5 TED Talks to know which job skills to include on your resume

Table of Content:

1. Looking for a job? Highlight your ability, not your experience.
2. Why the best hire might not have the perfect resume?
3. Why specialising early doesn’t always mean career success?
4. How your unique story can get you hired?
5. The best career path isn’t always a straight line.

We selected for you 5 inspirational videos, to help you during your application process and to know which job skills to include on your resume.

You can find below the link and a summary of the videos. Enjoy!

1. Looking for a job? Highlight your ability, not your experience.

Only ¼ of college graduates work in a field that relates to their degree.

In this TED Talk, Jason Shen explains how nowadays, only a few of the employees are working directly in the fields they studied.

He also shares some ideas on what employers and candidates could do to change the way the recruitment market is working. How to identify and cultivate talent, and how candidates can learn to tell their stories in powerful and compelling ways.

We should see the people for what they are truly capable of and to let them have the opportunity to realise their full potential.

This TED Talk relates to the article our Recruitment Consultant Tax & Legal Elaine wrote about “Is there a “right” career path”.

2. Why the best hire might not have the perfect resume?

According to Regina Hartley, they are 2 types of candidates:

• The Silver Spoon, who studied in the best schools and is destined for success
• The Scrapper, who did odd jobs and had to fight to succeed

She is asking us who we would choose while hiring for a position. The Silver Spoon or The Scrapper?

Giving the example of her own story as the fourth child of a poor family with many difficulties, she explains why, as a recruiter, she will always give the change to The Scrapper.

Indeed, even if studying in the best schools needs lots of effort and work, a series of odd jobs doesn’t have to mean inconsistency or lack of focus. But on the opposite, it can show commitment and a good fighter against struggles.

Who would you choose?

3. Why specialising early doesn’t always mean career success?

In this Ted Talk, David Epstein explains a strategy that everyone is telling us to follow: the 10,000 hours rule. According to this rule, if you spend 10,000 hours studying or working in a field, you will become great at anything.

But he shows that this strategy has its limits and why it is important to be curious and to test different things.

Is it really good to specialise early in a field? Or is it better to test as much as you can while you study, to be able to choose later and be persistent in this field? Indeed, a study shows that early specialists are not persistent in the field they selected too early, as they made poor early choices.

David Epstein gives an example of 2 types of the learning environment:

• The Kind of Learning Environment where all the rules are simple and never change like in golf
• The Wicked Learning Environment, where steps and goals are not clear, rules may change

Today, we are living in a wicked world where we tell ourselves to follow a Kind Learning Environment, and it doesn’t work.

People who had a career-focused education will get hired faster, but are less adaptable in a changing world like we are in. They win in the short term but lose in the long run.

We should not only focus on early specialisation. In our wicked world, we need people who tried and learned different things.

Be curious!

4. How your unique story can get you hired?

Aimée Eubanks Davis is explaining in this video how your self-doubt about your experiences can be the key to driving your career success.

It can often happen that you don’t have a traditional background, that you don’t fit the mold. Because of that, you don’t dare to apply for a job.

But according to Aimée, your liability is actually your differentiating strength.

Transform how you perceive your own story.

You need to show how your untraditional path made you get some skills over time that are valuable in the workforce.

You need to identify those experiences and use and sell them when you apply for a job, asking yourself 2 questions:

• Why do you want to do this job?
• How can you share your story to showcase the unique strengths you will bring to the work?

Your story is your ticket to the job.

5. The best career path isn’t always a straight line.

A squiggly career is both full of uncertainty and full of possibilities.

Sarah Ellis and Helen Tupper explain in the video why the right career path isn’t always a straight line. But is frequently a squiggly line with different experiences.

Nowadays, the organisation follows career ladders that were created as a way to manage and motivate workers in the 1900s…

They show how career ladders are limiting. They are about titles and not talent and don’t let the chance to other possibilities like learning.

Both of them explain why organisations need to lose the ladder, if not they will lose their people, and why it is important to redefine the relationship of learning at work.

Your development is no longer dependent on other people but on you. Permit yourself to explore new skills.

Indeed, in a squiggly career, there is room for everyone to succeed.

You can also read our article “What are the most important skills for job hunting in 2022?”  to know more about which job skills to include on your resume.

How can we help you?

As professionals in recruitment since 2013, LHC International can help you define which job skills to include on your resume and help you find the right position for you.

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us, we will be pleased to have a chat with you about your projects.