The document discusses soft skills training opportunities available at Workforce Investment Boards and One Stop Career Centers, including job readiness curriculum, incorporating soft skills into vocational training, and post-employment support like mentoring and coaching. It provides contact information for the San Diego Metro Region Career Centers and outlines an agenda covering topics like defining skills, what employers want, transferable skills, and leveraging accomplishments.
UGC NET Paper 1 Mathematical Reasoning & Aptitude.pdf
Presentation18 wibs and one stops-watkins
1. San Diego Metro Region Career Centers/Job Work’s, Inc.
LavarWatkins@workforce.org
619-266-4247
2. SOFT SKILLS TRAINING
AT
WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARDS (WIB)
&
ONE STOP CAREER CENTERS
3. Soft skills have more to do with how an employee
communicates and interacts with others than her
technical skills and abilities. Soft skills include personal
attributes such as attitude, work ethic and oral and
written communication skills. They are complementary
to a person's knowledge and experience and enhance
the overall contribution and effort an employee puts
forth. For instance, an employee with poor soft skills
may have trouble communicating with other
employees, lack leadership ability and possess a
negative attitude; however, he may rank ahead of
others when taking aptitude tests. The goal for a small
business is to find employees with a good balance of
soft skills and aptitude.
4. Although building workforce competency is generally focused
on first-time employees, human resource professionals say in
Critical Skills Needs and Resources for the Changing Workforce—a
poll released in June 2008 by the Society for Human Resource
Management (SHRM) in conjunction with WSJ.com/Careers—
that many workplace soft skills have become more important
for experienced employees than for new workers. These skills
include critical thinking and problem solving, leadership,
professionalism/work ethic, teamwork/collaboration, and
adaptability/flexibility.
5. There are different ways to provide soft skills training to individuals
moving into the workforce. A job readiness curriculum that emphasizes
employability skills is one approach. Soft skills training can also be
incorporated into vocational training and other program activities.
Agencies that provide employment-related services can structure
programs to simulate the workplace. In addition, post-employment
activities, such as case management, support groups, mentoring, and job
coaching, provide opportunities to work on soft skills based on clients‘
work-related experiences. One challenge for agencies is to assess and
document soft skills. Agencies can market their soft skills training to
employers and work with local employers to develop standards for job
readiness. This is not the end because there are collaborations that exist to
assist with this very need.
6. Survey of 500 Executive Recruiters
identified these as the biggest job-seeker
mistakes:
Too desperate / Willing to take Anything
Target jobs that match your best skills
Focus search on specific employers
Poor Interview Preparation
Research the company and job requirements
Attend the Interviewing Strategies workshops
Weak Résumés
Customize the résumé to each targeted position
Attend the Resume & Cover Letter workshop
7. Industry Name Annual Average Change
Infrastructure
223,500 to 255,000 31,500 or 14%
Construction
Healthcare 1,338,000 to 1,645,100 307,100 or 23%
Biotechnology 23,000 to 35,000 12,000 or 13%
Industry Name 2009 Employment Change
Green 1270 to 2080 810 or 39%
14. AGENDA
Skill Defined
a. The Many Facets
Skills and Employers
a. Job Requirements
b. What Employers Want
Transferable Skills
a. Types of Skills
Leveraging/Employer Matching
Accomplishments
a. Your Best Leverage
Closing Thoughts
15. Skill is the learned or acquired
capacity to carry out pre-determined
results, often with the minimum
outlay of time, energy, or both
Skill is the capacity to do something
well as opposed to abilities, which are
often thought of as innate
Skill is a measure of a worker's
expertise
16. Skills are often actions directed toward
people, things or data and are classified
accordingly
The average person has from 500 to 800
skills.
Relevant skills should be identified for each
target job based on what employers value
Frequently-used skills may be difficult to
identify as they tend to become second-
nature and unperceived
17. Skills are:
Gained through life experience
Developed with diligent practice
Enhanced by vocational education
Applied to specific tasks
Enjoyed in various hobbies
Combined into job qualifications
Skills can define you!
18. Employers want more than a listing of work
history, job titles and mundane tasks.
What ―value‖ do you offer?
Employers want more than just ‗business as
usual‘. How can you:
Meet employer‘s needs?
Solve employer‘s problems?
Save employer money?
Make employer more profitable?
Increase employer‘s competitiveness?
Help employer deliver better products or
services?
19. Employers want to know what you can do
for them and how well can you do it
Presenting your skills effectively shows the
employer that you have
the right skills for the job, and
a clear understanding of the job requirements
Employers seek to eliminate learning curves
and training periods
Hiring new staff can be risky and costly:
Those most qualified reduce risk and cost.
20. Existing skills that can be used to meet the
requirements of other jobs or kinds of work or
can be applied to a wide range of activities,
such as communication, organization &
management
Transferable skills are universal in nature and
are not generally bound to any job type or task
―You are defined not by your job title, but by the
skills that you possess, which are transferable from,
and to, any occupation you may happen to be
involved in at the moment.‖
(Richard Nelson Bolles, What Color Is Your Parachute?‖
21. The following is a list of 5 broad skills areas:
Communication
Research & Planning
Human Relations
Organization
Work Survival
You can search jobs by skills sets through
O*NET
http://online.onetcenter.org/skills/
Assess your ―motivated‖ or ―key‖ skills here:
http://www.stewartcoopercoon.com/jobsearch
/freejobsearchtests.phtml
22. Transferring your skills effectively can
result in higher salary placement
Failure to effectively transfer and
leverage your skills could result in loss of
job hire as employers consider you less
qualified
Take great care to accurately evaluate
how each of your skills transfers to your
―target job‖ then leverage, leverage,
leverage!
23. Are those considered particular to a
specific job or occupation
Job specific skills will transfer effectively
to other jobs requiring those same skills
For example: A Volkswagen mechanic can
generally work in any Volkswagen service
garage. However, before competing
effectively at a BMW service garage, specific
skills and knowledge relevant to BMW‘s
would be required.
But, if they like you, they‘ll train you!
24. Are those typically considered personality
traits
We use them in every area of our daily lives.
Are often used by those who know us best
to describe us to others
Include elements not necessarily tied to
specific jobs or occupations. For example:
Honest
Friendly
Warm
Considerate
Include work ethics, values, and personal
traits and can be referred to as Personal Assets
25. A great attitude, an even temper, and a positive
outlook while faced with adversity or difficult
challenges are examples of self-management skills
Other examples of self-management skills
include:
Initiative
Punctuality
Reliability
Organization
Accuracy
Efficiency
These are also considered Personal Assets
26. A job function is a defined area of
responsibility, a duty or activity that requires
a set of tasks.
The function of Office Reception includes tasks or
duties such as greeting customers, answering
phones, directing calls, providing information,
performing data entry, etc.
Skills are used to perform Tasks
Tasks, in turn, perform a Function.
Functions define a Job
A job can be labeled or identified by a Job
Title
27. Decide on a target job. If unsure what jobs
are suitable for you, take career interest and
work importance assessments at:
www.cacareerzone.org
Examine skills used in previous jobs and
compare them to skills required for target
job.
To find complete descriptions of jobs, duties
and skills, a very helpful website is:
www.online.onetcenter.org
28. Employers want their needs met
Find employers that will hire your skills
Use the employer locator feature on
www.acinet.org
Go through job announcements for matches
Network through family and friends, etc.
Develop a structured job search action plan
Your best bet: Find jobs that match You!
29. Each job has two basic elements:
1. Job Title: This is a descriptive name given
to a set of specific tasks, duties, or essential
functions
2. Field: This is a realm of specialized work
or knowledge within a specific industry
When changing jobs, consider changing Job
Title or Field but not both at once to
maximize the effective leveraging of job
specific and transferable skills
30. Clerk
Original Job Job Title
_____________
Retail
Field
Target Job Job Title
________ Assembler
Field
Manufacturing
Changing both job title and field can result in
entry level pay at the target job. Try to avoid this.
31. Job Title
Original Job Clerk
____________
Field Retail
Target Job Job Title Clerk
_______
_ Medical
Field
Keeping job title can result in transferring most
skills and higher pay at the target job
32. Clerk
Job Title
Original Job __________
Retail
Field
Job Marketing
Target Job Title
__________ Retail
Field
Transferring industry experience and knowledge
helps job transition & leverages for higher pay
(Source-Richard Nelson Bolles -What Color is Your Parachute?)
33. List your previous Job Titles in reverse order
List all activities, tasks, duties & skills involved
Previous job descriptions, O*NET Online or
personal recollection are all very helpful
List the skills you most enjoyed using and
your level of expertise as well as those not
enjoyed
Next, list jobs you would enjoy doing and
compare the required skills using their job
announcements with your preferred skills
Repeat the process for each job in which you
are interested, then research the labor
market for viability, outlook, pay, etc.
34. More complex, job-specific skills usually
place you in a higher step of the salary scale
rather than entry-level pay
Complex skills require more initiative,
creativity and problem solving abilities
Higher skills complexity usually means less
competition and higher pay
it is imperative that you carefully evaluate how
your best skills relate to your ―target job‖
opportunities and that you effectively
communicate this to prospective employers!
35. Accomplishments are powerful statements that
speak louder than skills or words alone
Consider accomplishments you achieved in
each job or in each job duty, if possible
Tell Employers:
How, when, and where you used skills
relevant to the position at hand
How you excelled and saved the company
time, resources, or money, or improved on
services or operations, or increased
revenues
How those skills and your initiative are
valuable to his or her success
36. The most relevant accomplishments are those
from past employment activities directly
related to the target job title
Job-related accomplishments that show what
you can do are also effective
Use achievements in your personal life
experience that show you are an ―achiever‖
Include accomplishments resulting from your
own personal efforts as well as those achieved
as part of a team. These can also showcase
your teamwork abilities
37. When stating an accomplishment, showing
measureable outcomes adds power.
For example:
Increased efficiency in operations by 10% saving
thousands of dollars in production costs
Exceeded sales goal at an average of 25% per
quarter and named salesman of the year in 2009
Named as ―most friendly‖ Customer Service
Representative based on independent customer
satisfaction survey during last two quarters 2009
Using the STAR method can be highly
effective
38. Customize each résumé and personal
commercial
QUALIFICATIONS – ―I have…‖
Experience / Job Knowledge
Education / Training
Credentials /Accomplishments
SKILLS – ―I can…‖
Job Specific Skills / Transferable Skills
PERSONAL ASSETS – ―I am…‖
Innate Skills / Self-Management Skills
Work Ethic / Values
Characteristics / Qualities
39. Confidence comes from knowing what
employers want and how you are uniquely
qualified for the job
Take note of any new skills acquired and how
to leveraged them with new job opportunities
Update and customize your résumés and
personal commercials for each job to include
new skills or accomplishments acquired
The right attitude can compel an employer
deciding to hire and train you!
Notas do Editor
The Metro Career Centers are your One-Stop solution. Whether you need career counseling, job search assistance, connections to employers with current job leads, or labor market information, Metro Career Centers staff can help. The website has much valuable information, workshop calendars and links to other resources..
This is the Workforce Partnership website and it is of special importanceto the Job Seekers and because of the LMI links. We will browse these links to show you the type of information you will find and how information is organized. Take notes as we follow links that are especially helpful to you so that you can visit them later on your own.
Cal Jobs offers job listings and résumé posting services in addition to other features. Be sure to look at the links on the left column for EDD Labor Market Information for your local area which can be most helpful while conducting your research. There are many links with jobs, industries, and labor market information in addition to training opportunities and resources. There are also publications that keep you updated on the local economy and labor market.
The U.S. Department of Labor administers the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is the Federal counterpart to the California Employment Development Department. The Occupational Outlook Handbook is a valuable, bi-annual publication that defines jobs, projects growth rates and shows wages, benefits, education requirements and much more…..
O*NET Online takes much of the information found in the BLS but adds other features that are unique to this website. We will explore many of these features including how to generate a list of jobs based on your transferable skills.
America’s Career Information Network has many types of information valuable to job seekers, much of which can be viewed as a side-by-side comparison of State and Federal trends. Of special interest is the Employer Locator tool that enables you to build a “hotlist” of employers that hire the specific job title you have targeted for submitting resumes. We will now go live into these websites. Please turn on your computers and click on the Internet Explorer icon.
Skill can be defined in a number of ways. The first bullet states what a skills is.The remaining two bullets indicate what it is to be skilled.
When presenting skills, it’s not about you: It’s all about the employer’s needs.
Transferring your skills means effective leveraging. Not all skills can be transferred completely.
The real transferable skills go with you from job to job or experience to experience regardless of your specific situation. Of course, even then the value of each skill will depend to some degree to the situation or task at hand.
When you effectively transfer your skills, the employer values your experience and expertise and will set your pay accordingly. You are considered more qualified and more valuable.
Job specific skills can also be leveraged but have obvious limitations in transferability. That’s why they are called “job specific”.
If unsure of what jobs might interest you or line up with your personal work values, try taking the career interest assessment as well as the work values assessment.If unclear as to which skills you might have used at previous employment or which skills are required for you prospective target jobs, the O*NET website can provide you with a great amount of detail regarding every element of the jobs in question.
To illustrate the impact industries have on job titles, consider what it’s like for a customer service representative to work for an employer such as Robinson’s-May or Nordstrom’s. That’s the retail industry. Then consider how a customer service representative would perform that job title at Sharp Medical Center (Medical Industry) or at Qualcomm (Manufacturing/Technology Industry).
The square graphic represents the original job title you have performed and are considering changing.The heart graphic represents the job to which you are considering changing.
Here you begin with clerk in the retail industry. You wish to leverage the job title of clerk but change industry to the medical field.This type of change will leverage your clerical skills but you will need to familiarize yourself with the medical industry and gain the appropriate knowledge required of your new position. Perhaps you will need to build your medical terminology and gain some basic insights about medical procedures, departments and job functions of various medical personnel.
Leveraging your industry or work field knowledge can also be very effective. You will need to use some skill that were not typically performed as a clerk but your understanding about what the industry will minimize your learning curve or training period. Keep in mind that if the employers like you, they will train you.
The idea her is to identify and list skills learned in previous jobs or even in ways not directly related to their job history, then make lists of skills most enjoyed or preferred and the level of expertise for each. It is also important to identify skills that are not liked. This makes it easier for the next step which is listing jobs that require those preferred and best skills. From jobs we go to job titles, then industries and, ultimately, to building employer “hot list” and developing a strategy to contact employers to schedule job interviews.
The combining of complex skills with less complex skills defines the value you will bring to the employer. Complex skills alone may not be as effective.
Tell stories about accomplishments or achievements you have had. Within these stories, tell about the skills you used and how your effective use of these skills you were able to achieve success in job performance. Accomplishments are the result of combining knowledge with different skills and personal assets.
Everyone has accomplishments. However, most job seekers have difficulty in identifying them and showing employers how their accomplishments will benefit the employer.
Be prepared in the event the employer should ask how you arrived at the dollar amount or percentages of savings to the company resulting from your accomplishments.
Your qualifications tell the employer what you have going for you.Your skills tell the employer what you can do.Your personal assets tell the employer who and what you are.All 3 of these tell the employer how well you fit the job and the company.
We all have varying degrees of skill levels. Most people fall in the mid range of skill performance with some skills below average and some skills in the above-average range with a higher level of complexity. This makes each of us unique. Our ability to leverage our uniqueness with job opportunities defines our success.