Why you and not someone else? The “competitors” for the position you are applying for are just as qualified and capable as you. But how do you differentiate yourself? Mad skills can be a lever. We explain how to identify and value these atypical skills during a job interview.
1: Mad skills, what is it? 🤔
Mad skills, which can be translated as “crazy skills”, are original skills, out of the ordinary, acquired through the practice of an extra-professional activity. In other words, mad skills are atypical skills developed through your hobbies, your travels or your involvement in associations.
Here is an example to clarify:
You practice diving during your vacation, which demonstrates your confidence in an unfamiliar environment. A very useful soft skill in business.
You are a certified diver and have been performing technical dives for 10 years. Through this demanding activity, you have developed physical resistance capacities as well as exceptional stress management. These are mad skills!
2: Mad skills, are recruiters interested? 💡
Mentioning an atypical asset arouses curiosity among 75% of recruiters according to an Indeed study.
Beyond the interest aroused, a candidate with mad skills would not be afraid to step out of their comfort zone and would know how to better adapt to change.
In a world that changes quickly and unpredictably, employees who know how to pivot quickly can be decisive!
3: How to highlight your mad skills? ✨
Have you identified your mad skills? It is important to think about how to value them on your CV and during your job interviews.
On your CV you can make them appear instead of your hobbies. For example: Practice of technical diving for 10 years: management of stress and unforeseen events in an unknown environment.
In the interview, you will only need to start from a professional experience during which these skills were useful to you. For example, when the public authorities announced confinement in the Covid19 context, you immediately switched the in-store teams to teleworking after-sales service. You know how to manage an unprecedented crisis situation thanks to your practice of technical diving. Indeed, this discipline forces you to react calmly to the unexpected in order to stay safe at all times.
To conclude, mad skills are attractive and can make an impression. They represent that little extra that makes a recruiter not forget you. However, they alone will not be enough to convince him to hire you. It is only associated with your hard and your soft skills that they will allow you to make the difference.