Great! Now we're ready to move on to another set of skills called personal traits. They are every bit as important as your general skills, and they usually make up a set of personal characteristics that you possess. These skills have more to do with who you are than what you do, and they bear heavily upon your attitude, your work habits, your ethics, and the way you relate to other people.
When the employer asks a question like "What would your former boss have to say about you?" or "What did your former coworkers think of you?" it's very useful to be able to describe yourself using three or four of the adjectives in the next exercise.
Personal Traits Inventory
Go through the following list twice. The first time, go through the list and place a checkmark beside the traits that apply to you. There's nothing to be gained from being modest. If you asked any good friend or coworker, he or she would probably agree that you do, indeed, possess those qualities!
Competencies
You've already uncovered some foundational skills that will surely impress your interviewer and tip the scales in your direction your general skills, your job-specific skills, and your personal traits. Now, let's add two more types of skills that will add even more credibility to your presentation.
The first is a group of skills called competencies. Competencies are actually clusters of skills, and they are rapidly becoming the criteria upon which all employees and potential employees are judged. They can make the difference between being promoted or passed over. They can and definitely do carve out the space between people who are hired and those who are not. More and more, interviewers are trained to look at competencies as well as skills.
The Occupational Outlook Handbook, a useful source for career information, is updated and published yearly by the U.S. Department of Labor. It lists the job descriptions, qualifications, job market expectancies, and salaries for more than 6000 jobs, and it is published both nationally and regionally. Accessing it on the Internet or in hard copy at your local library is a top-notch way to find vast information on what kinds of skills, education, personal traits, and competencies employers are looking for to fulfill certain positions. Increasingly, the handbook is listing competencies as well as skills to draw a well-rounded picture of what employers actually demand.
For example, the handbook notes that for the position of "financial and securities advisor," such competencies and personal traits as "a desire to succeed," "ability to handle rejection," and "self-confidence" may actually be of more value to the employer than traditional skills like numerical ability or formal education.
Even in positions involving a very high level of technical skill, competencies still come strongly into play. In a Web site job description of skills necessary for a computer hardware engineer, "willingness to constantly update knowledge" is a competency that ranks as high in importance as other skills that are more technology oriented.
What Are Some of the Most Valued Competencies?
Some of the core competencies that are most important for many positions in today's rapidly shifting marketplace are the following:
• Flexibility. The ability to change, sometimes quickly, from one set of job duties to another, or from one team to another or to working extra or different hours.
• Adaptability. The ability to tolerate and maximize the potential of large organizational shifts such as mergers or layoffs. Also, the ability to adjust to new leadership and managementto change departments, divisions, loca- tions, or job titles.
• Problem-solving skills. The ability to self-correct. Having
the tendency to tackle problems independently and witha minimum of supervision. Having the ability to tolerate frustration and/or failure until the solution to the problem is found. Maintaining persistence despite ambiguous or incomplete information and perseverance despite initial failure or frustration.
• Interpersonal communication. The ability to communicate
in a way that is appropriate to company culture as well as individual preferences, with empathy, clarity, and good listening behaviors. Having the ability to give feedbackand having sensitivity to multicultural preferences in communication style. Being technologically literate and
able to utilize the latest forms of written and electronic communication.
• Ability and willingness to learn. A willingness to attend professional development workshops and seminars.
The ability to self-correct and alter one's own behavior. Having a propensity to pursue outside sources of formal and informal education, and taking personal responsibility to remain abreast of advances in one's field or occupation.
I once had the CEO of a high-tech company tell me that, he personally considered adaptability to be the most important quality any of his employees could possess and that he would not hire (and would even fire) those who could not demonstrate it!
Employers are very unlikely to ask you directly whether or not you possess these skills, yet they will be looking for them in your demeanor, in the stories you tell, and in the way you tell them.
You'll be taking an inventory of your competencies in the next chapter, where I'll ask you to provide an example or "story" about how you've used each of them. In Chapter 4, you'll learn how you can adjust your competencies to match those most valued by the company by aligning them with the company mission and company culture.