Know your competence
Know your competencies and skills
If you want to introduce yourself to a potential employer in a job application or an interview, it is important to be aware how you want to describe your skills. You acquire skills from education and work, as well as from leisure activities, organizational work, voluntary work, military service and care of others.
Be aware of your competencies
In order to get a job, it is important that you know how to to describe your own competence. Think through the following:
Academic competence:
• What proffesional skills have I learned through my studies?
• What skills have I achieved that are transferable to many different types of jobs?
• In what areas have I grown as a person (professionally)?
• My professional strengths - what I master well
• What do I want to learn more about?
Job experience, volunteer work and leisure activities:
• What have been my previous work tasks?
• What responsibilities have I taken or been given to me ?
• What have I learned?
You might have work experiences that do not seem relevant at first sight. However, you will achieve skills from every type of work than can be transferable to other jobs. For example teamwork, communication, time management, problem solving, leadership etc.
Personal characteristics
• How do I work with others and what role do I take in a team?
• What increases my motivation and my commitment?
• How do I handle stress?
• What are my personal strengths?
Try to describe your skills in a way that makes sense to the potential employer. Emphasise the skills relevant to the job for which you are applying. Try our tool for mapping your competencies below.
Know your competencies
Mapping your skills might help you be aware of your actually know and how you want to describe it to an employer.
Find more tips for job seekers
Webinars
All our job search courses are held as webinars. Find information about course content and registration in the drop-down menu below.
In this free course for students at NTNU, we share our best tips for writing a good CV and job application/cover letter. You will get input on both layout, structure and content, and we discuss CVs and job applications for the Norwegian labour market. A good job application maximizes your chances of getting to the job interview.
Why not start on your CV and your job application before the course? Then you may ask any questions you find you have in the webinar. Find tips on how to write a CV and a job application/cover letter.
It will be possible to submit questions via chat, and they will be answered during the webinar.
The webinar is in English and for NTNU students only.
1st of February at 12:30 p.m
or
29th of February at 12:30 p.m
Are you an international student looking for a job in Norway?
If you need some advice on where and how to find relevant jobs but are unsure how things work in a Norwegian setting and context, join our free webinar. Here we will go through and discuss several different strategies for finding the jobs, and how to approach prospective employers/companies.
It will be possible to submit questions via chat, and they will be answered during the webinar. The webinar does not address topics like work or resident permits, or other legal issues.
The webinar is in English and for NTNU students only.
15th of February at 12:30 p.m
or
14th of March at 12:30 p.m
Have you been invited to a job interview in Norway? Or are you just waiting to hear back regarding your job applications, anticipating an invitation for a job interview any day now?
In this free webinar we share our best tips for what to expect in an interview, the most common interview questions and how to best prepare yourself.
We will answer your questions during the webinar and recommend that you check out this website for advice for job interviews prior to the webinar.
The webinar is in English and for NTNU students only.
8th of February at 12:30 p.m
or
7th of march at 12:30 p.m
Map your competencies for your job application
Get to know your skills and consider how you want to describe them.
Career counselling
For current students, applicants and recent NTNU graduates. The career service at NTNU Career are for students only. PhD and Post Doc are to be considered employees at NTNU.
Book free 45 minutes counselling for:
- Feedback on CV / cover letter
- Choosing a career path
- How to map your competence
- The job search process