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Skills:
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A careful assessment of skills is extremely important if career
planning is to follow a logical path of development. Self-assessment
can be difficult and involve a great deal of soul searching.
Accurate assessment of skills requires being objective abut
what you can do. While some people are very good at self-assessment,
others either sell themselves short or have an inflated view
of their abilities.
In career planning, it is essential that you receive some verification
about your present skills. At this stage, you might want to
consider meeting with your supervisor. Your present supervisor
can help you evaluate your own skill assessment by confirming
which skills are strong and pointing out those which need to
be improved.
Another way to access skills is to see if your successes on
the job contain a common element. For example, have you proven
yourself to be an effective leader? Are your writing skills
frequently praised? Have you come up with innovative ideas that
have been put into practice? Are you considered to be an "expert"
in a particular area?
In general, there are three main types of skills. These are:
SELF-MANAGEMENT SKILLS: These are the skills that relate
to how you manage yourself and include such things as how you
relate to authority and how you manage your time. Other examples
are punctuality, dependability, initiative, and resourcefulness.
FUNCTIONAL SKILLS: These are the skills that relate to
people, data, and things. These include operating machines,
working with data, exchanging information, and supervising people.
These skills are transferable from one kind of occupation to
another.
WORK CONTENT SKILLS: These are the skills that relate
to performing a specific type of job in a particular field.
They include those skills involving memory, such as knowing
all the parts of a machine, or the steps in a procedure. Examples
of work content skills are financial planning, market research,
language translating, accounting, and word processing.
Amazing as it may seem, the average person has between 500 and
700 skills, most of which they are not even aware of. Use the
checklist below to identify some of your skills. Be sure to
think beyond your work activities to professional, community
and other roles as well when identifying skills. |
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Skills List:
Your Present Job :
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Your Present Job In the columns below, record your daily work
activities and then decide what skill that activity involves.
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Daily Work Activities/Duties What Skill Is Involved?
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1. ________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________________
6. ________________________________________________________
7. ________________________________________________________
8. ________________________________________________________
9. ________________________________________________________
10. _______________________________________________________
Other community/Volunteer Roles:
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Daily Activities/Duties What Skill Is Involved?
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1. ________________________________________________________
2. ________________________________________________________
3. ________________________________________________________
4. ________________________________________________________
5. ________________________________________________________
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Strengths/Weaknesses:
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1. Things I have done well in my present job:
Things I have not done well:
2. Things I have done at work which other people have rewarded
or complimented me for doing well:
3. Things I have been criticized for:
4. What are some of the things that I learned quickly in my
job?
5. The good work habits I have in my present job (punctual,
accurate, work hard, and so on) are:
6. The poor work habits I have (late, make a lot of mistakes,
socialize, and so on) are:
7. Key skills, knowledge, and abilities I have acquired in previous
positions: |
Skills Summary:
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In looking at my skills, I find:
1. My major skills are:
2. The skills I most enjoy are:
3. My major weaknesses are in the areas of:
4. I may be able to improve these skills by: |
Skill Verification:
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I want/need to know:
I want to hear it from: |
Skill Gaps: The major skills I will need to acquire are:
How can I acquire those skills?
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job enrichment
on-the-job training
formal education
university
community college
technical
in-house training program
other courses
self-development
reading
associations
committee work
acting assignments
project work
others |
Barriers: Are there any barriers which may prove to be major
obstacles in my chosen career objective? If so, what are they?
Your Supervisor: Your supervisor can be one of the best persons
to provide help with career planning. S/he can help you by providing
feedback on your work performance. This will help identify your strengths
and point out those areas that need development. Your supervisor can
also help you evaluate your career goals and help you work towards
them.
Ask Your Supervisor: For what positions or levels in this
organization would you be willing to recommend me for?
Summary of Achievements:
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In reviewing my accomplishments, I find that:
I feel most satisfied when:
My strongest skills are:
The skills I enjoy using the most are:
Some examples of work performed/accomplishments that demonstrate my
proficiency using the skills identified above.
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