approachable, constructive, accommodating, tactful, diplomatic, tolerant Oral communication - Educator, trainer, communicator, presenter, promoter, influencer, humorous, empathetic, telephone skills Foreign language - Specific language skills, cultural awareness, international experience, written and oral expertise, sensitivity

To be able to write effective CVs and resumes, you should create your own skills matrix and identify all your skills in each of these areas. Our Online Skills Audit Tool will help you to perform a detailed skills audit and create a skills matrix sheet that lists what you have to offer to potential employers.

With your skills audit and your more refined skills matrix, you can start to create powerful CVs and resumes that are highly targeted and contain the precise skills and requirements employers are looking for. After analyzing job adverts and identifying the skills required by the employer you can refer back to your own personal skills matrix to find ways to present a strong match.