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Whether you know what kind of job you want next or you're still thinking it through, knowing your skills and strengths is vital. As a career coach, I have great clients with a wealth of skills but they are often dismissive about what they're good at. They're so used to their skills that they assume everyone has them.

Many people think it's boastful to talk about their skills. But there's a world of difference between being an overblown bragger (think certain Apprentice candidates!) and simply acknowledging yourself for what you can do, and being able to communicate this clearly to potential employers.

What's really important is knowing your favourite skills - the ones you love to use. To be as fulfilled as possible in your work, you should make sure you choose roles that give you the chance to use these as much as possible.

So, how do you get to know what your favourite skills are? Generally speaking, when you're using them you feel absorbed. Time goes quickly. What you're doing feels worth the effort and you get a sense of fulfilment from it. Maybe you haven't felt like that for some time. If that's the case, chances are you simply aren't getting to use your favourite skills in your current job.

Don't just think of your skills as the ones you use in your current role and that your manager says you have. Think about previous jobs and ask friends and colleagues what they think your skills are. It's good to get different perspectives from people who've seen you at work and those who only know you outside work.

One of the most interesting ways to really dig out your skills is to use the "skills clips" exercise from John Lees' book, "How to get a job you'll love".

John asks you to think of your life as a film. Your film contains everything you've ever done - both in and out of work - and you edit the highlights into interesting trailers.

Start by choosing an occasion you feel proud about, when you felt a sense of achievement or success. It doesn't have to be something huge. The skills you're great at are hiding away in all sorts of day to day scenarios. So don't be put off if what you think of doesn't involve winning a prize or breaking some company record! Then break your clip down into the following "scenes":

• Your opening shot - the problem you were facing. For example, if you had a project of some sort that seemed pretty daunting, at this stage you may have been using skills to weigh up what could go wrong and to manage risks.
• Your first step - how did you make a start? If it was a project, maybe you influenced and persuaded colleagues to help.
• The main action - staying with the project example, maybe you had to co-ordinate activity, or communicate clearly with others about what was going on.
• The ending - perhaps you evaluated what had been done and shared the learning for others to benefit from.

Whatever your stories, under each of your headings, think about these questions:

• What skills did I see myself using?
• What skills did others see me using?
• What did I have to do to achieve this?
• What exactly was my contribution?
• How did I work with others?
• What was my best moment?
• How did I surprise myself?

Keep on capturing clips until you've unearthed a lot of skills. Then, on a scale of 1-5 score yourself on how far you feel you have each skill and on how much you enjoy using it. Multiply them together, so your maximum would be 25 - a five for really having a skill and another for really enjoying it. Look closely at the ones that rate somewhere between 15 and 25 - these are your favourite skills.

If you're off for an interview you can draw on your skill clips to provide evidence to employers (never just assert that you have a skill - always back it up with an example of using it). And if you're still wondering about what's next for you, knowing your favourite skills provides a vital part of the picture of your ideal work. It might be that identifying your skills shows that you would like to learn some new ones, in which case you talk to employers about how you can get some training and/or experience to gain them.

However you use what you uncover, putting some thought into your favourite skills, having examples of when you've used them and giving yourself credit for them will help you be happier at work.

Michelle Bayley is a Certified Professional Life and Career Coach. To find out about coaching with Michelle click here.

© Michelle Bayley 2006

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