Finding the right job or switching careers based on your skillset can be challenging in today’s job market. With thousands of jobs out there, honing in on your unique skills can be what helps land your dream job! 

Don’t worry if you’re unsure of where to begin when searching for the right job. Rutherford Works has the support and solutions you need to identify your skills and obtain reliable, high-wage employment. 

Here’s how to best search for jobs within your skillset:

  1. Identify What Skills You Bring to the Table
  2. Create a Personal SWOT Analysis
  3. Identify What Responsibilities You Can Handle 
  4. Find an In-Demand Career Path
  5. Find Career Opportunities in Rutherford County

1. Identify What Skills You Bring to the Table

To identify your ideal job, you’ll want to compile a list of what skills you bring to the table. These can be a range of social skills, technical skills, organizational skills, and more. 

To begin, here are some examples of skills you may possess:

  • Critical Thinking
  • Problem Solving
  • Public Speaking
  • Customer Service Skills
  • Teamwork Skills
  • Communication
  • Collaboration
  • Accounting
  • Active Listening
  • Adaptability
  • Negotiation
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Empathy

If you need help or a more broad list to pull from, you can use the CareerOneStop skills matcher for assistance in identifying your top skills.

2. Create a Personal SWOT Analysis

After you’ve compiled a list of your most impressive, career applicable skills, creating a personal SWOT analysis can help direct you to the best job opportunities that match your identified skills. 

SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. While SWOT analyses are typically used for businesses, they are also an excellent tool for your professional development! Through this analysis, you can start to craft a bigger picture of what type of employee you are and what kind of job would fit you best. You can also reduce the chances of applying or interviewing for a job that doesn’t match your skillset. 

For example, strengths would include education, skills, talents, certifications or achievements. Weakness would consist of skills or experience you lack and negative work habits. If a role is deadline-driven and you have a tendency to procrastinate, that would pose a conflict. When you start looking at opportunities, consider any special technical skills, education or connections you could make to improve your chances of landing that dream gig. Are there networking opportunities where you can participate? Threats could be time-related or competition-related.

MySkillsMyFuture can also help you determine what job skills you possess that will transfer to other careers or job roles if you’re looking at an industry you are not as familiar with.

3. Identify What Responsibilities you can Handle 

One of the most significant aspects of a job description is the portion that outlines the job responsibilities. Concise and reader-friendly, this section gives job candidates the specific responsibilities of the role and the evaluation criteria. It also gives you insight into the day-to-day responsibilities. 

Here are some questions to ask yourself:

  1. What duties from previous roles would you be happy to keep doing or want to do more of?
  2. What daily responsibilities excite and motivate you? 
  3. Where would you like to see yourself in your next career role? 
  4. What skills would you like to build upon? 

It’s questions like these that can help you narrow down where your skills, interests and available jobs intersect. When it comes to searching for a job, most job queries will have a description of what they are looking for in an employee. Similarly, the job description will likely include a general description of what your potential responsibilities could entail. 

If you’re interested in learning more about the skills and qualities employers in Rutherford County are looking for, check out the career opportunities within our high-demand industries.

4. Find the Career Path for you with Rutherford Works

Through an uncommon partnership with business and education, Rutherford works empowers and inspires the current and future workforce of Rutherford County to become highly skilled, highly employable citizens to achieve a better life. 

We offer tons of resources for jobseekers looking to advance their career, switch jobs or find additional training. Visit our Jobseekers webpage for more information.

5. Opportunities in Rutherford County

Rutherford Works connects students and professionals with the in-demand of Rutherford County. Here are some of the industries with current positions we are working to fill: