The Hidden Skills

When asked what your skills are, how do you answer? Are you stumped momentarily and then like the majority of people link your skills to your work? Or perhaps you are starting out in your career and so will share the skills you acquired during your post school education? The reality is that they are just a small percentage of the skills you actually contain. What really is the definition of a skill and its range? It is both hard skills acquired in work, education and vocational learning as well as soft skills, the personality and behavioural attributes that are innate in each of us and grow with time and experiences? This can be the differentiator to who you are as a person and what career path will give you the ultimate fulfilment.

The challenge stems right back to the career counselling we receive in our mid teens in order to select that first next level education. Let’s face it, it's not in-depth and in most cases none of us have a clue what we want to do, so a discussion of options gives us little insights. Dropout rates in further education are increasing which is a key reflection of this. Then it’s what happens post education and that is where the major issue exists. In nearly every case job hunting is still reliant on the “CV”, a showcase of someone's education and experience. The weakness to this is that a CV is traditionally focused on hard skills and in surveys has been shown to have an exaggeration or inaccuracy rate of over 85%. Coupled with this, most HR Technology used by companies today has AI doing the initial screening in and out of potential candidates. AI is only as good as the data it receives and even with that having a human element is key but what AI is not being fed are the hidden skills to find out someone's true potential. 

With global skills shortages estimated to reach 85 million unfilled jobs by 2030, we can’t allow hidden skills to fall through the cracks. Over 78% of people describe themselves as lifelong learners whether it is doing some form of vocational training inside or outside of their work. These hidden skills are incredibly important to capture not just to ensure work opportunities are optimised but the right level of further education can be made into people. Furthermore we are more than just hard skills, personality and behaviours make up over 50% of our potential in any role and they are just if not more important to capture, showcase and further develop. 

The Solution 

1. Digital Skills Profile or Passport - a dynamic online skills profile or passport if you will which doubles down on all skills both hard and soft. Encouraged to regularly update in order to access further and vocational learning that will accelerate the career goals you have outlined and the skills you wish to acquire. This can be integrated with HR Technology or University platforms but key is that the user is in the driving seat of managing their own skills data. 
2. Soft Skills Assessments - understanding and extracting our soft skills can be challenging as it's new. Using online tools to support this process can mean nothing is left on the table. Skill audits and surveys that encourage the participant to consider all experiences such as social, charitable, sporting, family and the skills acquired as a result will ensure the completion of a 360 skills capture. 
3. Internal Skills Discovery - many of us are driven by progress in our lives and careers. Having a skills discovery tool that can kick into gear when a new skill is registered and aligned to an internal opportunity can radically reduce external recruitment for mid to senior positions, as well as provide insights to the ongoing skills acquisition of the workforce. 
4. Skills Acquisition Mentor - many senior leaders want to give back but mentor matching on job titles is a very narrow view to those seeking new skills and career transitions. Leveraging the digital skills profiles and desired skills to be obtained and matching to mentors who too have completed the full extent of their skills can be so hugely beneficial for both parties. 

The impact for companies who uncover hidden skills is game changing. It can lower recruitment costs, guide learning and development to have powerful insights for future training, lower attrition and overall create a culture of people value. 

For each of us, it's an opportunity to really know our true worth beyond what society has told us. To measure our continued growth as a human in skills that are academic, work oriented, social and even spiritual. To bring our full self to our careers and feel acknowledged, appreciated, valued and invested in. 

By Vanessa Tierney

CEO Abodoo

If you would like to know more about how Abodoo support companies in this space, you can watch this 2 min Skills Audit video for Enterprise and Education 

Abodoo is an inclusive skills mapping and matching technology for the new world of work and learning. We map and match on skills first integrating to existing technologies to support the management and investment of your greatest asset, the skills of people. 

To arrange a meeting simply PM me. 

Sources https://www.inc.com/jt-odonnell/staggering-85-of-job-applicants-lying-on-resumes-.htmlhttps://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/03/22/lifelong-learning-and-technology/