Taking Inventory of Your Skill Set
Part I – Taking Inventory of Your Skill Set
What type of Skills do you have?
We touched upon what skills are necessary in any money-making in 3 Things You Can Do Now To Get Set Up For Financial Independence.
In case you missed it, here’s a quick recap: Most skills fall into one of two categories—“school-based” (i.e. specific disciplines like mathematics or foreign languages) which are traditionally learned in a classroom and “process-based” (i.e. the ability to organize well, cook, plan effectively, using foresight, etc.) which revolve around the way you perform certain tasks.
That said, we do need to dig deeper with our skill set. And the reality is that certain skills are more beneficial and useful to helping you achieve financial independence than others. Of course, this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t work on being a well-rounded, multi-talented individual. It just means that you should key your eyes on the (financial independence) prize and prioritize the skills that will take you towards it.
Let’s take a minute to analyze the different types of skill sets that one can possess. And, just for reference, a skill “is the expertise or talent to do a particular thing”.
There are three major categories of skills out there: Job Skills, Life Skills, and Personal Life Skills.
- Job Skills are needed to acquire a particular job, keep it and progress in it to make more money.
- Life Skills are needed to run everyday life – not only in our personal life but also at our jobs. and
- Personal Life Skills are necessary for our fulfillment of life – friendship, responsibility, patience and so on.
It is important to realize that no one possesses ALL of the skills from each of these groups. Everyone has some skills from each group and these three types are interdependent. Therefore, concentrating on all of these will lead to financial and personal happiness.
At the bottom of this post, there are three drop-down windows that you can utilize in order to figure out which skill set you already have and which ones that you should add to your “skills to work on” list.
Some examples of job skills include analyzing data, assembling equipment, budgeting, developing plans for projects etc. Most of these fall in the category of school-based learning.
Some life skills examples include changing a tire on a car, driving a car, and cooking. Some of these are school-based and some are process-based.
Personal life skills include the ability to show that you care about people, building and maintaining friendships and having a sense of humor. This is a completely different category that the other two and these usually stem from what I like to call the “School Of Life”, meaning that you learned these while watching adults in your life and through your experiences.
By no means are these three categories of skills mutually exclusive. In fact, there is definitely quite a bit of overlap between them.
Now that you have made a list of the skills you have in each of the categories, you can begin to start looking at what kinds of skill set is required in high-paying jobs.Remember, you always want to keep in mind that financial independence is the goal and that you want to achieve this in an honorable way.
Some of the skills the employers look for are:
So let us expand on the top most skills that the employers look for.
How are your communication skills (listening, verbal and written)?
You have to demonstrate that you understand very clearly what the other party is communicating with you. You also have to show that not only do you understand what is communicated with you, but that you can pass along these messages to others.
How are your analytical skills?
You have to understand the processes that are under consideration. Let us consider “purchasing for a retail store.” If a product is purchased in Illinois and it routinely arrives late in the months of January and February, you have to understand that this tardiness may be weather-related and adjust accordingly. You should consider buying the items from the South of the US in the winter months. You understood the process, you scrutinized it and then you improved it.
How are your computer/technical capabilities?
We have reached the stage in the use of computer technology that if we don’t have computer or internet access, we will have to let the entire office staff go home. Some of the most necessary functionalities for running an office are delivered by computer hardware and software, especially word processing, spreadsheet handling and email. There is no reason not to know how to do these.
Can you multitask?
You should be able to change your priorities for different projects that you are working on in mid-stream without getting upset. This is also called “multitasking.” I have worked with many men and a few women. I have been working in the computer field for longer than four decades, in a technical capacity for IBM, then in my own company, which was bought by Price Waterhouse Coopers, making me a partner. Unfortunately, I did not encounter many technically proficient – even today there are not that many – women in all those decades. But, in my experience, women are (generally speaking) much better at multi-tasking than men are.
How are your interpersonal communications skills?
This is a very important skill to have to be able to move ahead in the ranks in your career. That also means a higher salary. But, if you prefer to be a “lone ranger,” then you have to be absolutely outstanding in whatever you do. Because usually a “people person” can cover up some small deficiencies in the tasks at hand with charm.
Are you a manager/ leader?
Can you motivate people? Can you inspire them? Can you take charge and take responsibility for your decisions? Are you good at teamwork?
Are you sensitive to other peoples’ needs and desires, and issues of other people who are different than you are?
Or do you prefer to work with people who are just like you? In the new technologically-intertwined world that we live in, we are fortunate to be able to work with people who look different, who dress differently, who speak differently – even if they basically speak the same language, eat different foods, have different customs and on and on. If you don’t like diversity, you essentially have only two options – either change yourself or stay home.
Can you plan and organize accordingly?
Some people are task-oriented and some are process-oriented. A process is usually made up of many tasks. Some people prefer to think of only one task at a time. And some people can see the complete process which is usually made up of multiple tasks in their mind’s eye. If you are task- oriented, becoming a leader might not be in the cards for you since a leader has to be able to see the complete process to be able to tweak it and change its components to ensure faster results or greater success.
The next step is to build up your resume. A simple search on Google & Wikipedia will provide you with lots of advice and tools to help you do this.
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More References –
- Transferable Skill set for job seekers
- Employers care more about your skill set than your degree – What you should do
