How skilled am I? Competency check list.

Working effectively with labour market information requires a variety of skills in all sorts of areas. Skills are needed in information gathering, interpretation and dissemination - plus you need to be competent using questioning and counselling skills to make sure you use LMI sensitively when working with clients at one end of the spectrum, or employers and opportunity providers at the other.

You will already be accomplished in many areas of using LMI, but how often do you take the time to carry out a personal audit to see where your particular strengths and possible areas for development are?

This check list provides you with an opportunity to think about where you are at in terms of working with Labour Market Information effectively in a career guidance context.

The first step is to decide which of the things listed you can already do well and which you recognise you still need to develop. Once you’ve completed the audit you’ll be given the opportunity to give examples that illustrate your strengths and build up action plans for areas that you want to work on.

Don’t forget

It’s easy to undersell yourself when assessing what you are good at!

Too many of us think if we can do something, then it must be obvious.

You might also like to look beyond your mainstream work competencies and think about the ones you've acquired even without thinking about it - perhaps through voluntary work, work at home or involvement in community events or activities.

You probably encourage your clients to identify their transferable skills, well, now it’s your turn!

To use LMI effectively in a career guidance context, you need to be able to carry out the following activities confidently:

RESEARCHING LMI

being able to find LMI efficiently from a range of sources

ASSESSING LMI

being able to select LMI appropriate to meet the particular information needs of your clients

INTERPRETING LMI

being able to interpret the meaning of LMI for clients

PRESENTING LMI

being able to use LMI in practice in different contexts

UNDERSTANDING THE ROLE LMI IN PRACTICE

being able to reflect on and articulate the importance of LMI in guidance practice

VISITING OPPORTUNITY PROVIDERS

being able to arrange and conduct a worthwhile visit to an opportunity provider (e.g. employer/ college/ placement provider)

SPECIALIST KNOWLEDGE

being able to build up LMI in specialist areas if/when required

EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

keeping up to date with relevant legislation and having the confidence to translate this knowledge into practice

So just how competent are you? You can carry out a personal LMI audit now. Scroll down the page, or click here to go directly to the audit.

NB - this is an early, test version of the competence check. We will be further developing these functionalities over the next few months into Spring 2007.

How to use your Personal LMI Audit

This simple check list will give you a clearer idea of what you can already do well.

For each of the eight categories you will find a selection of statements starting with ‘I can’.

If you agree with the statement then click on one of the tickboxes marked '1', '2' and '3' to indicate how well developed that competency is for you:

• 1 = developed a little
• 2 = quite developed
• 3 = very developed

If you disagree with the statment, do not tick any of the boxes for that statement.

• an unticked box means that you do not feel you have that competency
• you can tick a box a second time to 'untick' it

As you tick the boxes, a little bar chart is built up (at the left of the heading for that competency category) summarising the '1's, '2's and '3's you've ticked. You can scroll up and down between the the skills categories, or use the little 'hide skills' / 'show skills' buttons to tidy up the display as you go.

• If you aren’t sure, click on the icon for more information about what we mean by that statement.
• Click on the icon to see tips on developing that area of using LMI.

At the bottom of the page you will see an overall summary of the boxes you have ticked for each category of competency. This feature is not yet complete - when we are finished developing the competency check, you will be able to review your skills and enter into reflective planning processes about how you want to develop yourself in relation to using LMI.

You may be surprised to realise that you're better placed than you think. At the end of this competency audit, you can print out a bar chart to gain an overview of where you think your talents lie in relation to these 8 dimensions of using LMI.

Ready to check your competencies? Click here to begin.

Below you will find a summary of your skills in each area. This feature is not yet complete - when we are finished developing the competency check, you will be able to review your skills and enter into reflective planning processes about how you want to develop your skills in LMI.

How did I do? Just for fun, have a look at your overall percentage rating here!

0-25%

Oh dear. Using LMI isn't really something you are feeling very confident about just now. Don't worry, this module is designed to help you gain some skills and confidence in working with LMI. You've already demonstrated that you know there are some skills you would like to work on and that is great a great start towards achieving your objectives. Don't be discouraged; do make sure you use your own networks and colleagues as well as this on-line module to help you build your knowledge, competence and confidence in working with LMI.

Make a point of reviewing the planning to improve - top tips section.

26-50%

Well, you have a good basic grounding in using LMI in guidance, but now you are ready to move things up a gear. Perhaps now is the time to focus in on what particular aspects of working with LMI you would particularly like to develop. Why not set yourself some specific targets that are SMART i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable; Realistic and Time-bound and find a buddy to help you keep on track. Use your personalised learning space to help you track your progress, and don't be shy about asking questions in the discussion forum within this module if you need support in any particular area of LMI.

Make a point of reviewing the planning to improve - top tips section.

51-75%

This is a good place to be. It seems like you have some solid skills and competencies in place. You know what's needed in working with LMI and you have experience and strategies in most areas. However, as you probably know yourself there are areas for improvement. Decide what is important for you and why and start to work on it. At this level, maybe you could even be a bit more pro-active in your organisation too. Why not get together with some colleagues to work on an employer/opportunity provider strategy, or if there already is a group working on this try and get involved.

Make a point of reviewing the planning to improve - top tips section. to make sure you are doing everything you can to continue with your professional development in this area.

75-100%

If you are knocking on the 100% mark that's great -you must be an experienced and confident practitioner, well done! Still, if you are that good I hope you are happy to share your expertise and are producing regular LMI reports for your colleagues as well as imaginative materials to use directly with your clients. There's never room for complacency so why not set yourself some new goals that might stretch your skills by taking you out of your comfort zone. Perhaps you will want to develop particular expertise in one particular industrial sector, or in understanding how equal opportunities legislation is implemented. Share your wisdom with other users of this resource by taking an active part in the discussion feature.

You might also like to make a point of reviewing the planning to improve - top tips section. to make sure you are doing everything you can to continue with your professional development in this area.