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Empathy
Empathy

Self-management

Empathy
Empathy

Self-management

“The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world. It requires profound purpose larger than the self kind of understanding.”

Plato

Claire Cain Miller from The New York Times draws attention to recent research which shows "that empathy makes people better managers and workers, and better family members and friends. But it’s bigger than just its personal effect. We’re all in this together, and researchers say that connection and compassion are crucial to a sustainable and humane future. ". The ability to understand and share the feelings of another is a sought-after skill in all work environments. How do you cultivate empathy? How can you show your prospective employer? Here’s a couple of prompts that might help you get started:

  • Would you consider yourself empathetic?
  • Do you find it easy to understand other people’s feelings, emotions and problems?
  • Do you actively seek to develop empathy? How?(volunteering, reading books …)

How do you deal with unexpected challenges?
How do you deal with unexpected challenges?

Flexibility

How do you deal with unexpected challenges?
How do you deal with unexpected challenges?

Flexibility

“Life is anything but predictable.”

Dwayne Johnson

Flexibility competence can be demonstrated by discussing how you deal with unexpected situations and answering questions such as:

  • How do you handle an unexpected situation?
  • How do you deal with changes in your plans?
  • Do you find it easy to reorientate yourself when plans change?
  • Are you prepared the embrace new opportunities or challenges?
  • How do you prepare yourself for the unexpected?
  • How do you adapt to meet the needs of a situation or emergency?
  • How would you rate your ability to adapt to change?
  • Are you willing/eager/keen to learn new methods, procedures, or techniques?Can you share some examples?

Giving constructive feedback and welcoming it yourself
Giving constructive feedback and welcoming it yourself

Collaboration

Giving constructive feedback and welcoming it yourself
Giving constructive feedback and welcoming it yourself

Collaboration

“I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself.”

Elon Musk

Feedback is very important for development and growth. If you’re keen to show your prospective employers that you’re capable of giving constructive feedback and welcome it yourself, here’s a couple of the questions that you might want to answer:

  • Do you find it difficult to give feedback? Why?
  • How do you handle criticism?
  • How do you give and receive feedback?
  • Why do you think feedback is important?
  • Can you remember an instance when you received feedback and acted on it to improve?
  • Have you ever given constructive feedback that helped your colleagues improve?

Dealing with unwanted emotions
Dealing with unwanted emotions

Self-management

Dealing with unwanted emotions
Dealing with unwanted emotions

Self-management

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.”

Fyodor Dostoyevsky

We all have bad days but not everyone deals with them in the same way. You can be sure that in any workplace, you will have to deal with other people’s unwanted emotions as well as your own. If you pride yourself on being able to manage your emotions and maintain a healthy and pleasant work environment, you can mention this in your video CV. How? Try answering these questions for starters:

  • How do you deal with unwanted emotions, do you let them get in the way or do you maybe have a strategy how to manage them?
  • How do you manage unwanted emotions?
  • How do you deal with angry/agitated colleagues? Do you let their emotions transfer onto you? Or maybe you have methods/strategies how to calm your colleagues and help them?

Getting out of your comfort zone
Getting out of your comfort zone

Flexibility

Getting out of your comfort zone
Getting out of your comfort zone

Flexibility

“Comfort can be dangerous. Comfort provides a floor but also a ceiling.”

Trevor Noah

Most people are nervous about getting out of their comfort zone but that’s probably one of the best ways to learn and improve. You could show your potential employer how you do it and handle situations in which stepping out of your comfort zone is necessary. Here’s a couple of things you might cover when describing how you get out of your comfort zone:

  • List 5 things that push you out of your comfort zone. When did you experience these?
  • Do you actively seek new ways and opportunities that would get you out of your comfort zone?

Strategic thinking
Strategic thinking

Creativity

Strategic thinking
Strategic thinking

Creativity

“The most reliable way to predict the future is to create it.”

Abraham Lincoln

Creativity + planning = strategic thinking, and if you’re good at it, remember to mention this skill in your video CV!

  • What are your career goals? Are your ambitions reasonable and in line with the organisation’s/company's goals?
  • How and if you would change the company/organisation?
  • How would you contribute to its growth?
  • Can picture what the organisation could transform into with you?
  • You could possibly show your prospective employers what it would be like to work with you.

Active listening
Active listening

Collaboration

Active listening
Active listening

Collaboration

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.”

Epictetus

Active listening is a prerequisite for effective collaboration. This can help avoid miscommunication and improves teamwork in the workplace. Here’s a couple of questions you might answer in order to demonstrate this skill:

  • Do you consider yourself good at actively listening to others? Why?
  • What do you think takes to be a good listener? Why?
  • Do you demonstrate concern and try to build trust when you communicate with another person? Do you think that’s important? Why?
  • Do you observe non-verbal cues when you talk to other people? Do you think it helps to understand people better? Why?
  • If you don’t fully understand something, do you ask other person to clarify or rephrase?
  • Why do you think that’s important?

Won any awards for your creative projects? Remember to mention them!
Won any awards for your creative projects? Remember to mention them!

Creativity

Won any awards for your creative projects? Remember to mention them!
Won any awards for your creative projects? Remember to mention them!

Creativity

“I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.”

Jack Benny

Remember to mention any awards you’ve won for your work! It might help you stand out as well as highlight your interests and expertise. When talking about awards you’ve won remember to 👇

  • Include the date
  • Mention issuing organisation
  • Identify what you received awards for
  • Prioritise, only mention awards that might be relevant to the position
  • Keep it short and sweet
  • Mention how this recognition is relevant to the position you’re applying for