Career Planning Competencies
Skills are obtained through full or part-time work, volunteering for a campus or off-campus organization, completing an internship
or through extracurricular activities. You already have some transferable skills which can be used in any occupation. Speaking,
listening, greeting people, writing, meeting deadlines, operating expensive equipment - cars, computers - developing a sense
of humor, and maintaining a budget are examples of learned skills.
Planning and Organizational Skills
- Follow up with others to evaluate progress of tasks
- Conduct meetings
- Give praise and credit to others for work well done
- Motivate others on group projects
- Facilitate brainstorming activities
- Develop goals for an organization
- Work effectively with organization members
- Identify tasks to be accomplished
- Prioritize tasks
- Facilitate discussions on program planning processes
- Give constructive feedback
Oral and Written Communication
- Skills Organize and present ideas effectively for formal and spontaneous speeches
- Effectively participate in group discussions
- Prepare concise and logically written materials
- Listen carefully and respond to verbal and nonverbal messages
- Effectively utilize campus resources for public relations
- Respond appropriately to positive and negative feedback
- Debate issues without being abrasive to others
- Possess courteous telephone skills
Decision-Making, Supervisory, Management and/or Leadership Skills
- Understand the steps involved with effective decision-making
- Facilitate groups in the decision-making process
- Implement sound decisions
- Take responsibility for decisions
- Evaluate the effects and effectiveness of a decision
- Be able to make decisions without feeling pressured
- Remain flexible with decisions
- Explain to others unpopular decisions
- Motivate others toward common goals
- Use effective coaching/mentoring skills with peers or subordinates
Financial Management Skills
- Develop a budget accurately estimating expenses and income
- Justify the organization's budget to others
- Work within a budget
- Keep accurate and complete financial records
- Ensure timeliness of payments
- Develop and implement a fund-raising event
Critical Thinking, Problem-Solving and Conflict Resolution Skills
- Anticipate problems before they occur
- Define the problem and identify possible/apparent causes
- Identify possible alternative solutions and select the most appropriate ones
- Facilitate group members in identifying and evaluating possible solutions
- Develop plans to implement solutions
- Handle several problems at one time
- Understand the steps involved with critical thinking
- Recognize if a problem needs to be addressed
Teamwork and Teambuilding
- Skills Motivate team members to work toward common goals
- Understand strengths and weaknesses of members and use strengths to build team development
- Collaborate on projects
- Support and praise one another for reaching goals and accomplishments
Ethics and Tolerance Skills
- Define and explain ethical behavior
- Practice ethical behavior in difficult situations
- Accept others' opinions and actions in a non-judgmental way
- Understand sexist, racist, ageist, and homophobic behavior and exhibit non-sexist, non-racist, non-ageist, and non-homophobic
behavior
- Interact with and appreciate people from diverse cultural, social, and religious backgrounds
- Interact with and appreciate physically or mentally challenged individuals
Personal and Professional Management Skills
- Work effectively under pressure
- Manage time and stress effectively
- Seek additional opportunities for professional development
- Regularly participate in a healthy combination of activities for stress management
- Arrive at work at an appropriate time
- Evaluate personal and professional strengths and weaknesses
- Take initiative in job related duties
- Discern appropriate behaviors for the workplace
Transferable Skills developed by Paul Breen, San Francisco State University
Information Management Skills sort data and objects
- compile and rank information
- apply information creatively to specific problems or tasks
- synthesize facts, concepts, and principles
- understand and use organizing principles
- evaluate information based on appropriate standards
Design and Planning Skills
- identify alternatives courses of action
- set realistic goals
- follow through with a plan or decision
- manage time effectively
- predict future trends and patterns
- accommodate multiple demands for commitment of time, energy, and resources
- assess needs
- make and keep a schedule
- set priorities
Research and Investigation Skills
- use a variety of sources of information
- apply a variety of methods to test the validity of data
- identify problems and needs
- design an experiment, plan, or model that systematically defines a problem
- identify information sources appropriate to special needs or problems
- formulate questions relevant to clarifying a particular problem, topic, or issue
Communication Skills
- listen with objectivity and paraphrase the content of a message
- use various forms and styles of written communication
- speak effectively to individuals and groups
- use various media to present ideas imaginatively
- express one's need, wants, opinions and preferences without offending the sensitivities of others
- identify and communicate value judgments effectively
- describe objects or events with few errors
- convey a positive self image to others
Human Relations and Interpersonal Skills
- keep a group "on track" and moving toward the achievement of a goal
- maintain group cooperation and support
- delegate tasks and responsibilities
- interact effectively with peers, superiors, and subordinates
- express one's feelings appropriately
- understand the feelings of others
- use argumentation techniques to persuade others
- make commitments to people
- be will to take risks
- teach a skill, concept, or principle to others
- analyze behavior or self and others in group situations
- demonstrate effective social behavior in a variety of settings and under different circumstances
- work under time and environmental pressures
Critical Thinking Skills
- identify quickly and accurately the critical issues when making a decision or solving a problem
- identify a general principle that explains interrelated experiences of factual data
- define the parameters of a problem
- identify reasonable criteria for assessing the value or appropriateness of an action or behavior
- adapt one's concepts and behavior to changing conventions and norms
- apply appropriate criteria to strategies and action plans
- take given premises and reason to their conclusion
- create innovative solutions to complex problems
- analyze the interrelationships of events and ideas from several perspectives.
Management and Administration Skills
- analyze tasks
- identify people who can contribute to the solution of a problems or task
- identify resource materials useful in the solution of a problem
- delegate responsibility for completion of a task
- motivate and lead people
- organize people and tasks to achieve specific goals
Valuing Skills
- assess a course of action in terms of its long-range effects on the general human welfare
- make decisions that will maximize both individual and collective good
- appreciate the contributions of art, literature, science and technology to contemporary society
- identify one's own values
- assess one's values in relation to important life decisions
Personal and Career Development Skills
- analyze and learn form life experiences - both one's own and others
- relate the skills developed in one environment (school, for instance) to the requirements of another environment (work)
- match knowledge about one's own characteristics and abilities to information about job or career opportunities
- identify, describe, and assess the relative importance of one's needs, values, interest, strengths, and weaknesses
- develop personal growth goals that are motivating
- identify and describe skill acquired through formal education and general life experiences
- identify one's own strengths and weaknesses
- accept and learn from negative criticism
- persist with a project when faced with failure unless it is clear that the project cannot be carried out or is not worth the
time or effort required to complete it
- generate trust and confidence in others
- take risks
- accepts the consequences of one's actions
- market" one's self to prospective employers
