Lesson 11: Competences and action plan

My skills to improve my employability

When we see a job offer published, the first thing we look at are the formal requirements to apply for the position, for example, that they ask for a degree in Journalism, a B2 in English and advanced knowledge in Excel. But then the offers always include other types of skills, which we can call “non-formal” which are also important for a company. We see that they can ask for “leadership”, “team management”, “people skills”, etc…

Everyone is born (or made) with a certain number of skills that no university or educational center teaches you. And then, throughout our lives, we can learn other skills and abilities. For this reason, some of the scholarship programs that we run at YesEuropa promote the acquisition of these “non-formal” skills, which can be learned and/or discovered in an exchange, volunteering or an Erasmus stay abroad.

Of course, it is not necessary to go abroad to learn, discover or improve them. From now on and in Madrid, you can do it. But first, you have to identify the ones you already have, the ones that can help you achieve your goals of getting a job or starting a business adventure.

PERSONAL COMPETENCES

Those that have to do with how I am. They are those related to the personality of the individual, their values, their emotions. For example: Self-control and emotional stability, Autonomy and initiative, Confidence and Self-confidence, Creativity, Ethics and Values, Resistance to adversity: (now the term “resilience” is used more often) and Physical resistance.

INTERPERSONAL COMPETENCES

Those that have to do with other people, both in the field of work and in the personal sphere. For example: Communication, Customer orientation, Conflict resolution, Teamwork.

TASK-RELATED COMPETENCES

Those that have to do with what I know how to do. For example: Hygiene and cleanliness, Results orientation, Spatial orientation, Planning and Organization, Precision, Responsibility / Commitment and Decision making.

SKILLS RELATED TO THE WORK ENVIRONMENT

Those that have to do with the organization or the company. For example: Quality, Flexibility, Corporate Image, Knowledge of the organization.

MANAGEMENT COMPETENCES

Related to the management and direction of resources and talent management that are key to effective leadership. For example: Direction and Leadership.

Can I improve my skills or learn new ones? continuous training

We are lucky that in the Community of Madrid there are plenty of free training offers, especially if you are unemployed and even if you are currently working. The Community of Madrid has these training programs for workers:

SECTOR TRAINING PROGRAMS: closed for workers. These courses must be related to the professional sectors of the potential students.

TRANSVERSAL TRAINING PROGRAMS: Aimed at workers in any sector. They are normally transversal skills, for example a public speaking course.

PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATION AND RECOGNITION PROGRAMS: These programs are fundamentally aimed at obtaining Professional Certificates.

Unemployed people can also be integrated into these programs. You have to read the information of those courses or the entities that promote them well, since the access requirements are specified.

There is a regional government course search engine here: https://www.comunidad.madrid/servicios/empleo/formacion-empleo

Once you find a course that interests you, you should contact the Centers to find out if there is an open call, approximate start dates, etc…

Regarding training for unemployed people, there are 3 other ways:

Training programs aimed at covering the needs detected by the public employment services.

Specific training programs for young people enrolled in the Youth Guarantee Program (young people between the ages of 18 and 30 who are neither studying nor working at the time of registration).

Training programs with contracting commitments.

To access these courses, you must go to the Employment website of your Town Hall. For example, for those people residing in Madrid, there is a link to the Employment Agency: https://www.madrid.es/portales/munimadrid/es/Inicio/Educacion-y-empleo/Empleo/Agencia-para-el-Empleo-de-Madrid?vgnextfmt=default&vgnextoid=c65815fa10294110VgnVCM1000000b205 a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=3f50c5dee78fe410VgnVCM1000000b205a0aRCRD

The Employment Agency itself has listed some very interesting free training resources, we leave the document here and in the “Materials” folder.

Finally, we advise you not to enroll in too many courses. Training is important, but it is better to choose the one that you can get the most out of and/or that is as closely related as possible to your professional area or to those skills and abilities that you should acquire. Signing up for the courses is easy, but completing them successfully and taking 100% advantage of them is something else entirely.

Action plan

We leave you an action plan based on 11 tips to find a job, very easy to understand to design your action plan.

TIP I: INQUIRE AND FILTER

With this course you agree to have a lot of resources, a lot of links, resource links, reference pages that you can choose to be informed.

TIP II: DEFINE OBJECTIVES

Second advice is that you must define your objectives specifically. Everyone has their weaknesses, their strengths, which depend directly on us. We can change them, we can improve them. We can even make them worse if we do not remedy them. But others that are like threats and opportunities that are external, that is, they do not depend on us.

It is essential that you propose both an internal and external analysis of these four factors, which is the SWOT matrix, weaknesses, threats, strengths and opportunities. And that you make your own analysis of your own abilities, of your experience, of your strengths, of your weaknesses, above all, also keep in mind that we are strong and where we are failing.

After this analysis, it is convenient to reinforce those strengths or those internal strong points that we have and enhance all our capacities, and analyze, through the weaknesses, what we need and how we can improve it.

TIP III: KNOW YOUR SURROUNDINGS

Third advice is to know everything that is around me as close as possible. All the information, everything that is within my reach, what is closest to me. If you live in a big city, then find out, for example, what is around me, for example, the districts, then the City Council, then the councils and then the Autonomous Community, then the State, then Europe, then the world, etc.

We know that it is a bit complicated, especially living in Spain, where there are many administrative levels.

TIP IV: EVENTS (PHYSICAL AND VIRTUAL)

You have to be aware of what is happening in your professional sector. Both physical and virtual events. For example, take a business card of yours that you distribute, that you speak about, that you participate in, etc. Many people consider that they do not have money to pay a registration fee, a trip to the City where the event is held because there are many expenses. Alternatively, and now in full force, there are many other events to participate in virtually.

TIP V: BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR PROFILE ON THE INTERNET

You must take care of your professional profile and what appears about you on social networks or in the same Google search engine. Be especially careful with what you upload or publish in the groups to which you belong, what you comment to people, who you admit to your circle of contacts, and so on. You must maintain your privacy, your access to your personal data and be careful with the photos that tag you. For example, 69% of recruiters have ever rejected a candidate because they saw something on their social networks that they did not like, that was not suitable for the job they were applying for.

TIP VI: NETWORKING

This advice is that you participate in networking actively, also most of the time in an altruistic way, helping others, highlighting yourself, thus highlighting your profile and your professionalism in social and professional networks and whatever it is, collaborate.

TIP VII: REFERENCES

Be careful because the reference is not the same as getting a recommendation (being plugged in). A reference comes from a company or entity, an instruction from you have collaborated or you have developed a job, it can give you a brief reference. Normally it is written (or were written) in letters. Now, they are usually done virtually. For example, Linkedin has a part of a functionality that is companies, entities can recommend professional profiles of people.

Dare to ask for a positive reference to your work, your commitment, your abilities, your attitude, whatever it is from your old companies.

TIP VIII: TAKE CARE OF THE APPEARANCE OF YOUR CV

Be careful with the resume, that whenever the resume is sent it must be accompanied by a cover letter. Never send a resume without a cover letter. The cover letter is simply a brief extract of what you have done, justifying why you are the best candidate, why our CV and, above all, answering these questions because you send me your CV because you think you are the best candidate, which is what you can offer the company for the job offer we have published. And after you mention, of course, the job offer does have a reference, more than anything to make things easier for those who also receive the presentation and the resume.

The Europass format is not the most beautiful format but it reflects very well what the competencies are, the abilities of the candidates. If you extract some ideas from there you can use another more visual format.

It is convenient to have several versions of your CV and motivation letter. That is, if you send it to an art gallery, it is not the same as if it is sent to an educational center. You have to highlight in the curriculum of the art gallery, skills, competencies, previous experience related to the art gallery and in the next version, skills, competencies, experience, training related to the educational center. It is also a trick that you highlight the achievements, especially if you have a lot of experience, that you highlight when you were working, that you have continued training

Also if you have been working or if you have lived abroad, since it gives an idea that you are a mature and autonomous person when it comes to making decisions, running a department, used to changes, an international environment, etc…

Mention if you really have availability to travel, if you are used to changes in flexibility but if you really are. If you are not, do not put it, especially in line with what we said, not to lie on the curriculum that you put. THE CV is what you are, what you have and what you have acquired. Do not put more, but neither less. Don’t fall into that dangerous game that many people put on their resumes that they left their previous job because they don’t get along with their boss due to insurmountable differences.

We have even read many misspellings, so the wording is not taken care of. But above all, one thing that you cannot afford is that he has a resume, mistakes, or spelling. That is something quite unforgivable that unfortunately is now seen a lot.

Other people make their resume through a video. They post it on Youtube and they are very visual or made with augmented reality.

TIP IX: CONTACT WITH THE COMPANY

Do not send the resume several times to the same company either. There are people who send it twice to make sure it has reached them. You shouldn’t do that. That denotes any idea that you are an insecure and nervous person. Or contact them immediately after sending it to make sure they have received it.

You have to find out in advance about the company, what the company does, what it does, the service it offers, how you can fit in and, above all, who you have to contact to send your resume.

If it is spontaneously, prepare the interview. Above all, do not go to an interview without previously knowing what the company is dedicated to, who is selling to, what their achievements are, and even their weaknesses.

Get to express if you can fit in in any way that you can work in that company because of the skills, the competences of the studies, the training, the experience that you have.

TIP X: GET INTERESTED IN YOUR FIELD

You have to be aware of your professional field, if they have released a new law that may affect you, which companies are the benchmarks in your field, which professionals exist and where can I find the reference pages of my profession. Even consider, if the case arises, to become a college or associate in your professional field.

Network, participate, be visible. And if I can’t do it alone because all this overwhelms me, it’s too much or I don’t have ways to do it solo, so to speak, lean on other people.

TIP XI: TRY TO GET WORK EXPERIENCE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

If finding a job or an internship is still difficult for us, especially because we don’t have experience, you have to break this as soon as possible. For example, collaborating with institutions and/or volunteer entities allows you to develop and acquire skills and to be more employees. Be that as it may, try to make a difference, try to be different.