Identifying Your Skills, Talents and Personal Qualifications
Posted by Shawn Threadgill on August 5, 2006
It can be challenging and sometimes uncomfortable to talk about the things we do well for fear of sounding too boastful. Yet, it is only through understanding our attributes that we can find the job that best suits our individual needs; and our our first priority is to meet our needs without alteration! The ultimate challenge is to find highly creative ways of doing this without being a burden to our loved ones and without doing so at another’s expense.
Regarding the job search, our approach should be, “You can talk the talk as long as you walk it!” That being said, it can still be difficult to pinpoint which skills best reflect who you are personally and professionally. Like many of your colleagues and loved ones, you have not been taught to “boast yourself up,” and to explain the myriad of skills that you possess or to clearly express your profound aptitudes.
Developing Your Skills Language
* Job-Related Skills. These are the skills you need to do a specific job; the ones you have developed in your current or past jobs. A plumber, for example, needs to know how to install pipes and repair fixtures, especially for water, drainage and heating systems. These are all skills that he or she would need to repair sinks. When people are asked what kind of skills they have, they most often respond with job-related skills such as these.
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Adaptive Skills or Self-Management Skills. These are also known as personality traits or personal characteristics, and are the skills you use on a daily basis. They assist the development and maintenance of your relationships and help you adapt to various situations. They are the skills that make you unique. For example, honesty and motivation are traits that employers look for in a valued employee, to assist them in determining if he or she is a good match for their organizational culture. Many job seekers do not emphasize these skills in resumés, but employers look for them.
* Transferable Skills. These skills can transfer from one job or occupation to another, which is important because of how rare it is to find an identical job to a previous one. Writing clearly and the ability to organize things are two examples of transferable skills that you can use in almost any work situation.
