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You have hundreds of skills. Most people do, yet very few are able to explain their skills to others. You may take for granted many things you do well that others would find hard or even impossible to do.

One study of employers found that three out of every four people interviewed for a job did not present the skills they had to do the job. Most people just don't have the language to present the skills they have.

In planning your career or looking for a job, knowing what you can do well is very important. It can help you decide what kind of work is right for you. It makes a lot of sense to do the things you do best. If you do, you will probably be more successful.

It is also important to do things you enjoy doing. If you enjoy what you do and are good at it, your job and your life will be more satisfying.

The Three Types of Skills
Although you have hundreds of skills, you may find it hard to name them. One way to define your skills is to organize them into three groups. Each of us have hundreds of skills, divided into these three types:

Job-Related Skills
Adaptive Skills
Transferable Skills

The Skills Employers Want
As a way to illustrate that employers value adaptive and transferable skills very highly, I have included the top skills that employers want in the people they hire. This information comes from a study of employers conducted jointly by the U.S. Department of Labor and the American Association of Counseling and Development. Note that all are either adaptive or transferable skills.

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For individual use only. Pages are excerpts from The Very Quick Job Search, Third Edition, ISBN: 1-59357-007-4. For permissions requests, please contact the Copyright Clearance Center at www.copyright.com or (978) 750-8400.

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