How freshers can map and present their skills

FIRST IMPRESSION

What skills do freshers have and how should they present them? This is a question that is oft-asked. Most résumés of freshers do not communicate the skills that they have and for what reasons they should be hired. It will be worth a while to take a look at how they could do better.

Let us first understand what the skills profile of a person should look like. There are six components that go into the skills profile. These are:

The specialisations that one has chosen and the expertise of that person in those areas.
Proficiency levels in the principles and concepts pertaining to the department/ function.
n Proficiency level in using the tools and technology needed to work efficiently in that department.
The experience one has of working in that particular domain.
Proficiency level in the functional skills.
Proficiency level in the general behavioural skills.

Let’s say that there are a set of students who graduate with a major in mechanical engineering. Over the years, each of them could have moved in different specialisations that the industry offers for mechanical engineering. Some could have moved into manufacturing, some into engineering design, some into maintenance etc. Each of these has their own set of processes and tasks to be performed. Typically, these are honed over the years of experience.

The most important skills are that of principles and domains. In one sense, the soundness in principles and concepts very well defines the difference between the “good” and the “bad” professionals. Mostly, the fundamentals do not change with time. For example, programming concepts such as data structures, design patterns, algorithms etc are the same for all programmers. Even as programmers move into different domains, the good programmers are good at these and are able to apply them well.

Tools and technology enable the effective application of the principles and concepts. They ensure the skills can be applied productively and the outcomes are better. For instance, for online marketers there are a variety of analytical tools that help analyse the web traffic. For those in mechanical engineering there are different CAD, CAE tools. The tools require a good understanding about their working and how to use them effectively, which can fetch great results. However, tools and technology continually evolve and newer ones keep emerging. Yes, one needs to be aware of them and learn using the new ones.

Domain expertise

The domain can be understood to be the context in which the functional skills are applied. Domain can mean different things in different fields. For example, for a mechanical engineer who is in engineering design, it is like knowing for which industry he has  been designing – aeronautics, automotive etc. For a software application developer, the domain can be the industry for which she has been developing applications – banking, insurance, e-commerce etc. Domains have a set of business or operational processes. And for providing value to the users, understanding of these is important. The domain skills are normally garnered over time as the understanding of the business and operational processes take considerable amount of time.

Finally, we have the behavioural or cognitive skills and let’s classify them into two parts. One, the general behavioural or cognitive skills which are important for a function. We all hear of the so-called soft skills such as communication, interpersonal, analytical and other such skills. Some of them are generic. Some are specific to a function. For example, one in technical support needs to have troubleshooting skills. This is the key requirement specific to the function.

For someone in marketing, creative thinking is a vital skill. For someone in accounting, numerical abilities are important. Then there are those skills that apply to all such as time management or emotional intelligence. In whichever function one may be in, the adeptness in the behavioural/cognitive skills indicates how well one is able to deliver results in the short as well as in the long run. A person with good time management skills will be able to plan and manage work in a better way than the person who is not good with time management.

Now, we come to analysing the skills for freshers. Revisit these skill sets and one can appreciate that for freshers, the key skills are those of principles and concepts and the behavioural and cognitive skills. Skills in tools and technologies are mostly contextual as different companies use different tools and technologies. One can pick them up with some training. Domain specific skills come with experience.

When entering a career, what would be expected from the candidate, is to display how good he or she is with the principles and concepts pertaining to that field. For a mechanical engineer, the understanding of thermodynamics, kinetics and similar things are essential. This is what they bring to the table fresh from their college days. Without the understanding of the fundamentals, their career will never have a strong foundation. Typically, good interviewers who interview freshers assess the freshers on these fundamentals.

Then, we have the behavioural/cognitive skills. Everyone has his or her strength and also areas of weakness. A good appreciation of these will enable one to use the strengths well and also help manage, if not overcome the weaknesses. How can one assess the skills and map them to their profile? Today, there are a number of good online tools that help freshers assess how good they are in different areas. Analytics can be used to get an understanding of how good one is in a particular skill set. One other good method of getting an assessment is to get feedback (honest ones) on areas of one’s strengths and weaknesses from those who understand the person well – good close friends, family and maybe even teachers.

Grooming freshers is a vital investment each company commits to, for sustaining and growing their organisational efficiency. A little fresh and clear thinking on approaching the kick off process will ensure a fulfilling match for both the employer as well as the employee.