Assess your skills
Assessing your skills will help you to understand what you are good at, what you enjoy, and where you could gain from different experiences.
You should assess both your employability skills as well as your practical and technical skills to:
- identify how your skills match different careers you are considering
- generate new job ideas
- identify what skills you need to develop to increase your employability
- give you ideas on how you could develop these skills
- think about what evidence you can provide to demonstrate your abilities.
Developing your skills
Different skills will be important in different roles, and if you want to stand out from other job applicants, you need to develop the right skills. Are there any specific skills you are going to need to follow your chosen career path? How could you get these skills? Think about doing a work placement, volunteering or getting a part-time job.
Matching your skills and career choice
By assessing your skills you will have a better idea of what you are already good at and what you enjoy. Does the thought of ‘managing others’ make you feel excited or bring on a feeling of dread? How does this affect your career options?
If you already know what career you want to follow then check that you have the skills that are required. Look at job advertisements for the type of jobs you want to apply for – what skills and personal traits are employers asking for? Even if you know you have the skills, would you be able to give examples of how you have used them?
Employability skills
Examples of written skills could include:
- writing reports
- writing emails or letters in a business context
- contributing to publications (the university newspaper for example)
- contributing to or starting blogs
- writing seminar papers.
How good are you with numbers and understanding numerical data, statistics and graphs? Examples of numeracy skills could include:
- cashing up at work
- managing a project budget
- ensuring the books are balanced
- devising, analysing and summarising numerical or statistical reports
- reporting figures from an organisation to an external body.
How good are you at using computers and other technology? Examples of good use of technology could include:
- using IT for your course work and assignments
- using spreadsheets to collect and analyse information
- having skills in specialist software packages
- doing research using the web
- using social media to achieve a work- or study-related goal
- setting up a website or blog
- managing an online forum.
How much do you know and understand about business and the commercial environment? What experience do you have of:
- working with customers (how many did you serve an hour?)
- being set and meeting sales targets
- doing promotional work
- coming up with ideas to maximise profit
- working with a budget.
Do you read the Financial Times or other financial/business news or articles to keep informed? What are they? What have you learnt from them?
Have you got experience in:
- taking responsibility for others and their work
- setting specific tasks for others and measuring their progress
- dealing with tricky issues that arise with other people
- taking responsibility for a team, for example, leading a project or captaining a sports team
- motivating others to do a job
- making decisions about how a job is done
- guiding or mentoring people through a project.
Could you give a potential employer examples of:
- working under pressure
- setting up a project plan
- organising a timetable or schedule to meet deadlines
- managing conflicting demands (for example dealing with work, study and social commitments).
There are many different ways in which people can be creative. Do you have examples of:
- thinking originally and imaginatively about a design brief
- coming up with a creative solution to a problem
- creating an original product or piece of art.
To demonstrate your problem-solving skills you need to be able to show that you have thought things through in a logical way and determined the key issues before coming up with a practical solution.
This may involve helping someone solve a problem or finding a solution to a technical issue and testing it out.
Are you a constructive team member, who makes a practical contribution to the success of the team? Think about:
- what size teams have you have worked in
- what setting was the team in – at work, university, sport
- how did the team function
- what did your team achieve
- what role did you have in the team?
If things went wrong in the team, were you able to identify why? How would you things differently next time?
Are you good at identifying opportunities and setting and achieving goals? Do you have any experience of this, such as:
- setting up a business
- helping to raise funds for a project or charity
- starting something new and original.
Can you demonstrate commitment and motivation? Do you have the enthusiasm to pursue and complete projects?
Are you able to handle change and adapt to new situations? Plans sometimes go wrong. Have you had to quickly think of a solution to an unforeseen problem?
Practical and technical skills
These are more specific skills that you have developed through your studies or by teaching yourself something new.
- Can you drive?
- Do you speak any other languages?
- Are you qualified in first aid?
- Have you been a teacher or a trainer?
These skills are different to employability skills, but they are just as important.
Useful resources
Prospects – your degree, what next?
Assessing the skills your degree will have given you.
