HOW TO USE YOUR SKILLS AS A MEANS TO FIND THE RIGHT CAREER FOR YOURSELF
Having knowledge of your skills is crucial, but it is also important to identify which skills you enjoy using before choosing a career path. You can achieve this by reviewing your skills; this review will allow you easily identify activities you enjoy doing more or less than others.
For instance, you may be very good at constructing wonder PowerPoint slides. Still, you may not enjoy delivering presentations due to stage or crowd fright, or you may be great at writing codes in python but find the process tedious and boring. So just because you are good at something does not mean you have to use that skill in choosing a career for yourself.
To better understand your skills, I propose you assign your skills to a list capturing those skills you are good at and enjoy, skills you are good at but do not enjoy, not good at but enjoy, and not good at and do not enjoy. It is very important to know that sometimes there will be a need to compromise and accept some things you do not enjoy, but this can be a good way to find a career that speaks to your personal strength.
Your skills play an important role in determining what type of job you should have, so it makes sense to conduct a job search based on your skills. By assessing your skills and finding a job based on your strengths, you can give yourself a better chance of getting the job and establishing a career you are happy with. In this article, I will be showing you how you can assess your skills and start searching for a job based on your skills. That is, use your skills to find the right career for yourself.
- BEGIN WITH THE FIELD YOU LIKE
Here, you are required to look for a career in a field that interests you the most. There are many careers available, so you can easily find ones that fit your skills and interests. While searching through jobs that interest you, you may also make a note of any other ones that seem to fit your skills as well. Assuming you do not have a specific field in mind, conduct an exhaustive search around your interests.
- START WITH SOFT SKILLS
Soft skills are skills that are related to your personal characteristics. For example, knowing how to operate accounting software is a hard skill, while being analytic is a soft skill.
Another thing you could do is to look for suggestions online. For instance, if you are very good at technical drawing, you could search for something like jobs for people who are good at technical drawing. Or probably your skill is being a good team player; you could search for jobs for people who like to work in a team. I assure you, you will find a lot of suggestions and ideas on the internet. You can further research each job suggestion and add any that seem a good fit to your list.
- GET THE OPINION OF OTHERS
Asking others for suggestions by letting them know which of your skills you are looking to use in a new job because they may use similar skills in their jobs or know someone else who does. Getting an opinion from others is a good way to assess which skills you are good at. One method is to look at past performance reviews at your current job or ask for a current performance review. Your supervisor will be able to tell you which skills they notice you are good at and which one needs improvement. By seeking the opinion of others, you may also learn about job openings that you can apply for.
- CLOSELY READING THE JOB DESCRIPTIONS
As you search through the jobs on your list, be sure to read the job description for each closely. Knowing which skills the job requires will help you know if you are a good match. If you are a good match, add the job to your shortlist. Carefully reading the job description will help you not only discover if the job is a good fit for your skills, but you can use the skills they mention when you are modifying your resume or completing their application to increase your chances of getting an interview.
- TAKE AN ONLINE TEST.
Another way to evaluate your skills is through an online assessment. There are tools such as the DISC and Myers-Briggs test, which help you learn more about your interests, strengths, and weaknesses. They can provide you with some suggestions for occupations that might suit your characteristics.
- SKILLS AUDITING
A good starting point is to document what you are good at. You can do this by drawing up a simple table with three columns to organise your thoughts. Note down all the activities you are involved in; this may include subjects you are studying, coursework, projects, extracurricular activities, volunteering, or any part-time jobs or internships you have. Next, write short statements of fact, around one or two lines, that concisely outline your accomplishments in each of these activities. Finally, identify the skills you believe each accomplishment demonstrates.
CONCLUSION
It is easy to ignore career planning, but investing time to reflect on your skills is important. A good way is to set a monthly reminder or schedule a space in your diary to remind you to focus on this task to ensure you maintain momentum.
Your skills play an important role in determining what type of job you should have, so it makes sense to conduct a job search based on your skills. By assessing your skills and finding a job based on your strengths, you can give yourself a better chance of getting the job and establishing a career you are happy with.
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