Understanding Your Skills

By Teri Fritsma 
June 2009

PDF of article (3 pages)

Knowing what skills you possess will make your job search easier and more effective.

When looking for work, your top priority might be to find a job — any job — as quickly as possible. But you’re more likely to be successful in your search if you first take some time to assess your skills. Recognizing your unique blend of abilities will help you search more broadly, market yourself more effectively and find jobs that are a good match for you.

Job seekers sometimes limit their search by looking for positions that involve the same tasks they’ve done before. But you may discover many more options if you take a different approach. Rather than focusing on the activities you performed in your last position, consider the qualities you possess that made you good at those activities. Once you begin thinking of your skills in this way, you may see new ways to apply them.

For example, if your previous job involved working with children in a day care, chances are you have both social skills and managerial skills. These skills may prove useful in a variety of settings. Similarly, if you were a production line worker, you probably learned how to properly maintain equipment and control quality, which could serve you in a completely different industry.

The key is to understand your skills in general and transferrable terms.

Understanding Your Skills

The Occupational Information Network (O*NET) provides a framework for understanding general skills. Since many assessment tools are based on this framework, it’s a good place to start. O*NET divides skills into five different categories: basic, social, management, systems and technical.

Basic skills like reading, writing, math and critical thinking continue to be in high demand everywhere. These skills are important for almost anything you do at work.

Social skills (sometimes considered “soft” skills) allow you to work with others effectively. They’re universally important because they help you get along with customers, coworkers and supervisors.

Management skills aren’t what you might expect, and they’re not just for managers anymore. Almost anyone working in a professional setting has to manage time, for example.

Systems skills involve the ability to understand how parts and wholes work together in a variety of contexts. For example, if you have a good understanding of how different units in your organization work together, you probably have systems skills.

Technical skills involve working with equipment and/or computers. They involve your ability to operate equipment, troubleshoot problems, control quality or design technology, for example.

Matching Your Skills

Once you’ve identified your skills, take an assessment to find occupations that match your skill set. There are several free online tools for job seekers and career explorers (see below). When using these tools, keep the following in mind:

• Take more than one assessment. The more assessments you take, the more you’ll learn. Not only will you get more results, but you’ll also have spent more time considering your skills. This process will give you a much better sense of what you want and don’t want in a job.
• Keep an open mind. Your results may suggest you’re a good match for an occupation you’d never considered before. Remember that two different occupations that seem nothing alike might actually have similar skill requirements.
• An assessment can’t tell you whether a particular job will make you happy. A job is more than the skills required to complete tasks. It involves an organization, a boss, a group of coworkers, a schedule, a salary, a commute — all things that could profoundly affect how you feel about your work. Still, your job satisfaction is likely to be higher if your work makes good use of your skills.

Talking About Your Skills

Understanding your skills is half the battle. Once you have a good handle on what you have to offer, make sure you can describe your skills in a way that communicates their value to a prospective employer.

If you’re applying for a job that you think is a good match for your skills but is outside your current field, make sure to connect the dots for the employer. Explain which of your traits will be especially valuable to the employer and describe outcomes and successes from your previous jobs.

When highlighting your skills in your resume or cover letter, use the same terms you see in the job ad, if possible. And don’t use technical or industry-specific terms unless you’re sure the prospective employer will understand them.