Identify Your Skills - Know the Different Types of Skills

Skills are the key to any job success. Learn about the following four skills categories, which you may need in your job search. 

The Foundation Skills

The Foundation Skills are the ones every worker needs. They are organized into four groups: Basic, People, Thinking, and Personal Qualities. They are marketable and transferable skills.

Marketable Skills
Marketable skills are those that an employer will pay you to perform:

• All of the Foundation Skills, 
• The skills listed in "Want to Hire" advertisements.
• Examples of unmarketable skills are, Riding a bike . . . who will pay you to use that skill? Not many. Learning a skill like creative writing will certainly motivate an employer to pay you.

Transferable Skills

Transferable skills are ones that you can transfer from one occupation to another. For example, Architect can transfer their skills to occupations like "Civil Engineer" and "Electrical Drafter." Your transferable skills are valuable because they enable you to work in a variety of occupations.

Motivated Skills

Motivated skills are those skills that you enjoy using. If at all possible, you want to work at something you enjoy doing. Think of an achievement, accomplishment, or "good experience" you have had - whether related to work or not. Then, write down or tell someone,

• What you did,
• How you did it, and
• What happened.

You will be describing your motivated skills. These are especially important if you are thinking about your career direction . . . doing what you enjoy doing.

Parents Role in Career and Education Planning

Parents are a teenagers primary counselor. As much as teachers, school counselors and other professionals or family members. Parents play a critical role in education and career planning of their children. Parents need to acquire knowledge about educational options, their children’s interests and skill sets and help them through the career exploration and decision-making process.

Informed career decision making process will help student to explore and evaluate the best potential opportunities for their career success and happiness.

Parents’ guidance and support is critical for student career exploration, because

• Parents have rich knowledge, experience and wisdom; although the student’s interests and talents may be very different from a parents, however, the the can still guide them in student career exploration - particularly by listening and advising.
• Students often choose their school or college options either without any research or under peer influence. This situation demands that parents encourage their children to gather all the relevant information to make an informed career choice, keeping in mind both the short- and long-term benefits of their decision.

How parents can help students in their career selection

• Attitude matters! stay positive and focused on a future of success. Motivate and encourage your children to develop a positive attitude and learn about a variety of occupations and industries. 
• Appreciate and don't under-estimate or reject ideas that your children may come up with on their educational and career choices. Keep “your” choices to yourself.
• Explore opportunities together. Informal discussions about the world of work with your children can be productive, particularly after viewing an educational documentary or a TED talk!
• Your goal is to help your children find their own way based on their interests and skills and not follow your ideas and interests, which could prove counter-productive.
• Encourage your children to set goals. By starting early with goal setting and action planning, simple and rewarding goals will lead to extremely valuable skills for life and career.
• Be practical and realistic in your approach but don’t assume something isn’t possible. 
• Encourage your child to explore their options through work experience and by talking to people in occupations that interest them.
• Let your children identify and select their area of interest.

Emphasize personal accountability and self management. These are two critical skills consistently found in highly successful people – regardless of what career they choose to follow.

The Action Plan 

The career decision-making process described below includes activities that can be taken at any time from pre-high school and go through high school and post-secondary education.

1. Enable self-awareness through valid and reliable assessments.
2. Help your children to explore a variety of options with the goal of narrowing those options to a manageable few.
3. Explore educational strategies that support a career direction. Evaluate educational options before choosing a school or college.
4. Research school choices based on career direction and desired education. Not other way round. 
5. Create an action plan. Planning become much easier if your children have a challenging goal in front of them.
6. Make a financial plan for your education. Explore all options available to get scholarships, financial aid, fellowships and interest free students loans. Many students of lower income families are provided with significant financial support who performed well academically.
7. Take action. Motivate your child to work hard in school to build a strong foundation in math, reading, writing, computer skills, and science. The stronger the foundation, the more career options will be available later in life.
8. Review and revise. As your child matures and gains more knowledge and experience, his/her interests may change.

Remember, separate your desires and wishes from that of your child. It is your child’s future, not yours! Your role is to help them reach their own goals and dreams.

Learn More About Yourself

You want to choose an occupation that fits your unique qualities -- your abilities, talents, needs, values, and interests -- and the life-style you want to live.

Knowing your "unique qualities" is not easy. It is a challenge for everyone. But, the clearer picture you have, the more likely you are to choose a satisfying career.

It is important to write your ideas down. You may find this difficult to do, many do. But, it will make a big difference in your self-understanding. Write down your thoughts and feelings as you do the exercises below. Make a folder to keep your notes and writings.

Here are eight strategies you will find helpful:

1. Take tests or inventories that measure your abilities, interests, values, and personality. Write out your reactions to the results. 
2. Look carefully at your achievements in school or at work to identify your abilities. If you are a student, for example, which subjects have you done well in, or not so well in? If you work, do the same analysis. What does this tell you about your abilities -- mechanical, verbal, numerical, artistic, and people skills? Be careful not to overlook, or leave out, your abilities. Looking over the 17 Foundation Skills will help you avoid doing this. 
3. Examine how you use your leisure time -- your hobbies, community projects, activities with social, political, or religious organizations. For each one, write down three headings: Abilities, Interests, and Values. And, under each heading write down your thoughts. 
4. Talk with a friend or family member who is a good listener.
5. Talk with a professional counsellor; learn about career counselling.
6. Go to Identify Your Skills. There you will learn what the different types of skills are and how to identify those you have. The activities that are described are powerful; they are used by the top consulting firms in the country. You will find them well worth the effort.
7. Write an autobiography and identify the themes that represent who you are.
8. Last and most important - write a personal mission statement. In it write: what you want to be, what you want to accomplish in life, and what values or principles you want to guide you.