Skills Power Point

Career Planning: Skills

Sarah Rach-Sovich

Quote of the day:

“If you are called to be a street sweeper, sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.”

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Keep in mind…

Career assessment instruments do not tell you what you can or cannot “be.” They provide you different ways of looking at yourself in relation to the world of work.

A skill is a goal-oriented behavior that can be improved with practice - in other words, skills can be learned.

Skills are the foundation

Employers don’t just want to know where you have been or what job titles you have had

They want to know what you can do!

What employers say students are lacking…

Study by the National Commission on Writing:

Many employers are reporting that college graduates have difficulty communicating in clear, grammatical prose.

According to the study, businesses in the United States may spend as much as $3.1 billion on remedial writing instruction each year, with many additional dollars lost as a result of inefficiencies related to poor writing.

To prepare graduates for the contemporary workplace, the commission concludes, educators need to develop more comprehensive and sustained ways of teaching and assessing writing.

How are your writing skills?

What else do employers say?New graduates lack face-to-face communication skills,

especially writing skills

Students tend to lack presentation skills, teamwork skills, and overall interpersonal (gets along well with others) skills

New grads tend to lack a good work ethic

Students have trouble with time management and are unable to multitask in order to meet deadlines

What employers say… cont.Some new hires do not have realistic expectations for

their new positions: they are not loyal to the organization and they “have a high sense of urgency and want to climb the ladder overnight.”

Other employers say new hires lack professionalism: they lack maturity and knowledge of business etiquette, including how to dress appropriately

Employers rank the importance of skills/qualities:

• Communication skills • Strong work ethic • Teamwork skills (works well with others) • Initiative • Analytical skills • Computer skills • Flexibility/adaptability • Interpersonal skills (relates well to

others) • Problem-solving skills • Technical skills

www.resumebear.com

So, what do you need to work on?What employers are saying is proof that the

information provided in your course work and the homework assigned is relevant and necessary to your future success!

Life experiences you gain across your life are also invaluable to you – don’t miss out on opportunities!

What other skills do you gain from your course work??

You’ve got skills!The great news is… The average person has between

500 and 800 skills!

Yet, many people still struggle with identifying their skills

What is a skill?

Skills do not need to require years of formal training and experience to develop

A skill is anything you can do right now!

Can be related to employment

Can be things you do in your daily life

Two main types of skills Job-specific skills

• Skills that a person uses for a specific job such as sewing, record keeping, cooking, cleaning, computer programming and welding

Transferable skills (self-management and functional skills)

• Skills also include things you can do that aren't tied to a specific job or occupation, such as being on time, dependable, independent, flexible and ambitious

More on job-specific skills…

Behind most skills lies a body of knowledge… these bodies of knowledge are skills too

• Examples:

• The person performing computer programming has learned a computer language such as Visual Basic

• A cook knows about cooking techniques such as basting or baking.

More on self-management skills…You use these day-to-day to get along with others to

survive

They're the skills that make you unique.

Examples of self-management skills

• Sincerity, reliability, tactfulness, patience, flexibility, timeliness and tolerance

• Motivational attributes and attitudes

• Persistence, drive and cooperation

Don’t underestimate them! …especially those that show motivation and a good

work attitude

• recall the study I talked about a few weeks ago – enthusiasm and a can-do attitude were what executives identified as the most important indicators of success in workers

Employers look for these skills to determine how a candidate will fit into the organization

These skills are especially important for people who are seeking their first job or returning to employment after an absence

Speaking of job “fit”…

What are transferrable skills?

Not exactly… Read on….

What are transferrable skills?Skills that can be applied to a

variety of activities (they can transfer from one activity to another)

Skills that you have acquired that can help an employer but aren’t immediately relevant to the job you seek

Almost any skill is transferrable, you just have to show the employer how

They are important for many reasons!

Many job seekers are unlikely to find a job identical to their previous employment

Therefore, it's critical for them to carefully evaluate how their skills transfer into other opportunities

People seeking their first job, making a major career change or returning to employment after a long absence will mostly use transferable skills in their job search.

Examples of transferrable skills:

Self-management skills are highly transferable - they apply to most situations

However, a number of job-specific skills are also transferable

Other examples:

• Volunteer work, hobbies, sports, previous jobs, college coursework or even life happenings

Life happens… what skills have you gained?

Job-specific skills that are transferrable

Examples:

• If you can operate a drill press, you have skills to operate other types of machinery

• If you can balance a personal bank account, you have math aptitude skills to balance a business account

• If you coordinate events, lead meetings, participate on teams for community activities or personal interests-- you have skills that transfer to employment

Sell your transferrable skills, but probably not in this way…

Be a sales person….Know how to sell your skills!

Check out the following examples so you can do better than this guy…

Server to entry level marketingTransferable skills: Communication, client retention,

sales and marketing, multitasking.

How to sell it: "During peak periods, I had to prioritize and handle multiple orders, market menu items, answer questions quickly, communicate clearly, up sell additional selections and ensure repeat business. My daily tip totals provided highly efficient feedback, as they were based on personal productivity and customer satisfaction."

Nanny to Human Resource SpecialistTransferable skills: Human relations, teaching,

development, time management, patience.

How to sell it: "As a former caregiver to five children, I learned to identify with each child and learn his/her individual strengths, weaknesses and interests. I've also learned the importance of good time management, which would be an essential skill in the human resource department."

College student to software engineering

Transferable skills: Computer science degree, team player, work ethic, trainable.

How to sell it: "I have a strong background in computer science, with both a degree and extensive training in the field. An accomplished team player, I've worked with a database management group at XYZ University, created an online multimedia store and used CGI scripts written in C+++ to track customer satisfaction."

Project #1, Part 2Due March 9 th, 2010

Complete the Skills Identification Worksheet

Complete the Skills Identifier Worksheet

Have two people fill out the How Others See Me Worksheet

Make a list of your top 10 skills (can come from the Worksheets or you can add your own)

For each skill identify if the skill is: Job Specific, Self-Management, and/or Transferrable (might be more than one of these)

Project #1, Part 2 continuedWrite a 1 page reflection answering the following questions:

• What skills do you feel you need to improve on?

• What are your ideas or options for improving on these skills?

• Why is it important to improve on these skills?

• Think about the career options you identified in Project #1, Part 1 (Question 3)… Do you have the skills necessary for those careers? What skills do you need to improve on or acquire to pursue these careers?