Recycle your skills

Giselle’s experience and tactics can be adapted to any situation. Do an audit of your own skills by thinking how the things you do every day can provide proof of how skilled you are. The checklist below should get you started.

Re-evaluate yourself

I’m an effective communicator because I can:

• speak clearly and accurately
• talk easily to strangers
• listen carefully
• persuade others of my point of view
• follow written instructions
• ask the right questions
• explain things effectively
• reach agreement by negotiating or bargaining

I’m a good team worker because I:

• get on well with all sorts of people
• share information
• am open to other people’s ideas
• am loyal
• trust others
• am flexible and prepared to compromise
• deliver what I promise
• always support team mates by doing my fair share

I’m a problem solver because I can:

• see problems before they get too big
• look at difficulties from different points of view
• tackle things myself rather than leaving it to someone else
• learn from my own mistakes
• try out new solutions

I show initiative all the time because I’m:

• able to see what needs doing without being told
• willing to take on new things
• good at making decisions
• good at getting things started

My organisational skills mean I’m:

• able to plan work so that the most important things get done first
• able to get things done on time
• good at doing more than one thing at a time
• good at planning how things should be done
• able to co-ordinate people and resources

I’m adaptable because I’m:

• open to new ideas
• not afraid to try different ways of doing things
• quick to learn new things
• able to deal with changes

Now all you need to do is find examples of when you did those things. Just think back over the last month.

Talk about work skills - what you need and how you get them.

Are you thinking about returning to work after having children? Share experiences with women who have done just that.