Everybody reading this article has multiple skills and competencies that will help create personal and career successes and positive impact. I will be including in this positive impact series of articles links to numerous assessments and exercises that increase the likelihood of reaching one’s goals. This article includes links to three strength assessments that have been used by millions of individuals worldwide. In the first article in this series published on 11 11 19 we discussed how to effectively create direction in your job search and/or career by identifying your purpose.
What you learn looking at or taking the assessments mentioned in this article will provide direction in terms of the strengths you possess and how they relate to the direction you want to take in your career or life. This will be invaluable when we talk in the future about how to effectively handle job interviews and networking meetings.
Our first self-assessment that helps identify your strengths provides a very specific lists of skills you possess. This self-assessment is located at www.onetonline.org/skills/. I am not affiliated with that site in any way. This very practical online resource identifies dozens of skills that fit under the six skill categories that follow. If you go to that site and check the skills where you believe you have some ability you will then possess a comprehensive summary of skills that could be a useful resource as you give thought to what you bring to your career and the process of having a positive impact and being successful.
If you are not interested in going to the site to go through that exercise you can also look at each of the six skill definitions below and rate yourself on how strong that grouping of skills is on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being that you do not possess much of that skill category and 10 being that the definition identifies an outstanding skill category for you.
Basic Skills – Developed capacities that facilitate learning or the more rapid acquisition of knowledge.
Complex Problem-Solving skills – Developed capacities used to solve novel, ill-defined problems in complex, real-world settings.
Resource Management Skills – Developed capacities used to allocate resources efficiently.
Social Skills – Developed capacities used to work with people to achieve goals.
System Skills – Developed capacities used to understand, monitor, and improve socio-technical systems.
Technical Skills – Developed capacities used to design, set-up, operate, and correct malfunctions involving application of machines or technological system.
A second very popular assessment that identifies strengths you possess is called the DISC. It is described as follows on the site that allows you to take it for free:
DISC Personality Test: “Our free DISC personality test, based on the DISC types, determines your personality profile in just five minutes. Find out how the DISC factors, Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance predict your behavior towards others and the everyday things you do…It is an essential tool for exploring how you as a person fit or conflict in a team, with others and with specific work characteristics.”
The free DISC profile gives you very specific information on the following:
Dominance – Describes the way you deal with problems, assert yourself and control situations.
Influence – Describes the way you deal with people, the way you communicate and relate to others.
Steadiness – Describes your temperament-patience, persistence, and thoughtfulness.
Compliance – Describes how you approach and organize your activity, procedures and responsibilities.”
Finally, a 3rd personality assessment that might help you identify what you have to offer others is called the Big Five Personality Factors. Here is how it is described on the site that allows you to take it for free:
Big Five Personality Factors: “Take our free personality test and find out more about who you are and your strengths. This is valuable information for choosing a career and how to develop yourself for personal growth. Five key personality dimensions are explored in depth in a complete textual and graphical report. In the results, you will find your core personality type(s) and how that interacts with your life, career and personal success. Learn what to pursue, what to avoid and how your behavior differs from that of others. This personality test measures the Big Five personality factors very reliably. The big five personality theory is by far the most scientifically validated and reliable psychological model to measure personality.”
The Big Five Factors of Personality measures:
Openness – People who like to learn new things and enjoy new experiences usually score high in openness.
Conscientiousness – People who have a high degree of conscientiousness are reliable and prompt.
Extraversion – Extraverts get their energy from interacting with others.
Agreeableness – These individuals are friendly, cooperative, and compassionate.
Emotional Stability/Neuroticism – This dimension relates to one’s emotional stability and degree of negative emotions.
The free DISC and Big Five Factors of Personality assessments can be found at – www.123test.com. I am not affiliated with that site in any way.
In this and the first positive impact article published in this series you have generated information about possible directions you might want to consider for using strengths you possess. In future articles we will be adding other exercises, resources and links regarding how you can be successful in your life and career while also having a positive impact.
The Amazon #1 International Bestseller, “Have a Positive Impact During Uncertain Times” – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1732793808 – and this website provide links to hundreds of additional resources designed to help individuals and groups identify jobs of interest and ways to be successful and have a positive impact in all you do personally and professionally.