6 Auditing your skills
Part of developing and moving forward is having a better understanding of where you currently are. As Helens-Hart (2018) points out, people need to understand and acquire a range of skills and qualities in order to secure their professional futures. Within this section you are going to look at each element of the OU Employability Framework and rate yourself on a scale of one to four. Try to think about each skill in relation to your career rather than within any other context. There is no correct answer here, and it is entirely acceptable to feel as though some of these skills are not as well developed as others.
Activity 9 How do you rate yourself?
Take some time to consider each skill before making a judgement on how you would rate each. Remember, try to think of these from the perspective of your profession or job, rather than within any of other aspects of your life. In the previous section you saw a generic description for each element of the framework; however, these are likely to differ depending on the context or level in which you work. Enter your ranking for each skill in the boxes below.
Ranking: 1 – poor, 2 – adequate, 3 – good, 4 – excellent.
| Skill | Ranking |
|---|---|
Problem solving |
|
Communication |
|
Collaboration |
|
Numeracy |
|
Digital and information literacy |
|
Initiative |
|
Self-management and resilience |
|
Self-awareness |
|
Commercial and/or sector awareness |
|
Global citizenship |
Comment
Many people, particularly those in the early phases of their careers or who have taken a career sabbatical, may believe that their abilities are insufficient or that they are rusty. It’s possible that you have some skill gaps and that participating in this activity has helped you identify them so that you can think about how to fill them. Examine the ratings you gave yourself and determine which skills you want to improve the most. This may help you in prioritising the goals you recorded at the start of this activity, in which case feel free to return to that page [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] (Activity 2) and amend them.
In the Spotlight
Join Georgi in this video as she discusses the importance of certain skills in her sporting journey. Consider how these very skills, which fuel her athletic prowess, might translate into the dynamic world of work. It’s like a game of connecting the dots, and we’re here to help you make those connections!
