Compe­tences and Their Recognition

What is competence?

Compe­tence is the command that enables a specific type of activ­ity. Compe­tence is knowing what, why, and how.

Compe­tences can be devel­oped every­where, in studies, at work, or through hobbies. Recog­ni­tion of compe­tences strength­ens your ability to build mean­ing­ful study and career paths. It can also increase moti­va­tion and speed up graduation.

Students’ career abil­i­ties include the recog­ni­tion of the situ­a­tions when some­thing is accom­plished and the means to docu­ment and eval­u­ate how compe­tence devel­ops and is made visible. You can reflect on your studies and work to iden­tify what kind of exper­tise they concretely produced. The ground­work is based on your self-knowl­edge. Self-aware­ness consists of your passions, person­al­ity, atti­tudes, values, and networks. Employ­ers are inter­ested in the same in you.

What is my area of exper­tise? How do I recog­nize my skills? In the Finnish culture, speak­ing of one’s skills is easily perceived as brag­ging. For this reason, it can be diffi­cult to put your knowl­edge and skills into words.

However, a real­is­tic under­stand­ing of one’s skills and speak­ing about them is not boast­ful. Instead, it can increase your confi­dence and self-assur­ance and be consid­ered as a strength in the labour market. When you know what you know and you dare to say it to others, you are more likely to find a suit­able and mean­ing­ful job.

What does compe­tence consist of?

Compe­tence consists of knowl­edge of facts. It also contains both voca­tional skills and generic skills, such as learn­ing ability and IT skills. Compe­tence also includes personal char­ac­ter­is­tics, for example, your expe­ri­ence, oper­at­ing models and prin­ci­ples, and the atti­tudes and approach to work.

Task 1. Watch the webinar Mapping your skills and compe­tences. You need to regis­ter first with your email address to be able to join the webinar (Momen­tum project 2021)

Knowing your skills and compe­ten­cies is essen­tial in job seeking and overall in career plan­ning. How else to promote your­self to inter­est­ing compa­nies, head­hunters and other work life connec­tions? In addi­tion, by mapping your skills and compe­ten­cies, you can widen up the possi­bil­i­ties you have – both on job seeking as well as self-employment!

On this webinar the main objec­tive is to help you to think about your compe­ten­cies on a wider way and by doing so, to broaden up the possi­bil­i­ties on where and how to promote your expertise.

Task 2. What kind of exper­tise do you have now?

Explore the compe­tence areas below and describe your current compe­tences. Create a list of your skills and describe the quality of your skills from 1 to 5 (1 is poor and 5 is excellent)

Your exper­tise can consist of the follow­ing competences

Social skills: team­work­ing skills, inter­per­sonal skills, flex­i­bil­ity, and adaptability

Commu­ni­ca­tion skills: spoken and written commu­ni­ca­tion skills in one’s first language, presen­ta­tion skills, commu­ni­ca­tion skills in foreign languages

Tech­ni­cal skills: IT skills, ability to use tech­ni­cal equipment

Busi­ness and finan­cial acumen: recog­ni­tion and under­stand­ing of the mech­a­nisms and prob­a­bil­i­ties of economic devel­op­ment, compe­tence in finan­cial admin­is­tra­tion and manage­ment and cost account­ing, compe­tence in market­ing and selling

Inter­na­tional compe­tence: commu­ni­ca­tion skills in foreign languages, knowl­edge of a specific area, country, or culture

Generic work­place skills: skills in creative think­ing, learn­ing skills, problem-solving skills, project manage­ment, and lead­er­ship skills

Source: Käännös. Sujuvat työn­haku­markki­nat –hanke (Flex­i­ble Job Seeking project). Creative Commons Nimeä-EiKau­palli­nen-JaaSamoin 4.0 Kansain­vä­li­nen -lisenssillä.

Task 3. My Features and Strengths

1. What kind of roles do you have in your life?
For example, you are someone’s child, brother or sister, student, friend, or club member. Write down your roles.

2. What kind of qual­i­ties do you have in that role? (e.g. as a student: active, punc­tual, caring, etc.) Write down the qual­i­ties in each role.

3. Choose the qual­i­ties that you want to main­tain and strengthen in your life. Write down those qualities.

Source: Palaset paikolleen – Vaih­toe­hdoista valin­noiksi – urasu­un­nit­telun malli ja sen työvä­li­neet. Korkeak­oulus­tartti-hanke 2020.

Person­al­ity and Self-Awareness

You can try to change your atti­tudes, but first, you need to know your­self and think honestly who you are and what you want.

Here is the list of the most impor­tant work commu­nity skills

1. Inter­ac­tion skills, in partic­u­lar listening

2. Valu­a­tion and respect as the basis for action

3. Open­ness and integrity as a source of trust

4. Empathy, the ability to under­stand or feel what another person is experiencing

5. Ability to be genuinely present in the moment, showing inter­est and being focused

6. Emotional intel­li­gence, ability to under­stand the meaning of emotions and use such under­stand­ing at work

7. Self-aware­ness, iden­ti­fy­ing one’s own strengths and weaknesses

8. Manners, being mindful and tactful to others verbally and nonverbally

9. Self-reflec­tion ability, skills to self-eval­u­ate and analyse one’s own actions

10. Learn­ing ability, main­tain­ing the rele­vance of one’s compe­tences in the times of change

What are you like as an employee and member of a work commu­nity? Are you “a debater”, “a medi­a­tor”, “a defender” or “an adven­turer”? Or perhaps “effi­cient performer” or “enthu­si­ast planner”? At work, self-aware­ness and self-knowl­edge save lots of time and help you avoid frus­tra­tion. They help you under­stand your­self and others and to high­light everyone’s best features and resources.

Task 4. Take Myers-Briggs Type Indi­ca­tor Test
Think about what the test reveals and if you can recog­nize your­self in it. What is your “work self” on the basis of the test?
Describe the results of the test and your thoughts on the valid­ity of the test results – do you think that is what you are like? Write your thoughts down for yourself.

Source: Käännös. Sujuvat työn­haku­markki­nat –hanke (Flex­i­ble Job Seeking project). Creative Commons Nimeä-EiKau­palli­nen-JaaSamoin 4.0 Kansain­vä­li­nen -lisenssillä.

Strengths

You can start iden­ti­fy­ing your own strengths by think­ing what inspires you. Iden­ti­fy­ing your strengths is much more impor­tant than focus­ing on weak­nesses. Acknowl­edg­ing one’s strengths does not elim­i­nate the weak­nesses or deny their exis­tence. It does not mean that you just continue doing what you already do well. You can use your strengths in new areas, where they have not been used yet.

One way to find your strengths is to consider how you have coped with diffi­cult situ­a­tions earlier in life. Which strengths have helped you to move on?

Focus­ing on your strengths inspires and gives you energy. It is worth think­ing what you are attracted to, immersed in, and where you have been partic­u­larly skilled.

1. Atten­tion: What do you natu­rally pay atten­tion to? For example, what do you read about in a maga­zine or what do you notice when you walk in an unfa­mil­iar place?

2. Fast learn­ing: What do you learn effort­lessly, even right away when you hear about it for the first time? Fast learn­ing may be an impor­tant clue to where your strengths are.

3. Moti­va­tion: What do you do just for its own sake? Strong inter­nal moti­va­tion often tells about strengths.

4. Voice and gestures: When do your voice, language and speech, and gestures become ener­getic and active?

Task 5. Conduct a strength test at https://www.viacharacter.org/survey/account/register. Consider the results of the test and list what kind of strengths you got.