Skills First!

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Skills First!

The problem of skill deficiency, on our campus and others, can be attributed to a basic lack of understanding of what skills are and of how they are attained and developed. You cannot sell your skills to prospective employers unless you know the skills required for the job. Taking time to identify the specific skills that you have is the topic of this document. The University Career Center has several resources that will assist you in this area.

"The problem we face as a nation can be simply stated. The United States does not have a
workforce that is competitive. The reason is skill deficiency."
--John H. Zimmerman
Senior Vice President,
Corporate Human Resources

Where Should I Begin?
There are three steps to follow when assessing your skills, values, and interest. Step one involves completing simple exercises to learn of the various skills which you already possess. In his book What Color is Your Parachute, Richard Nelson Bolles, outlines several activities that can help you identify your skills. This and other self-assessment tools are available at the Career Center. Once you have determined what your skills are, you will want to complete the next step of exploring the required skills for the careers that interest you.

In step two, you may want to use career books such as Careers in Marketing (or other fields) to research the tasks and requirements of a specific job. For example, if your goal is to be employed in public relations, you would want to verify the basic skills needed for this field. Are these skills that you must learn before the employment stage, or can you acquire them "on the job"? Will these skills be transferable to another job? In order to answer these questions, you may wish to know more about what skills are why they important.

Learning about the types of skills (step three) will teach you that there are three categories of skills including innate or natural, work-content, and transferable skills. Let's examine the definition of each:

Natural talents or aptitudes:

Some talents, traits, and abilities are passed to us from our parents or other family members while we acquire some skills from environmental influence during our childhood. Examples of these skills include intelligence, physical motor skills, self expression, and analytical skills. Such skills are developed inherently by encouragement and are refined by intensive training. Think of a young girl or boy in a gymnastics class. Some of the students will learn how to roll, tumble, twist, and turn without much effort, while others must practice daily to learn the techniques of a particular movement. In other words, natural talents and abilities permit us to learn new skills with ease. Over 15% of skills needed for the job are of this variety.

Work content skills:

Those job requirements that are specific to that occupation in isolation make up the skills in this area. Such skills can only be learned "on the job" and are necessary to performing the basic duties. Many of these skills entail a knowledge of the environment or systems used within the organization. Making an analytical decision about money for management requires a comprehension of the organization's financial strategies. Information X from company X is of no value at another site since differing information and strategies render different outcomes. Skills of this nature make up 10-15% of any job description.

Transferable skills:

Are those basic skills required for most jobs that may be learned from various settings including: home, school, clubs, or part-time work. These skills and talents are the foundation of your work behavior and include such basics as communication, problem solving, critical thinking, writing, and creative skills. Over 70% of these skills are applicable to any type of position. It is also important to remember that 80% of all skills used on any job are learned through education, while 20% are job specific.

Where Do I Go from Here?
There are a few questions to consider when organizing and listing your skills. The first one entails an idea of where you want to work. This process should involve your ideas of what type of environment is best for you - private business, public service, manufacturing/technology, or the arts. An issue to confront is determining what you enjoy most. Successful employees are doing well because they are utilizing skills, information, and talents that interest them. This interest motivates them to "do their best." It makes sense to select activities requiring tasks that you enjoy doing. If your strength is working with numbers, then handling customer questions and complaints eight hours a day will certainly be grounds for insanity!

A good way to acquire skills that are pertinent to your chosen field is to become involved in an internship, summer job, campus club, or volunteer experience that provides you with an opportunity to add skills that you do not have. Planning a conference for the departmental club demonstrates your ability to organize, facilitate, promote, and implement activities for a large group. Assisting an elderly woman write a letter to her son in Italy is an example of your ability to show empathy, to communicate, and to bridge the age gap.

Finally, How Do I Convince Someone That I Have the Needed Skills?
The key place that you can "show off your skills" is on your resume. When you are listing your job experience, explain the skills you acquired in the terms mentioned earlier. Then expand on the skill--demonstrate how you increased profits or membership rather than using vague explanations.

Another place to relate your experiences and skills is in the interview. You want to impress the interviewer that your background in inventory analysis gained last summer as a camp counselor can be utilized as an assistant manager. By answering open-ended questions with factual anecdotes rather than obsessive ramblings, you will depict the right background and knowledge for the job. Your goal is to be the person who is hired due to the advanced skills you possess... remember, employers spend thousands of dollars training new employees and want to hire the best!

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