Your job search is a kind of campaign, and like any good campaign, it starts with the answer to a simple question. What do you have to offer? What are you selling, and why should anyone buy it?

The first part of your answer is obvious. You’re a competent CNC programmer. You’re a great marketer with an uncanny ability to identify a target audience. You’re a brilliant music teacher who can turn nervous beginners into confident virtuosos. You’ve been immersed in your field for so long, there isn’t a question on the subject that you can’t answer. Or maybe you’ve been in your field only a short time, but your passion and hard work make you a stronger contender than those with twice your experience.

But what else can you do? To get a foot in the door and land your dream job, you’ll have to excel in the core competencies of the position. But you’ll also need to have something else that your competitors may not have, an additional set of qualities you offer as a person, and an employee, not just as a programmer/marketer/instructor, etc.

Marketable Skills That Can Help You Stand Out

Here are a few skills you may not realize you have. Are you a force to be reckoned with in these areas? If so, make sure your interviewers know about it.

1. Planning. Can you put an event together that goes off without a hitch and leaves every participant with good memories? Not everyone can do this, and very few can do it well. But it’s a skill with applicability across almost every field. Planning isn’t easy, and it requires a high degree of energy and attention to detail. If you’ve ever organized an event (wedding, block party, fundraiser) then you may have an important talent that people typically lack.

2. Negotiation. Most of us secretly believe we’re brilliant debaters, but some of us actually are. If you have a history of successfully negotiating contracts or helping friends and family overcome seemingly impossible personal conflicts, you may be great at this. And you don’t have to be working as politician or federal attorney to show that you can hold your own in a high-stakes discussion.

3. Taking care of people. When you’re in a room with others, do you actively think about what those around you need and want? Can you tell what they’re afraid of and what they’re trying to accomplish? If you can predict the needs of others and anticipate their moves, you have an invaluable skill that can help employers in every field from medicine to business to product development.

Don’t let your valuable skill sets go unnoticed. Contact a Connecticut employment staffing service at Merritt Staffing and find out how your unique, inborn strengths can support your job search and help you excel.