Certify cards

How does your creativity competence help you make unexpected links?

Creativity

“When you see someone putting on his Big Boots, you can be pretty sure that an Adventure is going to happen.”

Winnie the Pooh

Creativity is about making unexpected connections, looking at the world or a problem/task from a different perspective, and/or combining things that usually do not belong together. Here’s a couple of prompts that might help you demonstrate your ability to make unexpected connections:

Have you ever made an unexpected link? Could you talk more about a specific situation? What problem did you help solve?
Would you consider yourself a divergent thinker? Why?
Are you familiar with the SCAMPER, 6-3-5 brainwriting, thinking hats or similar techniques? Do you use them? What do you like about them? Do you maybe recall an instance you used one of these techniques with your colleagues?

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Willingness to listen and understand different points of view

Flexibility

“We all look at the same object in different ways.”

Kehinde Wiley

Listening and trying to understand different opinions and points of view are crucial to ensure effective teamwork. However, this requires a certain level of flexibility and willingness to compromise. Here’s a couple of prompts that might help you demonstrate this skill:

How do you keep an open mind in a workplace?
How do you take criticism?
Even if you disagree with your colleagues are you willing to (for instance) try out their suggestions?
Would you consider yourself tolerant? Why?
Do you consider yourself an fair-minded person? Why?
Are you curious to hear what other people think?

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Dissemination

Review and dissemination

"I think performers are all show-offs anyway, especially musicians. Unless you show off, you're not going to get noticed."

Elton John

You’ve just created a video and you’re excited to share it with the whole world, congratulations! Welcome to the next step – that is trying to get your work seen. It might feel like you’ve done all the hard work already but … this step requires attention and planning as well. After all, if no one, or in fact if your prospective employers, won’t watch your digital story, all the hard work will be fruitless. 🍒 It is important to prepare a publicity plan. Here’s a couple of things to take into account:

Are you planning to attach this video with your application?
Maybe you’d like to circulate it to a wider audience?
Which channels are you going to use to distribute and why?
Where do hiring managers advertise the job? Maybe targeting them on those platforms eg. Linkedin woudl be

If you’re going to be using social media to distribute your video CV, it might be worth doing a relevant hashtag research to discover new opportunities to reach your potential employers. For instance, Tik Tok launched a video CVs programme in 2021 and in order for their resumes to be considered, people were asked to add #TikTokResumes hashtag.

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Multitasking

Self-management

“I like to juggle with one ball at a time. Then I put the ball down and do nothing for extended periods of time.”

Rowan Atkinson

Chances are that you will have to work on different projects simultaneously. If you’re able to effectively manage multiple assignments and ensure that all of them get the attention they deserve, you should consider mentioning this skill in your video CV. You could answer questions such as:

Are you able to prioritise? How?
How do you simultaneously work on different projects?
How do you adjust project schedules to maximize productivity?

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Evaluation

Review and dissemination

"Evaluation is creation: hear it, you creators! Evaluating is itself the most valuable treasure of all that we value. It is only through evaluation that value exists: and without evaluation the nut of existence would be hollow. Hear it, you creators!"

Friedrich Nietzsche

After you finish your video and before you start planning how you can share it, it might be worth taking some time to evaluate your video. While a video CV can help your chances of getting a job it can also hurt 🤕 them. Here’s a short checklist of things to consider before sending out your video CV.

Did you introduce yourself at the beginning?
Did you highlight your strengths and/or achievements?
Did you emphasize why you would be the perfect candidate?
Is the sound quality ok?
Is video quality good enough?
Have you showed your video to at least 5 people (friends, colleagues, family, industry people…?) and got their feedback?
Do you think some people might find it inconsiderate or offensive?
Do you think that core competencies are highlighted?
Do people recognise you in the video? Is the video authentic and personal?

Teamwork

Collaboration

"It is the long history of humankind (and animal kind, too) that those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed."

Charles Darwin

Even if you work mostly independently, there will come a time when you’ll need to work with others. Here’s a couple of questions that might inspire you to highlight excellent teamworking skills:

Think of a time when you achieved something that was only possible as a team. What was it?
Have you ever joined a project midway? What did you do to blend in quickly? How did you manage to work effectively as a team member?
Would you consider yourself a team player? If you would, why?

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Problem solving

Creativity

“We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them”

Albert Einstein

Creativity is one of the competences essential to problem solving. Rules, guidelines and best practice manuals are helpful and can get you a result but they are not always available. Furthermore, in order to achieve extraordinary results, everyone needs to sometimes think “outside the box”. Demonstrate your problem-solving skills by answering the questions below 👇

What problem-solving event are you most proud of? Why and what happened?
How do you ensure that after having dealt with problems they do not repeat? Have you developed a method/technique to solve similar problems?
Tell us about a situation where you used creative thinking to eliminate frustration with a product/situation or a process.
Describe a situation where you had to think “outside the box” and how did you go about it?

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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?

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