This week the UK’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, will announce details of the government’s comprehensive spending review, and its attendant cuts to public spending. Given the parlous state of the UK and world economies, the general concensus is that the cuts will be far-reaching and deep, with local public services being particularly severely affected.
As Britain braces itself for the fallout – and the immediate impact it is likely to have on the job market – there’s no better time than now for you to take a skills inventory. Being clear about what you’re good at, and how you can deploy your skills in various settings, puts you in a strong position if you’re required to find a new job (and many people will be).
There’s lots of advice out there about how to create a killer CV; but even if you strike upon the right format for such a document, it can be hard to decide exactly what to put in it, since many of us don’t have sight of the full range of our skills and experience – at least, not until we sit down and properly take stock.
(A brief aside: You’ll also want to make a list of your gifts and talents. Skills are different – rather than innate capabilities, they are learned capacities for carrying out particular activities in order to achieve pre-determined results (like learning to drive a car, or type). Obviously, skills are important as part of the job-hunt; but do remember that just because you can do something, it doesn’t mean that you should. That’s why I advise finding out what you love – where your gifts and talents lie – as a first principle in finding enjoyable work. Then you can pull in your skills to help you find, or build, a job that’ll make you happy. You can read more about how to find your gifts here. But for now, back to skills.)
Where to begin? Consider these questions, and make a list as you go. You may be surprised at what you find!
1. What have you learned from working in agriculture (that is, with natural products, plants, animals, or ecology); in industry (that is, manufacturing/producing things); or in service (that is, communicating, and dealing with and/or helping people)? What experience do you have in each of these areas, and what examples can you describe from past activities you’ve undertaken (not just work-based)?
2. What have you learned from dealing with things (that is, physical objects); information (and its storage/communication); or people/animals? What experience do you have of working with each of these categories, and what examples can you describe from past activities you’ve undertaken (not just work-based)?
3. What fields of knowledge are you familiar with? What have previous jobs (and hobbies) required you to know something about? The options are endless: health, construction, law, politics, zoology, sports, literature, nuclear physics, neurology, the migrating habits of the goldfinch, Belgium, the body, Film Noir, stalactites…Where does your expertise lie?
4. What preparation time do you typically require in order to effectively undertake your work? Are you generally a patient, methodical worker – or do you operate better working at speed?
5. What kind of workplace environment have you worked within? Indoors/outdoors? Office-based/”in the field”?; fast-paced/more leisurely?
6. What sort of people do you have experience of working with, as customers; colleagues; shop-floor workers; and senior management? Do you have experience of working for someone else, or for yourself?
7. What have you learned about working to prescription (that is, being told what to do, with little room for manouevre), or with a high degree of autonomy (where it’s entirely up to you how to go about doing the job, as long as it gets done) – or both?
By now, you should have a fairly substantial list of skills. That should give you a great head start in building up a portfolio of information to include in future CVs or applications. For more information on building up an inventory of skills, you might like to take a look here: Analyse Your Employability Skills.
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© Brian Cormack Carr, 2010
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Hello Brian.
Interesting. I like the link you give too. So what does one do with the skill inventory. Do you write it down in your CV, as a separate section? Or do you use it to write covering letters?
I’ll do the inventory later today. It looks like a very good resource to have.
Salvora
Hi Salvora,
You could use it for both of the purposes, and for filling in application forms. It’s unlikely you’d want to list *all* of your skills when you’re applying for a job – just those that are relevant to the position, and/or that demonstrate the useful transferable skills you have. Let me know how you get on!
Hi
I have used the skill inventory tool and now I have a long list of skills that I already have, based on my judgments of what skills I’ve got. That is useful.
But now for the second part, which is not so easy. That is to think of the ways in which I have demonstrated in the past that I have those habilities (in previous jobs, or activities…). That is not so easy, it requires some thinking.
That part is important, because employers will ask for examples in applications and in interviews too. I will try though!
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