Goals
Links
Quiz
Identify Your Skills
Opinion Poll

SKILLS THAT I HAVE

Employers often choose the candidate who can provide concrete examples of their skills. Print this page and insert your skills and an example of a time when you used each one.

There are many types of jobs in the job market and many skills to use, and what you prefer to do will likely be different than what your peers prefer. You will succeed in your career if you can honestly assess what it is that you like to do. Of all the skills you have, and all the knowledge you have accumulated, what do you like the best? In the previous chapter,Yyou have just identified your technical and transferable skills. Now, you’ll want to think about which of these skills you really like using.

Make a list of three accomplishments in your life of which you are proud. Under the accomplishments determine how you were able to achieve each one–what skills did you use? These are clues to which skills you enjoy using the most.

What steps did you take to accomplish this?

Which skills did you use in order to accomplish this?

What steps did you take to accomplish this?

Which skills did you use in order to accomplish this?

What steps did you take to accomplish this?

Which skills did you use in order to accomplish this?

PREFERRED SKILLS

Note the skills that you used in your three stories and insert them into the chart below. Review your list of technical and transferable skills from Form 2.1.1 of this chapter. Are there other skills that you would LIKE to use that are not on the following chart? Insert them now and rank each skill according to preference, with "1" being the most preferred.

Now that you have an idea of the skills you might like to use on a consistent basis, you’ll want to consider some other aspects of a job that could be important to you. Again, be as honest with yourself as possible because achieving what is important to you will significantly impact your ultimate career. Listed below are some possible factors. These could figure into your decision and may lead you to search for a particular job with a particular company. This list is by no means all-inclusive, and you may have other factors you wish to include. As you study the list, circle those factors that are important to you. Think about why factors are important or not important to you.

• Money
• Status
• Recognition
• Location/Region
• Opportunity for advancement
• Peers
• Policies of the company
• Travel
• Practical experience
• Opportunity for continual learning
• Job security
• Size of the company
• Management style
• Benefits
• Autonomy
• Good incentives
• Hours (shift work, 8 to 5, flexible hours, overtime)

Rank the following factors according to their importance to you. Rank the factors from 1-5, where 1 is most important and 5 is least important. Make a comment on the right side of the form that describes why the factor is important or unimportant to you.