Methodology for Unemployed People
SkillsUp test provides a straightforward and easy method to find out which type of personality matches you the most, taking into account that every person is unique, and everybody takes different, incomparable, and changing approaches.
Abilities can be improved as much as you work on them. That is why the SkillsUp test prioritizes a positive psychology approach based on the premise that when individuals train their talents daily, they become strengths.
Some benefits of using strengths to the fullest are that you become more authentic, reliable, self-confident, and successful. Other positive changes are increasing motivation, satisfaction at work and healthier relationships. In other words, the strengths allow you to reach the highest peak of self-realization and inject a lot of energy into any workflow.
However, not everybody knows how to maximize all the potential from talents and strengths. One of the reasons is that many skip an essential step: analyse the weaknesses in order to know why one could fail.
That is why SkillsUp also provides an approach to the possible weaknesses in each personality. In every case, the user receives advice on reducing the impact of weaknesses to empower talents. It is worth mentioning that the SkillsUp test is a useful guidance also for any career advisor when monitoring your soft skills, strengths, and weaknesses.
SkillsUp testing reveals and provides:
- User personality.
- Most suitable jobs according to one´s personality.
- Required positions and industries on the local labour market.
- Strengths and weaknesses.
- Development of soft skills via videos and PDFs.
Self-study:
The SkillsUp test’s essential purpose is to help the user to identify their personality type and characteristics to find a job position according to its key competencies and the next steps to implementing the test results. The SkillsUp platform also offers educational resources such as videos and valuable studying materials to support the user’s development.
Development and test interpretation with a career advisor:
For all those who are interested in soft skills training and career development, we offer the opportunity to make appointments with a trained career advisor who can lead and guide you through the test results. A career advisor is an expert in bringing new ideas and motivation within a career journey.
Methodics of SkillsUp test:
Methodics are mostly based on theory of vocational psychology (Holland´s theory). By developing this test model, we have focused on constructing “Congruence” defined by Holland (1997) as the compatibility of the individual’s resemblance to a type of work or the environment in which that individual finds her or himself. Although congruence can be defined in general as a match between personality and occupational choice.
Contents of the test results are based on the Holland methodology, RIASEC code. Recommendations for development are slightly inspired by the worldwide known Clifton Strengthsfinder philosophy, based on positive psychology. Based on that it is possible to analyse and define strengths and talents, which also leads to the definition of a suitable or even dream profession.
Test results reveal:
- Your personality type is based on RIASEC code. (According to Holland method, people and work environments can be categorized using six types: R – Realistic, I – Investigative, A – Artistic, S – Social, E – Enterprising, and C – Conventional, with a collective shorthand of RIASEC).
- Characteristics of your personality type.
- Your strengths and soft skills to be developed.
- Your weaknesses to consider.
- 5 suggested job positions in 3 specific industries.
SkillsUp test reflects personality in six dimensions:
(Realistic, Investigative, Artistic, Social, Enterprising, Conventional): Every dimension was designed to facilitate understanding of specific personality traits, skills and abilities. Five to six questions were designed for the measurement of each dimension.
- Test results are adapted specifically to the EU and partnering countries job market and most required jobs within the unemployed group of people.
- Focuses particularly revealing strengths of participants rather than their weaknesses.
- Despite of this the test also reveals your weaknesses.
- The test results demonstrate 3 soft skills that you can develop and study through our learning material (PDFs and videos).
- Focuses development of talents and strengths in order to bring authenticity and satisfaction from work to participant’s personal lives.
- Enables modern and person-centred approach.
- Gains insightful results on which basis participants can avoid being unhappy, suffering from lack of self-confidence and energy in their career.
- Orientates to future-focused jobs that are nowadays the most needed on market, instead of focusing on dying jobs.
- Test is free, simple, quick, anonymous, and useful.
- The test results will be delivered online – on the platform.
- Possibility to fill the test comfortably, online through PC and mobile as well.
The outcome of the test is information about your personality type, recommendation of the most suitable profession on the labour market specific for each EU country. Test outputs also bring you tips for your career development in a form of videos and PDFs that are a part of our learning tools. SkillsUp test extends services for career advisors and simplifies their approach to their clients – for example you.
Summary of the benefits of SkillsUp test:
- Identifying the most suitable work profession and where unemployed have their biggest potential.
- Revealing of the specific strengths of each personality type, based on which each participant can develop and train their strengths.
- Informing about possible weaknesses of each personality type to avoid any further potential failure.
- Identifying which personality type attendee, they are and which soft skills they should develop to increase their competitive advantage on the market.
- Getting different tips and ideas of possible suitable job roles within the most required industry specific for each EU state, according to participant´s personality type working tool for Career advisors and counsellors.
- Access to the test: The test is placed on the project website with unlimited access for everyone https://quiz.skills-up.eu/.
- Duration of the test: approx. 10 – 20 minutes.
- SkillsUp tests are possible to be filled in different languages, such as English, Slovak, Czech, Greek and Slovenian.
- Test consists of 33 questions.
- Some questions have answers in text options and some in pictures.
- It is possible to turn back if you feel like changing your answer. After submitting you will get the result page.
- Your final results of the test will show up directly on the screen, so you can save them.
- Evaluation and results are available online.
- It is possible to fill in the tests via computer and mobile devices.
- After you get your test results, save them.
- Read them carefully and underline all information that you consider useful and that motivates you.
- Choose a position from your results, which you are qualified for. This test reveals which positions within which industries are being looked for in your country and you can apply for them immediately. There is a big chance that you can be accepted and hired by a company when you apply for this high-required job. Your qualification is the condition for that.
- Once you choose an industry and position you are not qualified for but interested in, you will at least find an inspiration for a new possible position for you. Find a way to get the required knowledge or requalification.
- You can also contact a career advisor to support you to find the best way to learn new skills required for a chosen position.
How to work with test results by yourself (without career advisor):
Once you decide to work with your test results alone and you don’t want to use the opportunity to meet with a career advisor and discuss your results. In the text you will find these following expressions:
Key Characteristics (Your personality type):
Describes how you or people similar to you may behave, act, what are their preferences and special approach. Maybe you will find some of your qualities in this description that you can identify with. It helps you to be more aware of your characteristics that is very specific and can reveal information that you haven’t known so far about yourself. It is not necessary to take it as its rigid description of you, but you can be inspired by this. Don’t hesitate to use the description of your abilities in concept IKIGAI, once you go through this method with us. For more details visit our website: https://www.skills-up.eu/ikigaiconcept/
Your Strengths and Soft Skills to Developed:
This part shows you your strongest qualities, eventually also talents that are already developed and you know about them. If you are not aware of this, this information is for your easy navigation to develop your abilities and strengths much more to become the better version of you.
Feel free to open our learning materials on the online platform and get inspired and enriched by some tips on how to develop the skills that you are already good at. Start and discover the best part from you.
Your Weaknesses to Consider:
The information about your weaknesses revealed by the test should help you to be aware in which area you could fail or which areas are weak. Everybody has some weaknesses as well as strengths. Once you identify some weakness, it should help you to warn you in which area you can fail. You shouldn´t strengthen your weakness, you should replace it by your strengths, some tool or some person if it is possible. Weakness shows you in which area you should create some supporting system for you in order not to fail. What is important to learn is that you don’t have to drill your weaknesses, work hard on them or reduce them. What you need to learn is to find a way how you can replace your weakness. What we suggest is to replace it by your strength, by a person who knows what you need or maybe you can find some tool that can help you.
As an example:
- If you are a person who is not reliable or hardly ever on time, some reminders can help you remember important tasks or days, for example the birthday of your mum.
- Another example can be that you are not so creative but logical. In this case you can invite some of your friends or colleagues who you trust and ask for brainstorming about some topic that you need creative inputs from.
- When you read that your weakness is lack of concentration, you can help yourselves by preparing, e.g. a not to do list, so you avoid any disruptions.
- If you are not able to find a replacement for your weaknesses try also thinking about how you can solve lack of some quality, how another way you can reach it without any training of these skills. Weakness is a weakness because it is weak. That is why you need a lot of energy once you want to study or train something that you are not good at. By learning it you probably lose a lot of energy, joy and in the end you will be still not authentic enough. If you are not authentic, people will not trust you. Better develop your skills in an area you are already good at and put more and more attention to it.
In case you are not able to identify how you can replace your weakness, you can contact a career advisor who will help you with finding an answer.
5 Jobs Suggested in 3 Selected Sectors (according to your personality):
The SkillsUp test identifies 3 different industries in your country for your personality type. Chosen industries are the most needed and required industries in your country where there is a lack of employees in those positions. This means there is a bigger chance they can hire you. Positions that we suggest are also positions that are highly required on the market, so if you like any of them, your chance to find a job is again higher. Maybe you find out that you don’t have the qualification for the position that we are suggesting to you in results, it can be an inspiration for you to find a course, requalification or school to get more knowledge. This can help you in the future to do what you are interested in and you like to do. Or at least if you are curious how it could be if you became something that you never even thought about in the past. This is the moment of revealing some new part about you through inspiration from our SkillsUp test.
Firstly, fill the SkillsUp test at home and read your results. Take your results to a consultancy with a career advisor with whom you want to make an appointment with. If it is more convenient for you, you can also fill a test together with a career advisor. They will help to explain some questions that you don’t understand or you will be not able to choose. However, be aware that that career advisor will not make the choice for you. He will be there just in case to support you in making a decision.
Once you get the results, read them and prepare all career topics and key questions you want to ask him. Don´t hesitate to open a conversation about a topic you don´t understand from the test results. It could be helpful to think about what you want to reach in your profession or career. You can speak with your advisor about steps that you should take to get a job, how this job can make you fulfilled, happy. How you can be successful and appreciated at the position. There is also an option to speak with them about how you can develop something you are already good at and also how to avoid failures due to your weaknesses. The career advisor will be your guide on the way to identify where you can find a job you are looking for and how to search properly on the market. Cooperation with the Career guides is also very helpful and opens new perspectives about your career and future job.
Your career advisor is ready to guide you through your career journey. Book your career consultancy that usually last 60 minutes. It is possible to agree to more consultancies if it is needed.
As we already mentioned it is possible to book an appointment with the career advisor in case you want to fill out the test in their presence. This can help you ask any question that you will need while they are next to you.
Test results will show you all basic and important information about your personality characteristics, soft skills, strengths, weaknesses and job tips. All this information you can take into consideration and speak about it with your career advisor. Career advisor will give you feedback about your thoughts, impressions and opinions from the test. A part of the career consultancy and development will be also brainstorming with the advisor. The advisor will give you different questions and advices in order to help you to understand which useful steps you can take to start your career. There is also the possibility to ask them questions when you need to.
Career advisors are dedicated to preparing an action and career plan for you and help you get orientated on the local or international labour market. They support you in writing your CV, prepare you for an interview, and show you sources of available work positions. In the last phase of career advisory, it is possible to work on your soft skills development or identify the most suitable job for you using different career development-oriented methods.
Another step in personal and professional growth is putting attention to studying of particular soft skills in order to develop them. Find in your test results, what are the soft skills you are good at (your strengths). We recommend you develop and train them alone or ask for support from a career advisor. Our study materials (PDFs and videos) bring useful knowledge and important information about each soft skill. Choose the most needed one for you and try to go deeper for a better understanding. Don´t hesitate to ask for a support from any career advisor, who can guide you through following soft skills:
- Soft Skill: Effective Communication and Cooperation
Importance of this skill: ability to manage different relationships at work, to be able to explain and transfer information to others to be understood, be able to sell themselves quickly, product or idea, help people with problems, work in groups.
What you will learn:
- Why communication and cooperation are important
- The rules of effective communication
- Essential communication skills
- Cooperation at the workplace
- Effective personal presentations at the workplace
- Soft Skill: Proactivity
Importance of this skill: to take the initiative, be initiative to find a job, move things forward and make things happen.
What you will learn:
- What proactivity is
- Focusing on the right things: circle of influence
- Proactivity at the workplace
- Soft Skill: Flexibility and Adaptability
Importance of this skill: to be flexible, improvising, resistant for a change, unexpected moments, and adapt to changing conditions, tolerance to frustration from failures – spontaneous, ability to lead your own emotions.
What you will learn:
- What adaptability and flexibility are and why they are important
- What change is and how it affects us
- Reacting and adapting to workplace situations
- Controlling our emotions under pressure
- Soft Skill: People and Customer Orientation
Importance of this skill: to be supportive, helpful and empathetic while interacting with others, building harmony, comprehension to others to build teams, make healthy connections with others.
What you will learn:
- What people and customer – oriented skills are and why are they important
- Empathy
- Emotional Self – awareness
- Emotional Self – regulation
- Teamwork
- Resolving customer service issues
- Soft Skill: Creativity
Importance of this skill: being able to think about new and different job sources, finding new innovative ways for self-realization, bringing new ideas to work, insights for improvements, or create original solutions and self-realization.
What you will learn:
- What is creativity and the importance of creativity
- Lateral thinking
- How to improve creativity
- Creativity skills at the workplace
- Soft Skill: Leadership
Importance of this skill: to lead the workflow of yourself and others, move and motivate others, initiate projects, and manage teams and team goals, sell ideas.
What you will learn:
- What are leadership skills
- Personal leadership
- Leadership at the workplace
- How to improve your leadership skills
- Soft Skill: Achieving, Performance, Ambition and Goal Orientation
Importance of this skill: to be driven by inner motivation, to know exactly what people want to achieve in order to have better productivity and goal orientation, to achieve the goals, able to organize, work effectively, and in the system.
What you will learn:
- The importance of having and achieving life goals
- It all starts with character and attitude
- Setting up goals
- Achieving the goals
- Overcoming your fears
- Soft Skill: Analytical Thinking and Problem-Solving
Importance of this skill: able to see the big picture, think abstract, understand scientific theories, solve math problems, IT orientation, good for any data analyses, able to be accurate, detail-oriented, methodical, systematic.
What you will learn:
- What analytical thinking is and why it is useful
- What it means to be an analytical thinker
- Analytical thinking and problem solving in practice
- Effective problem – solving strategies
- Soft Skill: Planning and Organizational Skills
Importance of this skill: to be able to get things done, finish, control, implement, solve or deliver, make things happen, have a practical/ functional approach, organize yourself and others, be effective and consistent, structured.
What you will learn:
- Why we need to plan
- Eisenhower matrix
- Effective time management
- Organizational skills at the workplace
- Soft Skill: Learning Skills
Importance of this skill: to be able to develop and grow due to the job market and the needs of companies, to have any competitive advantages against others, able to teach, educate, lead or train others.
What you will learn:
- What learning is and the importance of learning
- The learning cycles
- Honey and Mumford’s learning styles
- VAK learning style
