CAREER ASSESSMENTS — Abinegro talent and character building tests

UNDERSTAND YOUR MOTIVATIONS, PREFERENCES & VALUES

What do you value in your current role? What is your typical style of interaction? What characteristics do you display and how are you perceived in the workplace? Whether you are beginning your career, have many years of experience or are unsure of your career direction, reflecting on your motivations, preferences, values and working style can be useful when considering your current role and desired career path.

INFJ (Introversion, Intuition, Feeling, Judging)

• Extraversion or Introversion (E-I): This is where you get your energy from — whether from within yourself or from the external environment.
• Sensing or Intuition (S-N): This is about how you like to take in information and whether you prefer to pay attention to the details and the concrete or the possibilities and the abstract.
• Thinking or Feeling (T-F): This is about how you make decisions and which factors influence you most, whether objectivity and truth or people’s needs and values.
• Judging or Perceiving (J-P): How you like to live your life, whether planned and ordered or flexible and spontaneous.

INFJs work best when they can contribute to decisions that affect people.

INFJs work least well when there are clashes between espoused values and actual behaviour or when freedom is restricted.

INFJs would be happiest in a role that resonates with their core values and is more of a career than a job.

Learning style

If you scored 91 and over:

You are a highly motivated learner who employs a wide range of approaches to learning. You take advantage of opportunities to learn through doing and reflecting, through established approaches and new ideas. The amount of time you spend learning and the breadth of ways in which you learn mean that you draw useful knowledge out of most work situations.

Style of learning

Most of us have one or two natural, default styles of learning and we prefer to take in information in that way. However, you are likely to learn more from a wide variety of different experiences if you use all the learning styles.

The questions in this assessment fall into four broad categories of learners, which are outlined below.

1. Active Changer — The joy of learning is in trying out something new

2. Reflective Realist — Learning comes from seeing what should be preserved and what could be changed

3. Quietly Creative — Learning comes from having a vision of the future

4. Pragmatic Doer — Learning enables me to get things to run more effectively and efficiently

Read the information below to help you understand where your preference for learning lies.

Personality traits (low extraversion, mid-range agreeableness, low emotional stability, mid-range openness)

do I like goinf with the flow, likely to work in a small team, wanting to change but open to

Reflection:

Reflect on a cause you feel passionate about. Explain its significance to you and what steps you took to make a change.

Personal resilience

I find it easy to form lasting relationships and friendships! If an unexpected event happens, I usually have sufficient contingency to organise my work around it

I believe my own decisions and actions during periods of change will determine how I am affected by the change

• I know who to turn to when I need some help and support
• I perceive the problems of everyday life as challenges I can solve
• I know what I need to do to achieve my ideas for personal and professional achievements
• When I have a problem, I take time to define the problem before deciding what to do
• When I am uncertain about what to do I write down the choices and my thoughts about them
• I view change as an opportunity
• When an unwelcome change involves me I can usually find a way to make the most of it
• When I face difficult challenges I can maintain confidence in my own ability to overcome the challenges
• I start each day by working out what needs to be achieved during the day, and I end the day by reviewing what has been achieved, and what needs to be achieved on the next day

—

I find it really useful to hear examples of where other people have used an approach

I look for relevant information and skills to help me to do my job better

Talking through ideas and approaches with other people helps me to learn

I like to produce learning action plans, to ensure I achieve what I need to

I like to try out combinations of ways of doing things

I learn by building connections between other peoples’ ideas and approaches

I like to have seen how something works before I try it

I enjoy researching and gathering information about an area to understand it

cover these 5 absolute essentials (all FREE download):

Workplace culture(HIGH-FAST paced, immediate, family, mid-entrepreneurial and creative, achievement, and bureaucratic, mission-focused organisational culture)

Organisational culture is an interesting part of someone’s career and job search. Deal and Kennedy (1982) defined organisational culture as “the way things get done around here”. They created a model of culture that is based on how quickly the organisation receives feedback, the way members are rewarded, and the level of risks taken. Others such as Johnson and Scholes (1989) described organisational culture as a web, consisting of a number of elements that can be used to describe companies’ cultures and which can also be changed to enable organisations to transform.

There are those that argue (Schein 1992) that organisational culture may be hard to change. If this is true, it makes sense to ensure that individuals find the right fit for themselves in organisations if they are to work at their best. This means finding the right kind of culture for you, or perhaps the right mix of cultural factors as there are often more than one or several subcultures. However, teams can operate differently and have their own unique cultural climate and also an organisation’s culture can vary across the globe.

A strong culture is said to exist where staff are clearly aligned to organisational values. A healthy culture is said to be one where there is equal opportunity for each employee to realise their full potential within the company. Conversely, there can also be a weak culture where there is little alignment with organisational values and control comes from extensive rules, procedures and bureaucracy.

In summary

• Organisations have a mix of cultures, but there is often a dominant one.
• Finding out your own preferences e.g. life/work balance, how you like to relate to colleagues, what is rewarded etc will help to determine the best fit or compatibility between you and an organisation
• The type of culture in an organisation determines the type of leadership, management practices, organisational strategy, success criteria and the “glue” that keeps people working together

You have a mid preference score for working in an Entrepreneurial/Creative organisational culture, indicating that you:

• enjoy some change and variety at work
• enjoy finding new ways of doing things, but also like to work with the established ways of working effectively

You have a high preference score for working in an Immediate and fast-paced organisational culture, indicating that you:

• are likely to put more time and effort into seeking out high reward and risk
• may be more motivated to complete activities that you expect will give you instant feedback on how you are doing

You have a high preference score for working in a Bureaucratic organisational culture, indicating that you are likely to:

• prefer order, efficiency and clear operating guidelines
• Consider the types of skills and characteristics you may need to perform well in this type of culture e.g. being organised, aware of procedures and efficient working. Do you have these qualities and are they being underused? Are there organisations or positions which would benefit from your approach e.g. compliance roles.

Resources to Identify Interests, Values, and Personal Attributes **:**

Job Outlook Career Quiz

This brief questionnaire will help you to understand your interests and work style, and to explore careers that you might enjoy

MyFuture

You will need to create a free account to access this resource. Once you have signed up you should start by building a “Career Profile”. Here you will be required to undertake a number of activities to improve you self-awareness in areas such as interests, skills, knowledge and working conditions. After this is complete the website will suggest a whole range of occupations and industries for you to explore.

What the Research Says About Character Strengths

A robust sampling of character strengths research organized by key topic area. Each topic area shows short summaries of research study conclusions. References for each study are listed at the bottom of the entire list.

Jung Personality Test

Want to know how you deal with people, process information and make decisions? Are you an Extravert or Introvert psychological type? Take this free Jung personality test and find out what psychological type you are according to Jung types. This test measures concepts similar to the MBTI™ (Myers–Briggs Type Indicator) model, originally developed by Katharine Cook Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers.

Career Interest Profiler

The O*NET Interest Profiler helps you decide what kinds of careers you might want to explore.

Work Values Test

Want to know what makes you happy or unhappy in your work and career? While some people are content with uneventful jobs, others thrive on action and excitement. With this free online work value assessment you can determine the work values you value most. Take this free work values test online right now and find out what truly motivates you.

Decision making matrix — https://www.vocationvillage.com/how-to-use-a-decision-making-matrix/

https://www.vocationvillage.com/career-choice-using-a-weighted-decision-matrix/

Stress Management

• MY Score: 88
• ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:
• Stress happens when the demands, or pressures, on a person are greater than their resources or their ability to cope effectively. Stress at work can be a serious problem impacting health, attendance, staff retention and productivity, and many people feel that stress levels generally are increasing in the workplace.
• Stress and pressure are words often substituted for each other, but pressure in itself is not a bad thing, it can motivate individuals and teams and create a buzz in the workplace. Many people, in fact, thrive on it. Generally speaking it is not the pressure itself that is the problem, rather how the individual manages to cope with it (or not) and how they feel about the situation.
• If you scored between 86 and 100, you are coping well, now learn how to avoid stress in the first place.
• You probably cope pretty well with most challenging situations and stay calm most of the time. There may be one or two situations that you often find stressful and it is worth looking at these in detail to unpick them and find a solution. In the workplace, these situations are often the result of a clash of personalities, so finding out more about your own personality and how to cope with other personalities can be very helpful.
• Stress can sometimes be the result of ambiguity and uncertainty. When this occurs we tend to ‘fill in the gaps’ or make assumptions about what is happening. For example, there may be rumours of a re­structure and potential job losses. Some people may become stressed whilst others don’t. The difference is often the degree to which a person feels in control of their destiny, rather than a victim of fate. To feel more in control and less stressed, find out more, ask questions, verify situations, and qualify your understanding. Try talking to your manager or mentor about your concerns.

Customer Focus

• YOUR RESULTS: Customer Focus my Score: 91

ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:

• Most of us have customers. We might not directly work with those who buy our products or services but whether internal or external, we all have others we need to deliver to.
• Being customer focused is not always easy, but focussing on what is delivered to customers is an essential part of most jobs. For this quiz, view your
• customer as the person who asks you for your service or product. It could be the paying public, someone who comes directly to you or an internal customer such as your manager or a person in another team in the organisation.
• If you scored between 86 and 105, you are likely to be good in front of a customer.
• You probably form strong relationships with your customers and build great rapport. You listen well, ask questions and pay careful attention to ensure you have really understood what it is they want from you or the organisation. You take personal responsibility for getting things right for them, and remove or challenge barriers which get in the way.
• To develop your customer skills further, work on empathising even more and think about your role in the bigger picture: what are you doing that adds value in the long as well as short term? What else could you do or do better? Can you pre­empt your customers’ requests? Are you offering new perspectives and solutions that benefit your customer and your company?
• Remember that all these tips apply to internal customers too. Managers and colleagues will always value someone more highly that is empathetic about their needs and offers new, well­thought out ideas beyond the original remit.

Sound decision making

YOUR RESULTS: Sound Decision ­Making Your Score: 76

ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:

• When you make a decision you reach a point where you stop considering options, angles and impacts and start acting. For many people, for many reasons that point can be very difficult to reach; for others that point is reached all too quickly.
• The level of confidence that people have in making decisions and the way they make them can vary tremendously, as can the quality of the decisions made. On one side someone may worry obsessively about getting it wrong, convinced they never have enough information to decide; on the other side someone may not gather enough information, relying too heavily on their instinct and forgetting to compare options in a rational way.
• If you scored between 66 and 85 your decision­making process is probably sound, now make it more consistent
• You probably have a good grasp of the basics of sound decision­making although improvements to your process and approach will help you make better decisions more confidently.
• Try expanding the sources of relevant information that you take into account, and checking for biases or gaps in the information. Involve others to mitigate issues such ‘blind­spots’ or the tendency to make assumptions, Try generating more options to choose between and then use more formal frameworks or tools to evaluate them. For example, you could create a spreadsheet showing the important factors to take into account, assign them a weighting depending on their relative importance and rate and compare each option that you have by adding up the scores. However, beware of ‘analysis paralysis’ where you can spend so much time analysing information and options that you don’t always manage to make decisions in a timely way. Having made the decision make sure you explain clearly to others how you reached it and how it could be put into action. Explanations are always easier if you keep track of your decision­making process.

Assertiveness

• The ideal result is a score which is high in the assertiveness scale, but low in the aggressive and passive scales. Consistency in behaviour is key to establishing good relationships at work and creating calm, creative and productive atmospheres in the workplace. Inconsistency i.e. a tendency to flip between assertive and aggressive or passive and aggressive behaviour will lead to distrust between you and your colleagues and you may find people starting to avoid you.
• ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:

Assertiveness is defined as the quality of being self­assured and confident without being aggressive. An assertive person is comfortable stating their needs or points of view and sticking to them; they usually believe they have the right to be heard and obtain what they need, but none of this is done at the expense of another person. A win­win situation is important to them whenever possible.

• On either side of assertiveness sit aggression and passivity: someone who tries to win at the expense of others, undermines others or puts them down is aggressive; someone who does not consider their own opinion worthy, is too embarrassed to say what they want or gives in too easily to the needs and desires of others is passive.
• In the work place everyone should strive to be assertive rather than passive or aggressive.
• 1). You are able to appropriately put across your point at times, but not consistently. Think about the situations where you feel happy doing this and where you do not. What is it that makes you feel uncomfortable or unwilling to stand up for yourself?

Tips:

• Try telling others what you need in a clear way by using “I” statements, e.g. “I don’t want to go to the party tonight, thanks anyway”. You don’t need to give excuses or explain why. Appreciate the other person’s point of view before stating your own, e.g. “I realise you need someone to look after your dog for the weekend but I’m afraid I can’t do it for you”. If they become pushy or try to make you feel bad, remember that all you need to do is pleasantly and persistently ‘dig your heels in’, repeating your position.
• 2). You are sometimes passive. People who are occasionally unassertive bottle up their emotions, possibly allowing resentment to build until they ‘burst’ and flip into being aggressive. If you are doing this, learn instead to be assertive and aim to be more consistent in your behaviour..

Tips

• Start by explaining what it is that you want from a situation. Think about your rights, wishes and feelings and place greater weight on your own rather than those of others. Don’t let them take responsibility for what happens to you or for how you feel.
• You are sometimes aggressive, become over emotional or expect your needs to be met at the expense of the another person’s. Examine the situations where this happens — what is it that makes you need to feel in control and be very direct with others? You feel comfortable giving people your opinion and having disagreements with them, perhaps even enjoying the ‘heated debate’.

Tips:

• Be aware that people vary a great deal in their appetite for disagreements, so be careful not to make them feel uncomfortable. Developing your rapport building skills would mean that you would pick up more quickly how comfortable the other person is. Try putting yourself in their shoes before you react.

Personal Resilience

Your Overall Resilience score indicates that you are medium on resilience, which means you occasionally find it difficult to get going again once you’ve been knocked down. You have built some resilience in your life so far. On the whole, you are able to cope with most events that happen to you, but you remain unsure about some aspects of your life. Make sure there are people around who between them can be a touchstone for all aspects; find yourself a good mentor or consider cognitive coaching which can address the elements of resilience that require specific attention.

• 1). Coping with Change

You scored low on this scale, which implies that you don’t like change and it is likely to impact on your daily life. You probably struggle with change and find it difficult, which causes you stress, anxiety and a low mood. You need to learn new techniques to understand how to respond to situations, which you currently perceive as being out of your control. You can do this either by changing your thinking pattern or by building your confidence in how you deal with changes. You need to get additional support from those around you and find ways to manage your stress in the face of change. Relaxation techniques and exercising are very effective for this.

• Find ways to reduce anxiety, talking therapies can help (CBT, counselling, coaching). Relaxation and exercise reduces adrenaline, which will also help. Change your mindset to view change as a positive. Choose to see the opportunities it brings rather than the problems. If you are moving within an organisation you know, reduce the feeling of ‘change’ and the unknown by first getting to know the people in the department you might move to.
• If you are changing career or direction, consider the possibilities by completing a cost/benefit analysis. Ensure you have considered all the consequences of making the change and get support from a friend or family where needed. If you are preparing for an interview, remember that anxiety and fear is a normal process when experiencing change. If you are attending an assessment centre/extended interview, make sure you have prepared and are organised for the day ahead. This will reduce any other worries you might have and allow you to focus on the task and change at hand. Be reassured by the fact that although you are feeling nervous, this is due to adrenalin, which (up to a certain point) will enhance how you perform.
• Reframe how you see the assessment centre. See it as an opportunity to get to meet new people and broaden your experience rather than just to put you under the microscope.

Problem solving

• You scored mid range on this scale, which implies you can be quite good at problem solving, but that you are not consistent. Maybe it is certain types of problems that you find more difficult than others or maybe you face some degree of anxiety initially, but then can deal with this by solving the challenge. Keep practising some problem solving and ask for help when you get stuck. Look for patterns with your thinking processes to see if there is a theme regarding which challenges phase you and which ones you feel most able to cope with.

Tips

• List all the areas you currently see as ‘problems’ in your life. Re­frame these to be opportunities — now how do they look? Identify others who enjoy and /or are good at problem­solving. Learn from them by modelling what they do. Work out the pros and cons for all the options available to you. If making such a list doesn’t highlight the solution, weight the options according to how important they are. If you are facing an interview, do a practice interview by getting someone to ask you the questions you have identified so you can see how you answer. Ask someone for feedback on your interview skills and work out (problem solve) what you can do differently. If you are changing career or direction complete a problem step plan, breaking your problem down into small chunks and working through possible solutions and ways to achieve it slowly and in simple sections with pros and cons for each option.

Giving feedback

• Giving Feedback Your Score: 86

ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:

• People are innately programmed to achieve, whether creatively, at work, financially or spiritually. Most people are driven to improve themselves. In the workplace there is the expectation that employees will actively develop themselves and, if possible, others too.
• All development starts with self­awareness. Unless you understand your current skill level, you won’t know if you have managed to develop it. Being good at your job comes from knowing what is expected and how well you currently meet those expectations. Getting feedback from others is key to gaining self­ awareness and improving.
• Giving feedback is a key part of working with other people and helping them to develop. This could be as a formal part of your role (for example as a manager) or informally as part of your day­to­day interactions. Given the choice, however, most people will avoid giving feedback and only do so if they really have to or if they feel strongly enough about the situation.
• If you scored between 68 and 88 you have the right mindset, but still find giving feedback difficult.
• You are probably clear why you are giving feedback and know that the only legitimate reason for feedback in the workplace is to improve the individual’s performance through increased self­awareness and self­development. You probably do try to adopt this mind­set before you start but you still find giving feedback difficult.
• When you need to give feedback, keep these tips in mind:
• It helps if you have a relevant, recent example of what you are giving feedback about. Stay calm and know that if the feedback is very difficult to hear, they are likely to go through the process of Surprise or even Shock, Annoyance or Anger, then Resistance or Rejection before finally moving into Acceptance (SARA). They are likely to move through the SARA process more quickly if they are presented with objective evidence. Try to remain non­judgemental — it makes it easier for the recipient to focus on the feedback rather than on your opinion / judgement.

Emotional control

• Emotional Control Your Score: 95

ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:

• Emotions in themselves are neither good nor bad; strong emotions can even be a powerful catalyst for change. However, emotions out of control can have a disruptive influence on the working environment.
• How well do you cope with your emotions at work? Are you sometimes too sensitive? Do you get angry too easily and fly off the handle? Most people would like the emotions they and others experience at work to be constructive, predictable and proportionate to the circumstances.
• If you scored between 86 and 100 you are doing well, now learn some new strategies to do even better.
• You probably manage your emotions well in most situations at work; however, it is worth learning some more advanced strategies to manage them even better, particularly when you are under pressure.
• When facing a challenging situation, the way you think about that specific situation, person or event and subsequently feel about it, is a major factor in how stressful and emotional you find it. It is often not the situation itself, but rather how you perceive and react to it that is important.
• Sometimes we can get into some unhelpful thinking habits, which drive us to have unhelpful negative emotions: we may find it difficult to separate the person from the behaviour, which means we may attack someone on a personal level rather than dealing with a particular behaviour; we may struggle to separate the person from the message — the message may be a good one, but the person may be delivering it poorly; ‘Black and White thinking’ is another common, but unhelpful thinking pattern, which might be seen as, for example, ‘either you are on our side or against us’, rather than looking for common ground to build further on.
• However, it’s important to bear in mind that strong negative emotions are telling you that something is wrong and that something needs to change. It may be that no matter how good we are at seeing the positive side to things, there is a serious underlying problem that we need to act on. It is rarely good in the long term to bottle up strong emotions; it’s important to work with them in a constructive way.

Management skills

• Management Skills Your Score: 101
• ABOUT THIS ASSESSMENT:
• Being a good manager is essential for achieving work objectives through other people, but helping others to achieve their best at work is also satisfying for individuals. All of this is key to organisational success.
• If you scored between 89 and109 you have an effective managerial style.
• You are probably clear on your role as leader of your team and very aware of the impact of an effective manager on the team’s performance. You understand that being a manager is not about being liked, but about coaching and inspiring others to maximise their skills and thrive at work. There may be a few areas where you can improve your skills now you have a good grasp of the essentials of being a strong manager:
• Encourage autonomy and delegate more. You should have a robust plan in place to ensure that team members are held to account for their contributions whilst at the same time building confidence in the team to do even better. You may need to be more sensitive and alert to potential conflict in the team if people are stepping up their game. Stay on top of regular face to face meetings with individuals to build greater trust and relationships. Meet with the team to facilitate working together effectively to avoid silos of knowledge or power. Sell the benefits of collaboration and shared knowledge and understanding. Nurture all of your staff to give of their best and reward progress. Stay calm, ensure that you have a good work/life balance and know that you are on the right track.

Motivation at Workplace

• The chance to grow my skills and knowledge through work.
• Motivation has been the subject of a great deal of research for over a hundred years. It concerns the drive to act in a particular way. The level, direction and sustainability of that drive are all aspects of motivation. In a work context, this comes down to the amount of effort someone is prepared to put in, to what tasks and for how long.
• Psychologists and scientists have devised many different ways to consider motivation. Some of the most dominant theories for classifying different motivators are:
• Need theories. Psychologists Maslow and Herzberg proposed that people are motivated by unsatisfied needs. Factors such as Stability motivate until the individual has achieved the level necessary to them, after which point the level of motivation tails off. Then a higher-order motivator, such as Purpose, can become more dominant.
• Intrinsic versus Extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation comes from the task itself, such as Development and Purpose. Extrinsic motivation comes about as a result of the task, such as Reward, Recognition or Status. Intrinsic motivation is usually more powerful than extrinsic.
• Approach versus Avoidance. Approach motivators are based on a drive to experience a positive outcome, such as Recognition, whereas Avoidance motivation is a drive not to experience a negative outcome, for example Failure aversion. Avoidance tends to be more powerful, because people expect a loss to have more powerful emotional impact than equal sized gains.
• Goal-setting is the idea that individuals are driven to reach a clearly defined end-state. Achievement is a type of approach-goal.
• This assessment is based on 10 motivators: Control, Achievement, Development, Interaction, Stability, Purpose, Recognition, Status, Failure Aversion and Reward.

Strengths

Teamworking — working well within a team and proactively and positively developing relationship

Out of 50 skills we evaluated which we think of important and not important to difference the like and leveled from the highly proficient to competent or needing some development! Just like the diagram below!!!!

Your prime strengths

Prime strengths are those skills that are important to your current role or the role you are looking for; they are also skills that you enjoy and are competent or highly proficient in using.

These skills certainly constitute your strengths, and are likely to be the areas in which you are perceived to be a bit of an expert. More than that, however, they are key to your personal brand: they define much of what sets you apart from others and taken together they form a picture of you at your best. Something you should want to talk about.

• Negotiating
• Using technology
• Verbal communication
• Researching
• Delegating
• Working in uncertainty
• Analysing
• Observing

Tips

• Take some time to fully acknowledge these strengths in yourself and use them to identify the areas you should prioritise working in.
• These are the strengths you should promote in your cover letter or CV; they should be the strengths you highlight when discussing career possibilities with your manager, coach or mentor, and you should be confident in drawing attention to these strengths at networking events.
• These are your greatest assets, so keep them up-to-date and seize opportunities to use them.

Necessary skills

Necessary skills are those skills that are important to your current role or the role you are looking for, but despite being competent or even highly proficient in using them they are not skills you like to use.

Ordinarily something you are good at would be classed as a strength and something you should promote, but if you don’t enjoy it, it can become something that weakens your motivation and ambition.

• Teamworking
• Written communication
• Managing people
• Managing projects
• Managing conflict
• Quality assessing
• Giving feedback
• Evaluating
• Implementing

Tips

• Look at the tasks that require these skills and take the time to identify what it is about them that you dislike: is it the tasks rather than the skills, the frequency with which you have to do the tasks, the pressure associated with the tasks, the isolation of the task (because no one else can do it) or the time it takes to complete each task?
• Try discussing our issues with your manager; investigate if there is an opportunity to share the task, do it differently — perhaps a small change could make the task more bearable — or hand it over completely.
• Don’t forget to recognise that you are good at this type of work and that people may look to you as an expert in the area. True recognition of your skill can bolster your enthusiasm for it
• Although you may never quite ‘find the fun’ in these areas, it might help to view them as ‘bonus’ skills– not something you highlight as a core strength, but something that could help you clinch a new job, role, responsibility or project.
• It is essential to be aware of your necessary skills and ensure conversations and decisions about future roles take that awareness into account.

Your untapped strengths

Untapped strengths are those skills that you enjoy, are competent or highly proficient in using, but are not important to your current role or the role you are looking for.

Your true potential may be wrapped up in these strengths. It may be that you have acquired these skills in previous roles or perhaps they have only been required in environments you would not consider work and therefore feel that they are not relevant to a working environment. However, skills that you are good at and that you really enjoy could highlight the direction your career should be taking.

• Public speaking
• Managing your time
• Acting on own initiative
• Customer service
• Creativity & innovation
• Networking
• Leading others
• Presentation-building skills
• Adaptability
• Motivating others
• Training
• Commercial awareness
• Designing
• Planning
• Facilitating
• Mentoring
• Listening actively
• Empathising
• Mediating
• Questioning

Tips

• Identify the transferable quality of the skill — don’t assume that it can only be used in a specific capacity.
• Discuss these strengths with your manager, coach or mentor and explain that you’d like to find a way to incorporate them into your working life or career — can they provide you with additional challenges that require these skills or even suggest a different role?
• Look at your prime and untapped skills as a whole and assess the picture they present: these are all skills that you are good at and enjoy. Ask friends, family and mentors whether they think this list accurately reflects who you are.
• Don’t be afraid to adjust your career course to incorporate your untapped strengths. Look for challenges that these strengths can meet even if they are not in the job description or look for secondments, projects or placements where you can use these strengths.

Your weaknesses

Weaknesses are those skills that are important to your current role or the role you are looking for that you dislike using and you need to develop.

The chances are that these skills are the ones that eat away at your confidence, motivation, self-esteem and ambition. You may feel stressed to be in an environment that values skills that you don’t particularly like, nor are particularly good at.

• Solving problems
• Working under pressure
• Numerical reasoning
• Budgeting
• Managing change
• Appraising

Tips

• Firstly, make sure you have some perspective: compare your list of strengths against this list of weaknesses — if this list is much smaller than your strengths, relax. Everyone has areas of weakness.
• If you are in a role and feeling anxious about these weaknesses, talk to your manager, mentor or coach. Perhaps the responsibilities in your role have changed since you started working and some realignment is required. It could be that those tasks in your areas of weakness can be diverted to someone else and you could take on other responsibilities.
• If your weaknesses greatly outweigh your strengths in this particular role career course correction may be the obvious answer, particularly if you are at the application stage. Ask yourself why you are applying for roles that don’t match your strengths.
• It may be that you dislike using these skills because you haven’t developed them enough. Guidance from someone more experienced or the opportunity to be trained could develop this weakness into a useful skill that you learn to enjoy.
• Remember that it is ok to have some areas that you are less strong in; you just need to be clear on genuinely how important they are to your (potential) role.

Your underdeveloped skills

Underdeveloped skills are those skills that are important to your current role or the role you are looking for that you enjoy but need to develop.

These are underdeveloped skills because their importance and your enjoyment of them should provide you with the motivation to develop them. They represent a challenge, which may require some effort to rise to.

• Decision-making

Tips

• Identify what it is about these skills that you enjoy; then identify the specific weakness. Ask friends, colleagues, managers or mentors to point out (constructively) where you need to develop a particular skill.
• Ask for support from those who excel in the particular skill. Watch, listen and learn at every opportunity.

Consider that despite enjoying a skill it may never become a strength and as such looking for opportunities that lend themselves to your strengths may be a more promising option.