‘The unexamined life is not worth living.’
(Socrates)
To succeed in any field or discipline, it is imperative that one identifies and develops corresponding skills to excel in the area. More often than not, employers will choose the most skilful applicant over the most experienced. My friend, a Human Resources consultant told me that ‘there is a difference between experience and expertise; I am constantly seeking the latter.’ Developing one’s skills makes all the difference but that will be the subject of another article in this series.
In the previous article we talked about how to write a CV and highlighted the importance of presenting your skills. Thus, how you showcase your skills in your CV may be the difference between progressing to the next phase of a job application or not; regardless of your education or work experience. Identifying and communicating your skills will always set you apart from other applicants. However, you cannot communicate what you have no knowledge or awareness of! Hence, the ability to identify all the skills you possess will make you more aware of your different career options. It will also alert you to any skills or knowledge gaps that can be addressed with further training.
A skill can be defined as a special ability or expertise. Don’t let the terms ‘special ability’ and ‘expertise’ overwhelm you. We all have skills, whether they are generic transferable skills such as communication, organisational and teamwork skills or more specialist skills such as building databases, preparing legal reports or electron microscopy. ‘Job skills’ is a broad term that is used to cover a wide range of abilities and skills that you have built up during your education and career.
So hopefully, now that we all agree that preparing your skill profile by making a complete list of your skills is a worthwhile task, how do we go about it? We move from ‘knowing’ our experience to ‘identifying’ our expertise via reflection.
First, look at your employment history and prepare a list of every single job you have done, it doesn’t matter if it was voluntary or paid employment; skills can be developed in either. If you have just graduated from school or University and are thinking about your first job, scrutinise what you have done over the last few years to achieve your degree award. Skills are not only developed in a work environment. Do you have any hobbies? Include them on the list too.
Next, for every job, hobby or training, identify and write down the tasks associated with each activity. Finally, note what you have learnt from carrying out these tasks. What abilities do you now have that you didn’t before? You’ll be surprised at how many skills you have developed over the years.
Undertaking tasks lead to experience, developing experience = developing skills in that area. For example, a final year undergraduate student undertaking a research project in any subject area is developing skills; in the subject area (techniques being used); IT (data analysis, preparing reports); organisational and project management (submission deadlines); communication (writing dissertation and defence/viva) etc.
Now that your skills profile is ready, the job application process becomes somewhat easier as you can compare the person specification in the advertisement with your personal and unique job skills list and choose the relevant items. You can also see what skills are important to employers in your area of expertise or interest and fill in the gaps where necessary.
Identifying your skills should be an ongoing process in the journey of your personal development. As you climb up the career ‘ladder’, your capacity to improve your skill set increases. However, unless you are aware of and documenting your advancement, it can be difficult to communicate this progress to prospective employers.
Why take all the time to find and communicate your skills? The end result is something that sets you apart and makes you stand out. Remember that you don’t even have to be the most qualified and or experienced candidate, but by showcasing your skills you can grab the attention of the employer and demonstrate instantly how you will fit into the job role perfectly and add value to the company. So get started.
Good luck! About the authors:|
Dr Amara Anyogu (@amaratweets) is a Research Scientist and Education Consultant providing teaching and learning solutions in Further and Higher Education. She is passionate about enabling others achieve their true potential through education and motivation. Forget the sky, aim higher! |
Dr Emmanuel Adukwu is a University Lecturer, Researcher, Educational Consultant and Motivational Speaker with experience working in large international organizations. He is interested in creating partnerships and keen on people development. (Twitter: EmmanuelAdukwu) |