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How to identify your skills
Are you starting to define your career goals or prepare your CV and cover letters to apply for internships or jobs? Inventorying your skills is a crucial step.
What are the different types of skills to be aware of?
What is a skill?
A skill is the ability to mobilise resources (knowledge, know-how, soft skills, etc.) to achieve a result. According to human resources specialist Pierre Miraillès: "Skill is defined by what an individual knows how to do." Skills are abilities acquired through experience or training. They are observable and can be listed (there are numerous catalogues of skills). They are generally applicable across various settings ("cross-cutting").
E.g.: meeting facilitation, time management or performance management.
What is talent?
Talent differs from skill. It is a natural ability, pleasurable and easy to use. "Where skill is knowing how to do something, talent means you enjoy doing something," says management innovation expert Francis Boyer.
E.g.: charisma, relating to people, leadership, flexibility, etc.
Knowledge, know-how, soft skills, what is the difference?
- Knowledge: Knowledge you have acquired over the course of your experience (E.g.: Knowledge of how public finances operate (public finance class))
- Hard skills: Implementation of practical knowledge or qualities (E.g.: Conducting documentary research or analytical capacity and ability to summarise)
- Soft skills: Ways to adapt to different environments by mobilising the right qualities at the right time (E.g.: Demonstrating tolerance, kindness and solidarity, or presenting and defending your ideas)
Knowledge and hard skills
These are formally demonstrable skills that come from technical learning, often academic in nature. Their acquisition is demonstrated by grades, diplomas or certificates. Compared with these concrete hard skills, soft skills are more indefinite and informal, which is why they are described as 'soft'.
Soft skills
These are personal characteristics that allow you to interact effectively and harmoniously with others. They are skills that are more derived from personality and (in one possible parallel) rely more on the right brain than the left brain (as the left brain is more analytical and the right brain more intuitive). Soft skills are the competencies that are the most widely used in our organisations. Employees spend more time than ever fostering harmony and efficiency within teams.
The importance of soft skills today
For recruiters, soft skills are a crucial criteria in hiring, because technical competencies (hard skills) are not enough to perform well at work:
While diplomas and technical knowledge are a necessary component of your application, a recruiter spends less than 20% of their interview time on measuring or validating this knowledge.
Instead, they spend a lot of time evaluating how you apply this knowledge, or how you will conduct yourself in a group, within the company: teamwork, intercultural skills, ability to adapt to new environments, intellectual agility, sense of solidarity, human and social values at work, etc. These are all soft skills that will frequently make the difference for recruiters, and for which Sciences Po graduates are often appreciated.
List all your skills
We suggest you organise your inventory in two complementary types of table:
- Download exercise 1 : "From experiences to skills"
- Download exercice 2: "From skills to experiences" (soon available)
And now what?
You have completed an inventory of all your current skills. Congratulations! You can now move on to the next steps: Identify the skills to be acquired or improved, based on your career goals.
- By consulting the postings for jobs and assignments that interest you
- By conducting surveys on professions
- Highlight your skills in your CV, your cover letter and during your interview
