How to Define a Successful Career Goal: Identify Your Skills
Feb 8th, 2008 by Loy Okezie
Photo courtesy of aswim in knits
It is never too late to be what you might have been. - George Eliot.
In my earlier post about how you can define a successful career goal, I provided the first step - Discover your Purpose. In this article, I’ll be discussing the next step to defining a successful career goal - Identify your Skills.
(Please note that this article is very important to your understanding of the concept of defining successful career goals. If you are a job seeker, perhaps this article might not interest you, except if you are tired of being a job seeker and you are passionate about choosing, starting and building a successful career in any field).
In order to succeed in Nigeria’s highly competitive job environment, you need the right skills to match the right jobs. Granted, we see situations where square pegs are placed in round holes. For example, a graduate of Geography working in a Bank? That’s ridiculous! But, it is what we have come to accept in our ever-changing Nigerian job environment. No wonder we don’t have professionals and experts in GIS and remote sensing, (even with the Nigerian satellite), when other countries are using their experts in these fields in the right place.
But, as a job seeker who needs the right job in relation to your career goals, you must possess the skills needed to grab the right job and further pursue a successful career. These skills are within your reach, if you simply reach out! Thus, the second step to defining a successful career goal is:
Identify your Skills
How can you do this? Whatever your field of study, you must have had interests that made you pursue that course of study. For example, if you are an engineering graduate, you may have been interested in a career in an oil company, an industrial outfit, a chemical company, or perhaps the mechanics of construction, repairs and maintenance of equipments and machines.
So ask yourself: What was my goal of taking that course of study? Does that goal still motivate me? Do I have other interests now? If you are to take charge or be in control of your career, you must ask yourself these questions. And it is only YOU that can ANSWER these questions.
Once you have identified your current interests and passion, then you can easily match your current skills with your interests and passion. However, if you lack a certain skill, then you need to get some training before you can be able to take charge of your career and therefore move to the next level in your career life.
Here are a few tips to help you identify your skills:
Make a list of all your talents, skills, and abilities. As you do these, keep in mind these different intelligences that account for a broader range of abilities and potential in human beings as proposed by Dr. Howard Gardner, a professor of education at Harvard University.
- Linguistic Intelligence - Using words to communicate and express yourself. Are you good at writing? Speaking in public? Communicating with others? Explaining things in simple terms?
- Logical/Mathematical Intelligence - Mathematical abilities and logical problem solving. Are you good with numbers? Good problem solving or analytical skills? Decision making? Analyzing situations? Solving puzzles?
- Spatial Intelligence - Spatial intelligence not only refers to your “picture smarts,” but also includes many of the right-brained activities such as art, imagination, creativity, inventiveness, ingenuity, and cleverness.
- Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence - Your physical skills and abilities. Includes sports, agility, dance, entertainment, physical comedy, athleticism, strength and any skills that involve the use of your hands (like drafting, crafting, woodworking, precision work, etc.)
- Musical Intelligence - Your musical talents and abilities.
- Interpersonal Intelligence - Your ability to build relationships and deal effectively with others. Includes talents such as persuasion, selling, networking, charm, making others feel comfortable, managing a team, conflict management, teamwork, cooperation, listening, charisma, and leadership.
- Intra-personal Intelligence - Your ability to deal effectively with yourself and your emotions. This includes abilities such as knowing yourself, recognizing your strengths and weaknesses, self-confidence, self-control, adaptability and flexibility to change, work ethic, commitment, initiative, persistence, empathy, political awareness, integrity, honesty, time management and overall character.
- Ecological Intelligence - Identifying and recognizing the patterns and relationships between things. For example, the way in which we are all connected to nature and to each other. Being able to see the big picture, spotting trends, seeing the long-term consequences of our actions, recognizing the potential in people, situations and ideas.
Thus, identifying your best skills can help you define a successful career goal and see you through your career path in any field of your interest. The next step is to Identify your Interests and Passions. I’ll be discussing this in a future article.
THE BEST career advice given to the young is: Find out what you like doing best and get someone to pay you for doing it. - Katherine Whitehorn
Please feel free to make comments and ask questions.
To your career success!
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I found your site on google blog search and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. Just added your RSS feed to my feed reader. Look forward to reading more from you.
- Randy Nichols.
@Randy - I appreciate your comments and thanks for adding this blog to your feed reader. All the best with your career blog:-)
Thanks for the career insight. You are doing a great job.
@yetti - Thank you too for your kind compliments. You are the reason we started this career advice blog;-)
Loy Nice Article, I understand what you mean about knowing what you can do, I think there is a diffrence about knowing your abilities and making it work for you. Curently am an IT guy For an oil servicing firm, but I need something more challenging in my field but another thing is that I have a gift of been able to communicate effectivly with people in a way that when i believe it I can sell it to them. so how can i use my gift in my profession?
@Frank - Thanks, man. You’re right…it’s one thing knowing your abilities, talents and skills and another thing knowing how to use them. I think you need to match your skills and talents with the right profession. So think of something more challenging you can do which relates to the skills and talents that you already have. Remember, it has to be something you love to do - passion. Read this article.
Thank so much for your commitment to seeing men discover their purpose, skill and destiny. I have been re-fired. More grace to you. Thanks.
I’m highly impress by your articles, it gives me more zeal and ego to increase my career as an HND gradute of Elect/Elect. Keep it up. I am proud of you.
I think reading your article just give me an idea of what my purpose is which has been a puzzle to me for ages. keep up the good work.
I have not seen such encouragement from any good citizen of this blessed country, who have ever thought of such a marveillous, miraclous and meritarious achevement, you have done to the citzens of this country. The first time i saw such is in best job canada, i was thinking about Nigeria why can’t we have such site for people to be employees and empoyers of labour. Infact more grease to your elbow.
Merci beaucoup, You are doing a great job. I read French and German languages, i can translate, interprete, but can,t find a job. What skill do think i need? Thanks,
Mlle Johnson
@Mlle Johnson - Thanks for your comment and visit. We recieved the same career query in our ‘QuestionBox’. We will respond to your request in a future article. Please come back soon:-)
@Everyone else - I appreciate your comments and thoughts! You guys rock;-)