Fear Being Under qualified? How to Self Assess Your Skills and Knowledge

Your skill set has a direct impact on your being able to get a job. Based on things like education, previous job experience, and other training, most people have a pretty good idea of what their qualifications are and if they match the necessary prerequisites for a certain position. But what happens if you fear that you’re under qualified or aren’t sure your skills are a good fit or robust enough for a particular job? Here’s how to know.  

Make a list of everything you think could be a job-related skill.

This includes everything from software experience (yes, even Outlook counts) to coding languages to customer service acquired through past jobs to keeping deadlines in everything from work projects to paying person bills. These can all translate to being a good employee. Ask yourself which of these skills would help you do a particular job well?  

Find examples for where you demonstrated your skills.

If you have a development language under your belt, list out some projects where you were able to use this successfully. If you know that customer service is a strength, make a list of things that demonstrate your use of customer experience skills and how you improved customer situations.  

You can now match your skill and example lists to the necessary skills and abilities in job postings.

Are there gaps in your knowledge? Can you prove to an employer – using your list of examples – that you have the skills needed to succeed? Do any of your part experiences help highlight that you’re willing and able to learn new tasks and skills and master them? All of these things will help you find success in your job search.  

Creating these lists may seem time consuming, but it forces you to think critically about your knowledge and abilities and enables you to accurately assess your skills to see if they’re a match for your target positions.  

Don’t let fear impact your IT job search!  Our IT recruiters can help.

Our IT recruiters know the needs of the employers we work with. We can help you find a match and advance your career. Search our available IT jobs today and start climbing the career ladder.