Assessing Your Skill Set

Read this article if you are:

• Looking to expand your career search
• Exploring career options
• Developing your team

I majored in social work because as a human communications major with a focus in public speaking, I could not figure out a legitimate career path for myself. I knew I wanted to help people, my aunt was a social worker, so social work it was. After my first internship, I knew social work was a bad fit. Three months into my first social work job, I was looking for a way out. If I continued in career path mindset, I would be somewhere burned out and counting the days until Friday. The skills I most frequently used in my first job, as a social worker, were report writing (75%), local travel (20%), and one-on-one client interaction (5%). At best, my skills are one-on-one client interaction (15%), public speaking (15%), content writing (20%), socially gathering information (50%). It is obvious my first job did not get the best of my skills. Throughout your career it is beneficial to assess your skill set.

There are several benefits to assessing your skill set. 

1.  The sky is the limit- Skill sets allow you to experiment in various fields. In quick thought a point guard of a basketball team compared to a director of operations are completely different jobs, yet, from a skill path mindset, the skills are correlated. Both positions use leadership, decision making, conflict management and organization skills.  

2.  Enjoyable work week- If given a choice, I want to hire or work with the person who clearly loves their job. This person goes above and beyond the call of duty, is a pleasure to interact with (at home and at work), looks for ways to improve themselves, and is committed to providing the highest quality customer experience and/or product or services. 

3.  Build diverse teams- It is easy to believe a meeting with no disagreements is the best meeting of the week. No, the meeting that challenged people to think, allowed diverse perspectives to contribute, and lost track of time is the best meeting of the week. Diverse perspective allows the opportunity for the team to continuously create and recreate.

In our fast paced, ever changing job market assessing your skill set is an vital function. An employee in the job market who is agile in navigating changes and understands what skills they can offer an employer is marketable. What will separate your from your competition?

To my recent grads, job seekers, career transitioners, and people who are bored with your job ask yourself the following questions:

1.  What is the percent of the top skills I am currently using?

2.  What is the percent of the skills I would like to be using?

3.  What are the benefits of identifying my skill set?

I want to hear your voice. Comment below to share your experience, offer suggestions or ask questions.

"Not where we use to be, not where we want to be, but on the path to where we are meant to be."

Until next time,

Shavon T. Camper