Traitify Career Assessment

Traitify Career Assessment was very educational. The results showed that I am a planner/action-taker. Planner/Action-taker is someone that everyone turns to get things done, don’t like to waste time, pay attention to every detail within the project, assist friends with home projects, prefer small groups versus large group.

My personality breakdown was 87% Planner, 72% Action-Taker, 64% Analyzer, 63% Visionary, 62% Mentor, 60% Inventor, and 44% Naturalist. Personality breakdown showed I was 100% Compulsive – compelled to behave a certain way, Conventional was 100% - concerned about acceptable things, Particular 93% - exact and detailed,  and Likes Familiarity 90% - prefer known and routine, Goal-Oriented 85% - value the end-results, Realistic 84% - real sense of practical and workable, Deliberate 83% - slow in deciding, and Serious 83%. Reading these responses was an eye-opener. There were some personalities that I thought would be higher but after reading the assessment it makes sense why the percentages were log.

Environments assessment is interesting as well. The results showed that I foster autonomy, is routine-oriented and structure, offers tangible results, and outlines clear goals to be accomplished. The environment assessment aligns with the personality assessment results of the planner/action-taker.

The career path match is an impressive feature as well. The best matches were Procurement Clerks, Billing and Posting Clerks, Document Management Specialists, Social and Human Service Assistants, Clinical Data Managers, etc. I was surprised that the Executive Assistant and Secretarial was 77%. I’ve been an administrative assistant for over 13 years and was always searching for more. The assessment makes sense.

Webb, Repetto, Seabrooks-Blackmore, Patterson, & Alderfer stated there are several components of career development: 1 – Self-determination and person-centered planning, 2 – Career assessment, and 3 – Career planning. They also stated that “often, academics are considered more important than assisting students to learn about the areas in which they excel and what they might like to do as adults (Webb, Repetto, Seabrooks-Blackmore, Patterson, & Alderfer; 2014)”. Career development helps students understand themselves and help them determine which career path to take. This should be implemented within organizations to help employees who feel stuck in their department/career find the best fit within the organization. This could eliminate a lot of turnover rates.

O’Toole and Lawler analysis of workplace changes showed several areas of career opportunities: 1- insufficient creations of new “good jobs”, 2 – increased choice and risk of workers, 3- change nature of careers, 4 – reduction in community and commitment, 5 – Unrealized opportunities to make more efficient use of human capital (Feller, 2011). Workplace preparation demands and job forecast or hard to project. Using the right tools can assist a student or organization in the right career path. In the words of Webb, Repetto, Seabrooks-Blackmore, Patterson, & Alderfer “As professionals, we owe it to them!”

References

Feller, R. (2011). Advancing the STEM Workforce through STEM-centric career Development. Technology & Engineering Teacher, 71(1), 6–12. 

Webb, K., Repetto, J., Seabrooks-Blackmore, J., Patterson, K. B., & Alderfer, K. (2014). Career development: Preparation, integration, and collaboration. Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 40(3), 231–238. 

Core Competencies in Business

Businesses Have Core Competencies

When you think of core competence within a business, you think of the expertise of the business. The core competencies within a business are structured to reflect its skill set and the knowledge needed to set itself apart from its competitors, thus, gaining the competitive advantage to succeed. Core competencies are comprised of an organizations leadership, decision making, ethics, flexibility, influence, analytical thinking, interpersonal awareness, management skills, personal credibility, problem solving skills, management skills, and thoroughness to name a few.  

When you associate what sets your business apart from others, and the definitive the business has that helps it to succeed over its competitors, this is the businesses competitive advantage. Having a competitive advantage means the company is able to maintain a favorable advantage over its competition, for instance, Wal-Mart is known for its low-everyday prices that can't be beat in its market. They are able to obtain this by being aware of the competitions prices and are willing to price match any item, that you can prove will cost less than their own.  

The three most important core competencies are decision making, flexibility, and problem solving. Being able to make decisions required to improve the functionality of a company is very important, it is also something that has to be done on any level of a company. The decisions which are focused on the progress of the company are usually made by the hire ups and are more complex in the decision-making process. These decisions may have to be made in short notices and require the personnel making them to be logical when coming up with a solution. Having the flexibility needed to run the business, can mean providing solutions that were less likely to be made had someone now been more flexible in their decision making. The two go hand in hand. For instance, it may be easier to train someone to do a particular job, than bring someone who has the required skill set but now has to learn a different approach to how a new business runs their own company. The person doing the training has to be flexible in its decision. Problem solving skill are needed in all levels of a company, as problems will need to be figured out as the company progresses.  

It is important to use positioning of the products with pricing and availability to get the customers to buy into the product. However, the proper use of core competencies'  cannot be gauged on sales improvement alone (Harvard Review, 1990).  There is also a need for flexibility, in determining if the pricing of a product is not sufficient for sales, then adjustments need to be made. Knowing the quality of the product is a starter point of assessing how the product will develop. If the quality is good, the customers will buy into it, no matter the pricing. If the quality is poor, the product will have to be sold on the lower segment. Keeping a competitive advantage in the marketplace is important when developing a product, if in fact the company is choosing to set itself apart from its competition. Competitive advantage needs to go well beyond aspects of business management (Strategic Change, 1997).  There should be an evolving of social, cultural, political, and demographical patterns.  

Harvard Business Review (1990). Gauging Core Competence.  

 O'Shaughnessy, N. (1997). The Idea of Competitive Advantage and the Ideas of Michael Porter; Strategic Change, Vol 6, 73-83.