Assess My Job Skills

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How Can I Assess My Job Skills?

In this economy, it's vital to know your job skills when looking for work. And, by job skills, I'm not really talking about your job title. I'm talking about the skills you have that can translate into different jobs.

For example, say you were a clerk in a small accounting office. Clerk may be your job title, but what were your job skills? Did you use Quickbooks? Did you use Excel? Did you have to analyze data? These are all job skills. The ability to use certain software, such as Quickbooks or Excel, is a skill that is needed in all types of businesses.

Okay, so "how can I assess my job skills?"

First, realize that there are two main types of skills: hard skills and soft skills.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are tangible, such as knowing how to operate different kinds of machinery, knowledge of a specialized computer program, ability to type fast, knowledge of different types of tools, or special crafts, etc.

Soft Skills

Soft skills are skills that are rather abstract in nature like personal qualities. This may include the following: being a good team player, having the ability to work on your own, being organized and decisive, having the ability to train others.

Identifying and Assessing your Skills

Now you need to list your hard and soft skills.

Make a list of all the companies that you had worked for
List the hard skills that were needed for each job
List the soft skills that were needed for each job
List any hobbies you may enjoy and the hard and soft skills needed for them

Don't forget hobbies. You'd be amazed at some of the hard and soft skills acquired from hobbies. For example, you may have gained some important skills from your photography hobby, whether it be darkroom skills or using Photoshop. You may blog in your spare time, meaning you might be an expert in using Wordpress, or have good writing skills, which may be needed by a company seeking an online presence.

And, don't forget past school achievements or clubs. Perhaps you were on your school's debating team. That could translate into the soft skills of thinking analytically. Or, maybe you edited the school paper or worked on the yearbook.

The point is to not limit yourself to just your previous job title, but to broaden your job search by knowing all the different skills you possess.

The above, of course, is a self-assessment of job skills. You may wish to go more in-depth and visit a career counselor who can help you make a job skills assessment. He or she may also want to give you career testing, which can help you assess your skills and abilities, as well as matching your personality with different jobs and careers. For more information on career and personality testing, go to Career Assessment Testing.

Synonyms: kills, ksills, sills, siklls, sklls, sklils, skils, skils, skilsl, and skill are typos for "skills."