The Freelance Bible Toolkit | Part 1: Skills

ALISON INTRO VIDEO

Freelance Bible Online Toolkit | Part 1: Skills Audit

PLACEHOLDER

Introduction to the Skills Audit

What is a Skills Audit?

A skills audit is a simple tool that asks you to take a snapshot of the skills you have now, then to look ahead to where you want to be, and the skills and experience that will be required to get you there. In this way you can create an action plan for acquiring or improving the requisite skills to reach your goal. If you think about it, if you want to do better work you need to focus on your weaker areas more than your stronger areas. This is not easy; human nature makes us want to get better at things we are already good at and these also tend to be the areas we like the best. To improve the weaker ones you have to take the comfortable coat off and put in the hard yards.
Irrespective of your level, you need to know what your skills are. The skills audit is designed to help you identify these and generate a plan to work on. It starts by identifying three types of skill (or expertise) – hard, soft and other.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific to the industry you work in and - by definition - less transferable to other fields.

Soft Skills

Soft skills are the universal personal and interpersonal tools that are easily transferable across industries. Examples include communication skills, IT, leadership, problem-solving, working with and relating to others and applying initiative.

Other Skills

Other skills are any skills, knowledge or expertise you possess that don't fit easily into one of the other two categories. They could be from previous work you have done in an unrelated field, a hobby or the languages you speak.

This module will take you through the process of examining what skills you have, and what you may need to develop as you progress your career.

Please think carefully about your answers.

The more honest you are about yourself the more useful this process will be.

Skills Audit for

Here's your Skills Audit, !

This records and measures the skills that you have picked up and developed so far and also helps identify any gaps. if you want to do better work, you need to focus on your weaker areas more than your stronger ones. This is not easy; human nature makes us want to get better at things we are already good at. These also tend to be the areas you like the best. To improve the not so good you have to take the comfortable coat off and put in the hard yards.
Irrespective of your level, you need to know what your skills are. The skills audit is designed to help you identify these and generate a plan to work on. It starts by identifying three types of skill (or expertise) – hard, soft and other.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific to the industry you work in and - by definition - less transferable to other fields.

Soft Skills

Soft skills are the universal personal and interpersonal tools that are easily transferable across industries. Examples include communication skills, IT, leadership, problem solving, working with and relating to others and applying initiative.

Other Skills

Other skills are any skills, knowledge or expertise you possess that don't fit easily into one of the other two categories. They could be from previous work you have done in an unrelated field, a hobby or the languages you speak.

This report summarises the skills you have identified, and those you may need to develop as you progress your career.

Hidden

User Agent

Hidden

User IP

Hidden

Referrer

Before We Start...

Age(Required)

You need to be 18 or over to take this survey

I am 18 or over

Privacy(Required)

I have read and agree with the Privacy policy .

I'm fine with that

Organisation Code(Required)

if your organisation has given you a code to use, please enter it here.

My Current Career Stage

The first step with a Skills Audit is to ask yourself where you are currently in your career.
Whether you are studying, already freelancing, or an employee looking to transition to freelance, you will have existing skills that are important for the work that you do currently.

Where Am I Now?

What is your current, or most recent role? Do you have a particular skill, ability, or training / qualification? Are you working in your chosen industry?
If you've already started working, what's your role (or what sort of role are you trying to land?
If you are studying, and it’s a course that relates to your chosen field, then note that down.

Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific to the industry you work in and – by definition – less transferable to other fields.

Hard skills include those technical, craft, business and creative skills that are integral to the work that you do.
If you are struggling to think what your hard skills are then, ask yourself the following questions:
What technical skills do I have? What craft skills do I have? What business skills do I have? And, what creative skills do I have?
Using the 3 boxes below type in the hard skills you are good at, those which you have basic ability in, and hard skills which need improvement.

Hard Skills I Am Good At

Use the + beside the box to add to your list

Hard Skills I Have Basic Ability In

Use the + beside the box to add to your list

Hard Skills I Want to Improve

Use the + beside the box to add to your list

Soft Skills

Soft Skills are the universal personal and interpersonal tools that are easily transferable across industries. They can be broadly broken down into personal skills, administrative and organisational skills, and communication skills.
Using the sliders below rate your current soft skills in these areas on a scale from 1 to 5 where 1 is no ability and 5 is excellent ability.

Personal Skills

Punctuality

Team Player

Ability to work alone

Stamina

Attention to detail

Working with words

Working with numbers

Working with visuals

Administration and Organisation Skills

Microsoft Office / Google workspace

Social Media

Systematic thinking

Project Management

Ability to plan

Time management

Problem solving and troubleshooting

Working to deadlines

Communication Skills

Negotiating

Persuading

Building teams

Leading and managing teams

Diplomacy

Instructing others

Good listener

Good at explaining

Other Skills

Other skills are any skills, knowledge, or expertise you possess that don’t fit easily into the other categories. They could be from previous work you have done in an unrelated field, a hobby, or the languages you speak. You may initially feel that your other skills have no value in the workplace, but since you have a lot of knowledge about them and are passionate and interested in them they are very much a part of who you are and that is of value in the workplace.

Other skills I have knowledge, expertise and or passion in

Use the + beside the box to add to your list

Looking Ahead In My Career

In order to develop the right combination of skills for the future work you want to do you need to visualize and consider what your future work would be.
First you need to pick a time period and a role or level you want to be at and the you repeat the audit of hard, soft and other skills with this reference point in mind.

How many years ahead are you looking?

This is a time frame of your choosing. It helps to choose a time period that feels within reach (e.g. 0.5 to 5 years).

Where do I want my career to be at this point in time?

Write in here where you'd like your career to be at this time (a job title or similar can be a good descriptor)

Looking Ahead | Hard Skills

Identify and rate what your future hard skills need to be. Remember - these are the technical, craft, business and/or creative skills specific to the industry you work in.

Hard skills I will need to be good at

Use the + beside the box to add to your list

Hard skills I will need to have basic ability in

Use the + beside the box to add to your list

Hard skills that I will want to be improving

Use the + beside the box to add to your list

Looking Ahead | Soft Skills

Identify and rate where your future soft skills need to be. Remember - these are the universal personal and interpersonal tools that are easily transferable across industries such as personal, administrative, organisational, and communication skills. Using the sliders below, rate where your future soft skills will need to be on a scale from 1 to 5 where '5' is Excellent.