MAKE A LIST OF YOUR ACTIVITIES Take a blank paper and fold it in 4. In the top right corner, write student. Te next quadrant will be sports. The next quadrant jobs or community service. The last quadrant is hobbies.
Write a list of your activities where they fit. Leave the school one blank.
ANALYZE YOUR SKILLS Now let's do the first quadrant together: what are the skills that have made you successful so far as a student? Most people think of organization, time management, dependability, getting along with others, work hard, willing to learn...
Now do the next quadrant: if you play sports, what skills do you use/demonstrate in sports? Make a list in the quadrant.
Now did you ever have a job? Did you do community service, babysitting, helped an uncle build a deck? All work-like experiences. Think about the skills you gained from those activities.
WHERE DO YOU BEST SHOW THE SKILL? We want to identify your three strongest skills. You can choose any skill that you think represents you in a meaningful way. From this long list of skills you have demonstrated, where do you show the skill BEST? For example many athletes feel like they work harder at sports than at school. If that describes you, your example of hard work should come from athletics. You want to think of a situation you could describe in an interview setting. Talk about how hard you train if you're an athlete. If your example comes from a job, think of a time you were asked to stay extra to cover for a co-worker if you want to talk about hard work.
In the end, you want to have three top skills, and three examples of you demonstrating those top skills with a story ready for an interview. In a resume we will just list the top skills.
I'm going to let you in on a secret: these skills you already have are called soft skills. Some call them personality traits. They are actually the skills that are most important to your success in life, for school, work or relationships. And you already have them! Sure you can improve them but you have a great start already. Congratulations!