When you get ready to apply for a new position, typically it begins with reviewing your resume or CV to ensure it is up-to-date. But to be truly ready for a job hunt that involves taking the next step up the ladder, you should begin at least a year in advance. Why? No one has every skill or required experience listed in a job description – nor should they. And as a reminder, women typically only apply for jobs where they have 100% or darn close to 100% of the requirements while men will apply holding far less. You should consider a position for which you have between 60% and 70% of the requirements, which may mean you have to build upon your skills and experience to be ready to apply for that next great position.

The key is to understand your personal skill gaps and how they impact your job application. As we all know, the job of the resume or CV is to highlight your skills and accomplishment, but how do you see and recognize the gaps? I have a plan for that! It’s called a skills matrix.

Similar to a resume or CV, I have developed a skills matrix where you catalog your skills, experience, and accomplishments. The difference is you’re going to do so by the type of experience. So, go back to the types of positions you want to pursue as you seek to enhance your career. Make a list of the types of skills and experience required. Look for words such as leadership, organizational skills, communication skills, problem-solving, creativity, or management. You also want to look for more specific skills such as budget management, strategic planning, coding, data analytics, or graphic design.

Once you have the list of experience types and specific skills, add them as column heads to your Matrix, as seen below:

接下来，你要回顾一下你的简历，我希望你使用的是一份主简历，列出你迄今为止在职业生涯中所做的一切。提醒一下，这不是一份你会寄给任何人的简历。仅供参考之用。对于每个职位，你都需要写一份量身定制的简历。所以，根据经验和技能类型来回顾你的主简历。在每一列每一行添加一个经验或技能，直到你列出了所有相关的经验和技能。要具体，但要简洁——这并不需要很好地阅读，没有人需要看到。它可能看起来像这样：

注：绿色方块表示JDB电子领导职位。

当你把这些信息从你的简历或简历（一种基于文本的文件）中提取出来时，矩阵是可视化的。你可以看到自己在经验和技能方面的差距。在上面的例子中，这个人有丰富的JDB电子领导经验，但很少有实际的管理经验。他们也有一些JDB电子领导经验，但没有那么多展示创造力的经验。这个矩阵为你提供了一个路线图，让你看到自己的差距，从而让你建立自己的经验和技能，这样你就可以为下一次的职业变动做好准备。

祝你好运。