In this guide
Templates, checklists and worksheets
A skills inventory worksheet
Prompts and a worksheet for listing skills from work, study and the rest of life, then sorting them by recent use and how well you can prove them.
Why skills go missing from resumes
People rarely list what feels ordinary to them. A school administrator may not think of scheduling exams for 900 students as project coordination, and a parent who runs a sports club may not think of the budget and volunteer rota as relevant experience. An inventory brings those skills into view so you can decide whether they belong in an application.
Prompts to surface skills
| Source | Prompt |
|---|---|
| Current or recent job | What would go wrong if I were away for a month? |
| Earlier jobs | What did I get trusted with that others were not? |
| Study and training | What did I produce, not just attend? |
| Volunteering and community | What did I organise, run or fix? |
| Home and caring | What do I plan, budget or coordinate regularly? |
| Other people | What do friends or colleagues ask me to help with? |
The worksheet
Skill | Where I used it | Last used | Evidence (an example I could describe) | Strength (1-3) [skill] | [setting] | [month and year] | [one-line example] | [1 = some, 2 = solid, 3 = could teach it] Categories to cover: tools and software; specialist knowledge; working with people; organising and planning; languages; licences and certifications
A worked example
Illustrative example
Four rows from a retail assistant's inventory
- Stock reconciliation | Supermarket, weekly counts | August 2026 | Found the recurring miscount in the chilled section | 2
- Training new staff | Supermarket | July 2026 | Inducted six seasonal starters | 3
- Spreadsheet formulas | Running the local football club fees | September 2026 | Built the subs tracker the treasurer still uses | 2
- Conversational Polish | Home | Daily | Help customers who prefer Polish | 3
Two of the four strongest rows come from outside the job title, which is common.
Sorting and using the list
- Lead with skills rated 2 or 3 that you used in the last two years and can illustrate with an example.
- Group the rest by theme to spot strengths you had not named, such as 'coordination' across three settings.
- Use skills rated 1 as learning goals rather than claims.
Common questions
Should I include skills from hobbies?
Include them in the inventory. Whether they reach your resume depends on whether they are relevant to the role and evidenced as clearly as work skills.
How often should I update the inventory?
Before any job search and after any major project or course. Keeping it with your evidence bank makes updating quick.
Put it into practice
See how Luceria helps with thisDrafted with AI assistance and checked against Luceria’s editorial standards. Examples are illustrative, not real people’s results. Spotted something out of date? Tell us.