What is a Skill?

Consider The Canadian Oxford Dictionary definition (2001): skill n. expertness, practised ability, facility in an action; dexterity or tact. It can also mean a trait, an approach, a style, an ability, or an aptitude. Employers assess your skills to predict your potential to complete the duties of the position they are looking to fill.

There are 3 main types of skills:

• Personal skills: They include qualities like humour, leadership, sensitivity, self-confidence, warmth, and flexibility.
• Transferable skills: They are learned, used, and valued in many different types of work or careers. For example, organizational skills are transferable — you can organize an event, a filing system, financial data, or lab equipment.
• Technical skills: These tend to be career or work specific. Examples of technical skills include analyzing mass spectrometry, administering psychological tests, investigating international risk analysis, interpreting imagery in early twentieth-century Canadian poetry, or writing C++ programs.

What Skills do Employers Want?

Many people may possess the core skills that a position requires, but if you can also sell the value of additional skills that would allow you to grow with the organization, you can stand out from other applicants.

Top ten skills list

(compiled from employer surveys in no particular order):

• Communicate: speak, discuss, and listen
• Relate to public and customers
• Juggle multiple tasks and meet deadlines
• Ability to learn quickly
• Teach, coach, and counsel
• Work with computers
• Negotiate
• Write
• Organize
• Manage budgets

For more on these skills check out the Employability Skills 2000+ brochure online.

What skills do YOU have?

The following exercise can help you make your own list of skills:

Skills Identification Exercise

What Employers Say

"Effective communication is the most critical skill a student can bring to the workplace."

Yes  81%
No  19%

This exercise will help you identify the skills you have, while allowing you to consider those skills you might like to develop or use in the future.

Once you have your list, examine it and determine which skills you would like to use in a work setting and which ones you prefer either not to use at all or to use for personal pursuits. Finally, group the skills you would like to market to employers. Review your list of skills and total the various categories, looking for patterns. For instance, if you have the greatest number of skills in interpersonal, creative, and communication, these would be the keys skills to focus on.

Link Your Skills Excercise

This final exercise will help you link your related skills and experience to the position in which you have an interest. It is an essential last step to undertake before tackling either an application or an interview.

What does the position require? If you are replying to an advertised position, begin by dividing the employment notice into its various duties. Researching the occupation , company, and industry will give you further clues about the duties required by someone in this position. Most often, it is this additional research that will give you the edge over other applicants, therefore, increasing your chances of getting an interview.

Example of linking skills and related experience to employer’s needs