Talents, skills and reflection

Talents and skills are how you put into action your engagement with the world of work; they are the abilities that afford you to engage with the world of work in ways you’d prefer and work towards the impacts you’d like to have.

Talents and skills are not only developed from paid/work experience; skills are developed and demonstrated through a variety of life experiences, especially post-secondary education (see Giancaspro & Manuti, 2021; Buckley & Lee, 2021). These experiences can include, but are not limited to, the following:

Being clear about your specific set of skills will help increase your confidence when making appropriate job and occupational choices. It will also make it easier to write résumés and cover letters, and/or to network with individuals in your field of interest.

To support you with identifying the talents and skill you have and what you’d like to develop, you can refer to the Future Ready Talent Framework (FRTF). The FRTF was developed by the University of Waterloo to support you in your lifelong learning journey as you navigate your career and is a useful tool for reflecting on your skills, talents, and knowledge (otherwise known as competencies).

The FRTF consists of four major categories of competencies to reflect on:

• Expand and transfer expertise: these competencies are related to how you are expanding field-specific knowledge and skills and how you are applying these competencies in your career.

• Develop Self: these competencies are related to how you are building self-awareness of your needs, career goals, and areas you’d like to improve and engage in lifelong learning, like upskilling and reskilling.

• Build relationships: these competencies are related to how you communicate, collaborate, and create connections with others, especially in a diverse and globalized context.

• Design and deliver solutions: these competencies are related to how you engage with complex problems using innovation and effective problem solving.

Gathering evidence and goal setting with the FRTF

After reviewing the competency matrix, take the opportunity to note down what competencies you have and the evidence that demonstrates you have that competency using the FRTF Competency Chart.

Reflect on the competencies you are building in the variety of experiences listed above, from work experiences and school projects to volunteer and extracurriculars. The practice of reflecting on what competencies you have and where you can demonstrate evidence of these competencies is very useful for:

• writing applications

• answering interview questions

• networking

• building your LinkedIn profile

• connecting with employers at job/career fairs

The FRTF can also be used for goal setting, planning what competencies you’d like to develop over the course of your time at UWaterloo and later on in your career.

Planning your goals can support you in strategically and intentionally pursuing specific projects or selecting certain courses, articulating to employers your career goals and why you’re interested in working for them, and can overall give you confidence in your career decision-making.

As you progress throughout your career, certain values and needs may shift, or you may want to take on a new set of projects to engage with your field of work or there may be new talents and skills for you to develop to stay up to date with your field.

What is purposeful in your career is ever-changing, so it is good practice to continue to check in with yourself and engage with these reflections as you move through your career journey.

There are many self-assessment tools that you can use. However, it is recommended that you meet with a career advisor to discuss which of these tools might be right for you. Additionally, the career advisor can guide you through the assessments and help you debrief the results and reflections that emerge.