August 28, 2007

• finding my dream job 02

  link: finding
  my dream job 01

   

  today I will talk about “Transferable Skills.” 

   

  1. what are transferable skills?

   

  before I start this post let me explain about the
  transferable skills. I have many skills, gifts and talents. I learned some of
  them from school (ex. mathematics, book keeping), some by myself (ex.
  using a computer) and some from work (ex. using MS-Office). However, what I
  tried to find were innate abilities that I have utilized to use all my acquired
  abilities. these innate abilities are called “Transferable Skills”
  according to Richard
  Bolles. when we
  use these transferable skills we are happy and enjoying the moment because it’s
  our “gift” which God gave us even before we were born.

  I want to be happy at work and more specifically I want to use the
  skills that make me happy at work, which will be more then 70% of the rest of
  my lifetime. that’s why figuring out my transferable skills is very important.

   

  2. Writing the Success Stories

   

  as the book, “What
  Color is Your Parachute?” said, to find my transferable skills I wrote
  stories about myself. they are more like an essay which tells what kind of skills
  I used at happy & successful experiences in my life since I was born. it’s
  not about a general everyday experience but a sort of specially memorable
  moment. the story must have the following conditions: a goal, an obstacle, a
  description of what I did, a result, and any measurable/quantitative statement
  of the result.

   

  the book recommends to write 7 stories but I wrote more then 20
  stories and picked the best 7. here is a summary of one of the stories.

   

  Title: building an efficient work system at the army

  1. the goal of the activity

  - I wanted to improve the work efficiency of the work system &
  process so that I can save my time and effort.

  2. Obstacles or constraints

  - there was an old paper-based work system which was
  conservatively & firmly established

  - I had to spend 4 months building a new database

  - I knew only the basics of Microsoft Excel and Word.

  3. Description of what I did

     ➀ I planed what to do for an innovation.

     ➁ I waited and kept on thinking about the
  innovation until the senior officer retired so that I can avoid his
  conservativeness.

     ➂ I input all the paper data to computerized
  forms like Excel and Word for 4 months.

     ➃ I studied MS-Office to make up for the
  lack of knowledge and applied it to work.

     ➄ I developed and improved the computer
  based work system with MS Excel and Word.

  4. Description of the outcome

  - great improvement of work efficiency and accuracy

  5. Measurable/quantitative statement of the result

  - I reduced  working hour to less then 20% of how long it was
  

  - I reduced consumption of paper and printer supplies to less then
  50%

   

  3. My transferable skills?

   

  After I wrote all the stories I analyzed them as the book says. it
  was not easy but I was definitely able to see several outstanding skills which
  I’ve always used unconsciously. yes, those were my transferable skills. I can
  say I do great job when I use these skills, of course, with lots of happiness.
  I cannot specifically explain the method here because first, it’s not that
  simple and second, I don’t want to violate the copyright of my teacher’s
  teacher. but I promise it’s simple.

  I could make several sentences about my transferable skills.

  1. I collect information through experiencing, observing and
  researching a person, an object or a situation.

  2. I analyze the collected information.

  3. I apply, develop, improve things from the analysis.

  4. I advise, couch, counsel, encourage, guide, inspire, convince a
  person from the analysis

  5. I direct, serving, help people

  6. I lecture people

   

  and these are my transferable skills extracted from the sentences.
  (and another source)

  observing

  analyzing

  discovering / perceiving

  sorting / arranging

  systematizing

  planning

  realizing

  implementing

  adapting

  improving

  initiating

  synergizing

  utilizing

  inspiring

  serving

  taking instructions

  lecturing

   

  I have so many transferable skills! one thing i’m sure about is
  that most of my transferable skills are about people and data. I don’t have any
  apparent one about material or physical matter such as drawing, carrying,
  driving, running or so. I have been designed to work better with people and data rather
  then materials. with this list I knew what I can do well and enjoyably.
  

   

  the next step was finding my nature or temper, with which I can tell how I use my trasferable skills. i’ll talk about it
  next time.

  thank you for reading. =)

  link: finding
  my dream job 03

  • 11:51 am
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