2. Learning Objectives
• Gain ability and confidence to display
innovation skills and ideas
appropriately in
– CV
– Interview
– Presentations
– Written proposals
• Develop knowledge of how to keep
improving innovation mindset and skills
2
3. There are four main units in this
module
• 1. Displaying innovation skills and interests
• in a CV
• in an interview
• in presentations
• in written proposals
• 2. Continuous innovative improvement of one’s
mindset and skills
• strategies such as “mindfulness”
• Self-actualization
• 3. Emotional Intelligence
• 4. Exercise: Self-assessment and career pathway
planning
3
4. 1. Displaying innovation skills and
interests
• 1.1 What are they?
• These are the skills that you need to contribute to an
organization’s innovation performance—to produce new
and improved strategies, capabilities, products, process,
and services
• 1.2 Why is building these skills important?
• 1.3 How do I effectively display my
skills/interests?
4
5. Definition of « innovation skills »
• Innovation skills are practically speaking the
types of skills that allow individuals to become
innovative in what they do.
• These are usually a combination of
• cognitive skills
• the ability to think creatively and critically
• behavioural skills
• the ability to solve problems, to manage risk
• functional skills
• basic skills such as writing, reading and numeracy
• and technical skills
• research techniques, project management, or IT engineering
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6. 1.1 Descriptions of skills/interests
• Creativity, problem-solving, and continuous
improvement skills
• The skills, attitudes, and behaviours needed to generate
ideas
• Risk assessment and risk-taking skills
• The skills, attitudes, and behaviours needed to take
calculated risks and to be entrepreneurial
• Relationship-building and communication skills
• The skills, attitudes, and behaviours needed to develop
and maintain interpersonal relationships that support
innovation
• Implementation skills
• The skills, attitudes, and behaviours needed to turn ideas
into strategies, capabilities, products, processes, and
services
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7. 1.2 Why are these skills important?
• Each person, regardless of ability, style or
orientation can and should be more
innovative every day.
• Organization will expect you to possess
and use key innovation skills!
• “Innovation is necessary in all business life
… because if you don’t continue to innovate,
then your competitive advantage disappears
very quickly.”
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8. 1.3 How do I effectively display my
skills/interests?
• 1.3.1 First things first!
• Which skills do you have (to what level)? Which are you
lacking?
• Take a self-assessment
• 1.3.2 Which skills/interests to highlight? To
whom? Where?
• Tailor to your situation and needs
• 1.3.3 Strategy
• 1.3.3.1 Develop an overall strategy
• 1.3.3.2 Adapt your strategy to where you will display
your skills: CV, interview, presentation, written proposal
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9. 1.3.1 Innovation skills self-assessment
• Take an online or “paper” self assessment such as:
• http://innovationskillstest.ca/ (GISAT2.0)
• You will need to create an account first:
http://bit.ly/cboc_new_account
• http://bit.ly/gisat2_paper
• Be honest!
• Set aside sufficient time to complete the self-
assessment
• Fully review your results
• Create a plan of action
9
10. 1.3.2 Which skills to highlight?
• The best way to identify which skills you need to
highlight is to put yourself in the employer's
shoes.
• What are the employer's needs?
• How can you fulfill those needs?
10
11. 1.3.3 Strategy
• What is it? Definitions:
• 1. A method or plan chosen to bring
about a desired future, such as
achievement of a goal or solution to a
problem
• 2.The art and science of planning and
marshalling resources for their
most efficient and effective use.
The term is derived from the Greek
word for generalship or leading an
army
11
12. •1.3.3.1 Develop an overall strategy
• You need to create
your own
individual and
personalized
strategy at all three
levels.
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13. 1.3.3.2 Adapt your strategy to where
you will display your skills
• 1.3.3.2.1 CV (Résumé)
• 1.3.3.2.2 Interview
• 1.3.3.2.3 Presentation
• 1.3.3.2.4 Written proposal
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14. 1.3.3.2.1 CV/Résumé – the basics
• You should never forget that your CV/résumé
is what will get you the interview
• Therefore it is up to you to sell yourself well
enough so that when a potential employer see
it, they know right away that you are a good
candidate for them
• Make sure that your CV/resume is up to date and
showcases all of your skills and qualities
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15. CV/Résumé - First impressions count
• The fact of the matter is that recruiters
and hiring officials will scan read a CV or
application
• Be sure to include
• Creativity, problem-solving, and continuous
improvement skills
• Risk assessment and risk-taking skills
• Relationship-building and communication skills
• Implementation skills
photos source: pixabay - CC0 Public Domain
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16. CV/Résumé - Checklist
• Don't fall at the first hurdle.
• Is your email address appropriate?
• Would you give a job to Hotlips7@x.com ?
• Have you spelled it correctly?
• Other hurdles
• Making Grammatical Errors and Typos
• There’s no room for sloppiness!
• Submitting Incorrect Information
• Correct info will eventually come out anyway
• Giving Everyone the Same Résumé
• Your résumé is not one-size-fits-all (jobs)
• Getting Too Elaborate With Formatting and Style
• And allow “breathing space” on your page
photos source: pixabay - CC0 Public Domain
16
17. 1.3.3.2.2 Interview – the basics
• If you pass the resume screen, usually the
next major step is the interview
• Employers often focus on eliminating
applicants who are not appropriate
– Don’t given them any reasons to eliminate you
• The experience, for you, can be like running
through a mine field. One misstep, and you're
OUT - a very stressful situation.
• Handle that stress by
– Preparation
– Visualizing
– Remember that people DO get hired!
photos source: pixabay - CC0 Public Domain
17
18. Interview - Preparation
• Prepare for the standard interview questions and
types of interviews you might have. Practice with a
friend or your mirror
• Prepare by knowing as much as you can about the
job, the organization, the competition, the location,
and the industry
• Very carefully read the job description
• Visit the organisation’s website
• Put Google, Bing, and YouTube to work gathering important
information about the organization
• Check the LinkedIn Company Profile (and, if possible, the
profiles of the interviewers)
• Do Internet research on any other names you may have
• Check stock and financial information
• Lastly, check on breaking news on the organization
18
20. Interview – Remember that …
• Interviews vary (both structure and type)
• It’s a two-way street – so ask your questions re.
the job and the organization
• There may be follow-up interviews
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21. Interview – the actual interview
• You know (but it bears repeating):
• Arrive a few minutes ahead of time
• Be dressed appropriately
• Have good questions ready for the interviewer(s)
• Have your cell phone turned off
• Come with copies of your resume available to hand to the
interviewer(s)
• RELAX! Be yourself, be natural, be focused and
remember that the interview is a “two-way” street
• Afterwards
• Sending a thank you -- if done reasonably well -- will
definitely not hurt your chances at a job
21
22. 1.3.3.2.3 Presentation – the basics
• Develop strong presentation skills beforehand
• Also practice for “stress” types of presentations
• The topic is important, but your process is even
more critical!
22
24. 1.3.3.2.4 Written Proposal – the basics
• A formal way of putting forth an idea and
asking for action on it
• Consider who will read the proposal and the
person’s knowledge level
• Decide, beforehand, on YOUR process for writing
a proposal and practice it
24
25. Sample proposal process
• Follow these steps:
1. State your purpose
2. Give some background information
3. State a solution to the problem
4. Specify costs
5. Restate both the problem and solution
25
26. 2. Continuous innovative improvement
of one’s mindset and skills
• Continuous improvement – an ongoing effort to
improve an individual’s skills and mental outlook
• This never-ending process requires
• A strategy, such as “mindfulness”
• A focus on self-actualization
26
27. 2.1 Mindfulness
• Mindfulness is awareness that arises
through paying attention, on
purpose, in the present moment,
non-judgementally
– Practicing mindfulness improves both
mental and physical health
– Mindfulness involves both concentration
and acceptance
– It takes practice to become comfortable
with mindfulness techniques
27
28. 2.2 Self-actualization
• The desire for self-fulfillment
• This tendency might be phrased as the desire to
become more and more what one is, to become
everything that one is capable of becoming
28
29. 3. Emotional Intelligence
• Emotional intelligence (EI)
or emotional quotient (EQ) is the ability of
individuals to
• recognize their own and other people's emotions
• to discriminate between different feelings and label them
appropriately
• to use emotional information to guide thinking and
behavior
29
30. 3.1 Recognize your own and other
people's emotions
• Benefits of higher Emotional Intelligence
• easier to form/maintain interpersonal relationships and
to ‘fit in’
• better at understanding own psychological state
• Note that there is no correlation between IQ and
EI scores
30
31. 3.2 Discriminate between different
feelings and label them
• Which ones do
you recognize
well?
• Which ones do
you know know
too well?
• Take an online
quiz
Image source: Wikimedia Commons, used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Author: Ivan Lanin.
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32. 3.3 Use emotional information to
guide thinking and behavior
• Used in these ways:
• Perceiving emotions
• detect and decipher emotions in faces, pictures, voices, etc.
• Using emotions
• harness emotions to facilitate various cognitive activities
• Understanding emotions
• comprehend emotion language and to appreciate complicated
relationships
• Managing emotions
• regulate emotions in both ourselves and in others
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33. 4. Exercise: Self-assessment and
career pathway planning
• Do a self-assessment (as outlined earlier) as soon as possible
• Career pathway planning requires an honest look at
• Career goals
• Skills
• Needed knowledge
• Experience
• Personal characteristics.
• Career pathing requires YOU to make a plan to carry out your
career path
33
34. How to create your career pathing
• You need to decide on your
career goals and desired jobs
• Put your career path plan in
writing
• You own your career path
plan
34
