It’s quite common practice for jobs to be described in terms of the knowledge, skills and attitudes require to do them. It is often shortened to KSA.

Knowledge Skills Values

Although these days we don’t like the word “attitudes” because it sounds subjective. So I tend to use Values / Company Culture.

Good companies will tend to use KSA from recruitment to induction to training and development, internal promotions and succession planning.

This exercise can really help to create the information you might need to complete an application form / attend an interview.

 

KNOWLEDGE

What qualifications have you got? And why they are relevant?

What industry / sector experience have you got? And why might this be relevant?

What professional job roles have you had? And why might they be relevant?

What technical / IT skills do you have? (If relevant)

SKILLS

(Score yourself out of 10 and then think of examples from current and past roles)

Self-awareness and Self-management:   Develops awareness of own strengths and weaknesses and reflects / learns from experiences.  Manages emotions and actions appropriately and professionally.     

Developing Yourself and Others:   Looks to continually develop self and others to improve performance.             

Strategic Thinking and Commercial Awareness:  Looks at the bigger picture presently and in the future. Spends time developing and driving strategic goals through the business. Understand the industry, sector and business you are in, and also the wider business arena.   

Change Focus and Innovation:   Regularly review what you do / deliver with a view to developing new initiatives, ideas and solutions in order to progress yourself, your people and your business.  Accepts the need to learn from others, manage change proactively and embrace innovation.    

Team Working and Leadership: Be an effective part of a team / network and proactively contribute to building a team / network.  Lead individuals and teams using a style that is motivational and empowering.               

Interpersonal Skills and Communication:  Can build appropriate and professional relationships with a wide range of people.  Is able to utilise a flexible style with others to build relationships. Uses appropriate communication skills to ensure that people understand your message. 

Achieving Results:   Delivers high quality results that impact on the business and drives self to achieve more whilst maintaining quality.       

Service Focus:   Provides a professional service to people that goes the extra mile. Demonstrates a service focus mindset.             

Decision Making:   Using appropriate decision making processes that consider outcomes and implications. Keeps in check spontaneous decisions and high levels of changing your mind or indecision            

Planning and Organising:   Sets objectives / strategic goals and manages self, time and resources in working towards them.

ATTITUDES aka VALUES / THE WAY YOU ARE

How do others describe you / your personality?
What are you known for in work / life?

What’s important to you in how you live your life?
How do you interact with people?

What you value in people?

And if known how you fit in with the company values / culture?

 

If you’re are able to complete this exercise then you will have loads of information for completing an application form, creating a cv, attending an interview but also identifying areas / gap that need some focus.

 

For some roles we may have the correct Knowledge Skills and Values. However more often than not we might be missing some parts of the jigsaw puzzle. We are not always the ideal / perfect employee. Mostly the gaps can be “filled” over time.

 

We can’t always be good at everything but being aware of what we are good at and also what we need to improve on can really help.

 

Finally it is important to note that sometimes the knowledge, skills and values overlap or are interlinked. The more interlinked your knowledge, skills and values are for a job / company the easier it is to fit into the role. It is important to remember though that most people will have gaps.

 

Once you have lots of material then a good step is to condense the material into 10-15 concise paragraphs / statements that show a combination of knowledge, skills and values.