Skills Assessment

Choosing an internship that best matches your needs and your chosen career path is not always easy and straightforward. Assessing which area your skills are the strongest in can help guide you. Moreover, assessing your skills can broaden your options and show you domains you might not have thought of otherwise.
A thorough self-assessment is a necessary step in internship planning. The information you can gain from through self-assessment is beneficial and crucial to the development of your cover letters, resume and interview preparation.
Working through the self-assessment checklist will help you identify your transferable skills. Even though you lack direct work experience, you have acquired skills that you can bring to the work place; skills that you have gained through other work, school, volunteer and / or extra-curricular experience.
Self-assessment requires you to take an in-depth look at a variety of skill areas. Even though you may think some of the areas do not apply, or do not seem important, you may be surprised to find out that most employers look for well-rounded candidates to fill internship positions.
After completing your self-assessment, you could prepare further by preparing a personal statement, which represents a summary of skills and personal attributes that highlight what you can offer to a company. Your statement will help you compose cover letters, highlight your resume and assist you in the interview process. Ask yourself the following questions to help you get started:

• Why should I hire you?
• Tell me about yourself?
• What can you offer the company?
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Your personal statement will help you to write a clear and concise cover letter and it will help you answer questions with confidence and ease during an interview. Remember that employers want you to provide examples to support your answers in order to assess your personal attributes and / or experience.