Friday's Rocket Fuel: Professional Development Skills Inventory and Assessment
By Larry Boyer, Career Coach & Personal Branding Strategist
In order to create your professional success you need to have a clear understanding of your skills and how strong each of your skills are. While most people have a sense of what their strengths and weaknesses are they usually only have a general, vague sense. Taking the time to actually list your skills and honestly rate yourself will provide you with additional clarity.
Why is additional clarity about your skills important? Additional clarity allows you to:
- Focus your career development on your strengths
- Effectively communicate your strengths to employers and clients
- Further develop and clarify your personal brand
The mistake most people make is underestimating the power of the clarity you gain from this listing and evaluating your skills. You may perceive there is little gain because this exercise is a small simple step. However, the return to doing this exercise is very high (watch one of my favorite videos on achievement below).
How to do your Skills Inventory and Assessment
- Make a list of your skills on a piece of paper or the software of your choice.
- Define, on a scale from 1 to 10, what someone with a 1 and someone with a 10 in that skill looks like.
- Rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 for each skill.
It's that simple. The more clear and precise you are the greater the benefit you'll get. Now, Watch this short video on what the benefit you can get from make a small change by "turning up the heat" just a little.