Career Discovery and Planning
Skills< Career Discovery

Skills Inventory

Skills reflect your specific abilities and strengths. A systematic assessment of your skills often reveals your strengths and how you might use these in a work setting. At this point you may not realize that many of the skills you have developed in and out of the classroom are transferable to a variety of work environments. Functional skills reflect the ability to work with people, data and information or objects. You can further break down your skills by looking at your natural talents as well as your intellectual, creative, leadership and problem-solving abilities.

A simple place to start in identifying your skills is to consider your achievements in a whole range of activities, from school, to work, internships, sports, volunteering, and family life. Nothing is irrelevant. Whether it was a research project (analytical, writing, problem solving) or participating on the crew team (time management, teamwork, and goal setting), your unique skills contributed to accomplishing your goals.

Do not underestimate the value of the skills and abilities that you have cultivated in these settings. Look to your experience for some important clues on how you might want to shape your future. When thinking about your skills don't compare yourself to others, but look for evidence of skill in situations that you handled or tasks that you accomplished. Be sure that you are being realistic and not wishful. It is important to keep in mind that what you are capable of doing in one context can be done in others. At the end of this assessment you should review your skills with a career counselor.

This exercise is designed to help you evaluate some specific skills that are transferable to work settings.

This is a list of skills found in a cross-section of careers. Note that they are grouped in four categories (analytical, communication, managerial/organizational, technical/manual). Check the skills that you believe reflect your strengths.

Analytical Skills

brainstorming ideas	budgeting expenses
calculating numerical data	categorizing data
compiling data	computer programming
conceptualizing new ideas	evaluating
extracting relevant data	maintaining records or files
monitoring processes	observing trends/patterns
problem solving	researching
strategizing	synthesizing data
systematizing processes

Communication Skills

advocating	artistic expressions
coaching	consulting
counseling	interpreting languages
interviewing	listening
motivating	persuading
promoting	public speaking
selling	teaching/training
writing

Managerial / Organizational Skills

coordinating	decision making
delegating	facilitating
fundraising	implementing
initiating	leading
managing	mediating
mobilizing	negotiating
organizing	planning
recruiting	setting policies
supervising

Technical / Manual Skills

artistic design	building devices
cooking	constructing buildings
making crafts	mechanical design
operating equipment	repairing
sewing

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