Skills

Your skills or competencies are what you can do well as a result of knowledge, practice or ability. Once you know your skills, you can demonstrate in your job application that you're the best person for the job.

When recruiting, what employers look for are graduates with certain qualifications and technical skills, as well as generic skills and attributes. It is also important to know how best to demontrate your skills.

The skills quiz below will help you to identify what your generic skills are, and how you have used them in your previous jobs, extracurricular activities, academic study and personal life.

Skills quiz

Rate your ability in each of the following skills on a scale of 1 to 5. A score of 1 means you are not confident in your skill; a score of 5 means you are highly confident. When you submit your response, you'll get a list of skills in order of ability - from highly confident to not so confident.

If you're not sure what the skill means, roll your mouse over the words in red to read an explanation.

---

Communication and learning
I am not confident in my oral communication skills	1 2 3 4 5	I am highly confident in my oral communication skills
I am not confident in my written communication skills		I am highly confident in my written communication skills
I am not confident in mynumeracy skills		I am highly confident in my numeracy skills
I am not confident in mycomputing skills		I am highly confident in my computing skills
I am not confident in my research skills		I am highly confident in my research skills
I am not confident in my capacity to learn quickly		I have great capacity to learn quickly
I am not confident in my problem solving/applied reasoning skills		I am highly confident in my problem solving/applied reasoning skills
I am not confident in mycritical thinking skills		I am highly confident in my critical thinking skills
Social
I am not confident in my teamwork skills	1 2 3 4 5	I am highly confident in my teamwork skills
I am not confident in interpersonal situations		I am highly confident in interpersonal situations
I am not confident in my leadership skills		I am highly confident in my leadership skills
I am not confident in my customer/client service skills		I am highly confident in my customer/client service skills
Operational
I am not confident in my time management skills	1 2 3 4 5	I am highly confident in my time management skills
I am not confident in my organisation / planning skills		I am highly confident in my organisation/planning skills
I am not confident in comprehending business practices		I am highly confident in comprehending business practices
I am not confident in my project management skills		I am highly confident in my project management skills
I am not confident in my capacity to manage pressure		I have great capacity to manage pressure
Personal attributes
I am not confident in my flexibility / adaptability	1 2 3 4 5	I am highly confident in my flexibility / adaptability
I am not confident in my creativity / flair		I have great creativity/flair
I am not confident in my level of motivation / enthusiasiasm		I am strongly motivated / enthusiastic
I am not self-confident		I am very self-confident
I am not a confidentself-starter		I am a highly confident self-starter
I am not confident in my entrepreneurial ability		I am highly confident in my entrepreneurial ability

---

Glossary

Oral communication
Effectively communicating verbal meaning often shown through public speaking and presentations

Written communication
Able to use clear language and correct spelling to communicate appropriately for specific purposes.

Numeracy
Basic competence in mathematics.

Computing
Ability to use computing skills to support/define your current and/or future work.

Research
Ability to utilise a range of tools and processes to source relevant information.

Capacity to learn quickly
Ability to promptly put into practice new tasks and knowledge.

Problem solving/applied reasoning
Ability to use reasoning to identify problems and to generate appropriate strategies for solving interpersonal or practical/technical problems. (You may be more capable in one area or the other).

Critical thinking
Ability to use logic and analysis to evaluate strengths and weaknesses of different meanings, evidence and /or arguments.

Teamwork
Ability to work in a role/function which contributes to a common goal.

Interpersonal
Ability to engage others to communicate and interact with you.

Leadership
Ability to provide focus or direction for others.

Customer/client service
Putting needs of the client and client satisfaction foremost.

Time management
Ability to prioritise and allocate activities within defined time frames.

Organisation / planning
Ability to divide time effectively to complete desired tasks.

Comprehending business practices
Ability to understand the common processes/behaviours of businesses.

Project management
Ability to plan, design and implement a project.

Capacity to manage pressure
Ability to complete work in tight time frames or difficult circumstances.

Flexibility / adaptability
Ability to change behaviour or processes to meet changing priorities or circumstances.

Creativity / flair
Looking at things from a different perspective, having new ideas or new ways of doing things.

Motivation / enthusiasiasm
Approach a given task with keenness and strong work ethic.

Self-confident
Belief in oneself as a confident person.

Self-starter
Ability to pick up on new opportunities for action.

Entrepreneurial
Taking the lead in creating and driving a new venture.