Choices Planner Professional Manual

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Transferable Skills Checklist

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Description / Skill Statement Clusters / Background / Frequently Asked Questions

Description

Transferable skills are skills that refer to work content activities in relation to data, people and things.

In Choices Planner, the Transferable Skills Checklist is provided to help users who have a work history to review, identify and assess their transferable work skills. This Checklist can also be used by youth who are in the process of developing career plans, allowing them to zero in on skills they wish to acquire.

The Transferable Skills Checklist is designed around 237 transferable work skill statements that describe the broad work content activities generally present in a variety of occupations. The structure of the Checklist is easy for users to understand. The 237 skill statements are grouped into 25 skill clusters based on similarities between the work activities.

During completion of the Transferable Skills Checklist, users review, assess and identify the work content skills they have or wish to attain. After users complete the Checklist, the program evaluates their responses and displays the list of skill clusters and statements they have identified. Users can then select one or more skills from the list and obtain a list of occupations corresponding to those skills and skill levels.

The results obtained from completing the Transferable Skills Checklist thus provide the basis for exploring employment and career options. Users can also import results can into the Career Finder and combine them with other factors in the their search for occupations.

For users who have a work history, the results of the Transferable Skills Checklist can help identify their future career and/or employment options. Transferability of work content skills is determined by users' skills, and how those skills can be used in other careers. At times, direct transferability without additional training is possible between jobs requiring the same or lesser degree of skills. At other times, transferability is possible after completion of some additional training.

For users with a work history who are in the process of career decision-making, the results of the Checklist provide an excellent entry point exploration of the world of work.

Note that this assessment is a self-assessment tool that asks users to identify items that they feel describe their functional levels. Therefore the results are descriptive rather than predictive in nature.

Participants can generally work through the 25 clusters in the Transferable Skills Checklist within 30 minutes. They may then want to take more time to check out suggested careers.

Skill Statement Clusters

The 25 skill clusters are listed in the following table. The skill clusters are defined, and appear in the same order, as in the Checklist itself. Examples of related skill statements, from which users make selections matching their work content skills, are also provided.

Skill Cluster	Definition	Examples of Related Skill Statements
1. Getting information needed to do the job	Observing, researching, investigating, examining, evaluating, collecting, surveying, and otherwise getting information from a variety of sources. They also include monitoring and diagnosing some conditions and situations.	- Diagnosing diseases and disorders - Investigating data to solve problems - Researching mathematics - Surveying and measuring land
2. Inspecting equipment, products, or materials	Inspecting items to identify the causes of errors or other problems or defects.	- Inspecting machines - Inspecting tools and equipment
3. Processing information	Checking, verifying, processing, computing, entering, and transmitting information or data.	- Computing and totaling charges - Processing data on computers - Processing sales and purchasing information
4. Reviewing or analyzing data or information	Reviewing and analyzing data, information, plans, or materials. Proofreading is included in this cluster.	- Investigating data to solve problems - Implementing legal procedures - Analyzing life science data
5. Thinking and working creatively	Writing ideas, creating and sketching designs, and creating images and concepts. They also include creating and interpreting dance, musical, and dramatic roles.	- Creating and portraying dramatic and dance roles - Creating design concepts for structures and facilities - Creating fashion and style designs - Writing ideas
6. Developing objectives and strategies	Developing objectives and planning strategies to achieve the objectives.	- Formulating program policy and goals - Planning education and training programs - Planning project activities
7. Following written or spoken instructions	Understanding and following instructions, orders, guidelines, diagrams, and blueprints.	- Following construction blueprints and plans - Following written production guidelines - Following spoken instructions
8. Growing and harvesting plants and animals	(1) Raising, caring for, and capturing livestock, poultry, fish, and other animal life. (2) Planting, nurturing, and harvesting plant life.	- Growing and harvesting plants - Raising or capturing fish or animals
9. Handling and moving objects	Using one's hands and arms to handle, sort, work with, manipulate, load, place, move, adjust, and test a wide variety of items.	- Cleaning objects and buildings - Handling and/or testing chemicals - Receiving and storing stock - Preparing food for customers
10. Controlling machines and processes	Using control devices or direct physical activity 1) to prepare machines and equipment for operation, 2) to start, stop, control, and adjust the progress of machines and equipment, and 3) to operate a wide variety of machines and equipment.	- Cutting and slicing with tools - Drying, mixing, and separating materials - Operating printing machines - Setting up machines
11. Operating vehicles and mechanized devices or equipment	Navigating, driving, and operating many types of vehicles and mechanized equipment.	- Driving emergency vehicles - Operating agricultural machinery - Operating trains, buses, or trucks to transport people or freight
12. Interacting with computers and other electronic equipment	Operating electronic equipment and machines, such as computers, radar, communications equipment, testing and diagnostic instruments, drafting equipment, and audio-visual equipment.	- Operating communications equipment - Operating computer aided design (CAD) systems - Operating computers to record and analyze engineering data - Operating radar equipment
13. Drafting, laying out, or designing equipment, parts, or devices	Preparing instructions, drawings, specifications, and documentation to inform others how items are to be constructed, assembled, modified, maintained, or used.	- Designing machinery, equipment, and products - Drawing diagrams, charts, and maps
14. Building and repairing fixed structures and objects	Construction of buildings and highways. They do not include operating the equipment, tools, or machines used, since these skills are found in other clusters.	- Constructing with brick, stone, and mortar - Making large fixed structures and objects
15. Repairing mechanical or electronic equipment and objects	Observing, diagnosing, and repairing objects that operate on the basis of mechanical or electronic principles.	- Observing and diagnosing mechanical problems - Repairing electrical/electronic objects - Repairing small objects
16. Using hand and power tools or instruments	Operating tools and instruments for a wide variety of purposes.	- Using construction hand and power tools - Using electrical repair hand and power tools - Using precision measuring instruments
17. Documenting and recording information	Preparing, compiling, recording, cataloging, and maintaining information in written form or by electronic/magnetic recording.	- Collecting and recording meter and gauge readings - Preparing and organizing verbal records - Preparing financial reports
18. Interpreting the meaning of information for others	Explaining and interpreting information to others and helping them understand its meaning.	- Explaining banking, loan, and financial services - Explaining life science concepts - Relaying information to dispatch workers
19. Communicating with persons outside the organization	Asking and answering questions and giving information. The communication can be face-to-face, in writing, by telephone, or by electronic transfer.	- Answering business telephone inquiries - Interviewing people to obtain information
20. Assisting or caring for others	Giving help and personal care to others.	- Providing child care services - Providing protective services - Providing health care support services
21. Selling or influencing others	Buying, selling, and demonstrating all types of goods and services, as well as convincing others to buy merchandise.	- Demonstrating products and services - Selling products or services - Purchasing products for resale
22. Performing for the public	Providing amusement, entertainment, and recreation activities for the public.	- Amusing and entertaining audiences - Providing recreation and entertainment activities
23. Developing and building teams	Working in a variety of settings as a member of a team. Teamwork includes building trust, respect, and cooperation among team members.	- Working as a member of a journalism team - Working as a member of a design team
24. Teaching and advising others	Teaching and advising individuals and groups on a variety of matters, including education, business, personal, and financial.	- Counseling and advising people - Teaching education/training programs
25. Managing programs, staff, and budgets	Administering, directing, monitoring, and evaluating people, programs, and resources from a supervisory or managerial position.	- Assigning duties to workers - Hiring and supervising staff - Planning and administering budgets

Background

The Transferable Skills Checklist was originally called the Transferable Work Content Skills (TWCS) Checklist. The underlying purpose of the TWCS project was to enhance and strengthen the skills component of Choices Planner so that the system could more completely meet the diverse needs and expectations of end users.

Bridges staff, sales managers, and consultants were involved in identifying end users' TWCS needs and in establishing the criteria that would guide the TWCS project. It was agreed that any approach that was adopted for the development of the TWCS data should meet the following criteria:

Must be based on comprehensive, existing and validated databases.
Must have the capacity to be assigned/related to Choices Planner occupations.
Should expand users' options regarding transferability of work, instead of limiting options.
Should meet, as closely as possible, the identified user needs for enhancing transferable skills.
Should have research validity, but also face validity.

The TWCS purpose, the users' needs for transferable skills information, and the development criteria were used to set the parameters of the project and to formulate the basic research questions, namely:

What resources exist to describe the work performed in occupations?
Can and should these resources be used in Choices Planner to enhance TWCS, and if so, why and how?

With these in hand, the following broad activities for developing TWCS statements emerged:

Review current literature, research, data sources, and methods of identifying skills and transferability.
Review government information, including skills from the Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) and future directions in the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT).
Identify appropriate and valid data resources and approaches appropriate to TWCS development.
Establish the methodology for TWCS development and assignment to Choices Planner prime occupations.
Develop and test TWCS statements and clusters.
Assign statements to Choices Planner occupations.

A thorough review of the literature found a response to the first research question about existing resources. The following data sources and methods of identifying skills and describing work performed in occupations were identified:

O*NET
Choices Planner prime occupations
The Revised Handbook for Analyzing Jobs (1991)
Worker Functions -- Data, People, and Things (DPT)
Materials, Products, Subject Matter, and Services (MPSMS)
General Educational Development (GED)
Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP)
Work Tasks and Fields
Secretary's Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS)
Future Dictionary of Occupational Titles (DOT) directions
Occupational Outlook Handbook 94-95
V-TECS task statements
Educational Data System's Personal Skills Inventory
Texas SOICC's SOCRATES system (keywords)
Richard N. Bolles' What Color is Your Parachute?: A Practical Manual for Job-Hunters & Career-Changers (1993)
Handbook Of Occupational Keywords
Basic Essential Skills Taxonomy

To address the second question about using these resources, each of these data sources and methods was researched and reviewed. The purpose was to determine: (1) what it is; (2) its applicability, scope, and availability; and (3) if it is a viable resource for strengthening the TWCS capacity of Choices Planner.

In addition, psychologist Dr. Sidney A. Fine was interviewed and his work and writings were reviewed. Dr. Fine directed the Functional Occupational Classification Research Project that established the current DOT classification system, and has extensive experience in consulting and speaking about Functional Job Analysis.

This massive research effort resulted in the finding that no single resource could be used for developing TWCS. However, the findings indicated that it was possible to identify primary and secondary resources that would be appropriate for the standardized development of TWCS statements and their assignments to occupations. In addition, the methodology and approaches for using these resources was developed.

After thorough analysis, it was determined that O*NET data could be incorporated into the Choices Planner structure and that the O*NET Generalized Work Activities (GWA) could become the new basis for the clustering structure of TWCS statements. Four main GWA categories were used to determine the structure into which the TWCS clusters and the TWCS statements within the clusters were grouped:

Information input (2 clusters)
Work output (10 clusters)
Mental processes (5 clusters)
Interacting with others (8 clusters)

Some adjustments to the GWA were needed to accommodate TWCS statements. In a few cases, GWA were not used if they seemed to replicate other GWA or had no related TWCS statement. The revised TWCS structure now contains 25 clusters, with definitions written based on O*NET GWA definitions.

The clusters and task statements were assigned to prime occupations based on the importance and frequency ratings in the O*NET database. The level of the TWCS statement (high, medium, low) was assigned to an occupation based on the level ratings in the O*NET database. For the unique military occupations that are not included in the O*NET database, TWCS statements and levels were assigned based on previous assignments and on a review of available military information.

Other primary sources used in formulating TWCS statements and links to Choices Planner occupations include the functional skills structure as the framework for identifying the verbs and nouns associated with Worker Functions or Data-People-Things (DPT), Work Fields, and MPSMS. Secondary sources include Choices Planner prime occupational definitions and SVP. Other review sources were also identified.

The TWCS statements were developed from these rich sources of information and were assigned to Choices Planner prime occupations. After several reviews of the skill statements and skill assignments to occupations, skill levels based on training required for an occupation were assigned.

Subsequently, a clustering structure for the skill statements was to assist users in identifying their skills. Skill statements were organized into three major categories based broadly on DPT and on the statements' relation to working to (1) machines, tools, equipment, and objects; (2) people or animals, individually or in groups; and (3) ideas and information. Brief definitions for the skill clusters were written to assist users in understanding what the cluster encompassed.

During the development and assignment process, six internal reviews and one field review were made of the TWCS statements, clusters, and level assignments to ensure clarity, appropriateness, and completeness.

The resulting TWCS database includes 237 skill statements and 25 skill clusters that describe broad work content activities generally present in a variety of occupations. These TWCS statements and skill clusters form the basis for the Transferable Skills Checklist found in Choices Planner.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I see the Transferable Skills Checklist results in my portfolio?
Where are the transferable skills for each career displayed?

Where can I see the Transferable Skills Checklist results in my portfolio?

Transferable Skills Checklist results are automatically saved in your portfolio if you signed in when taking the assessment. They will be in the All About You page of the portfolio, under Transferable Skills.

Where are the transferable skills for each career displayed?

The related transferable skills are in the Skills You Need tab within a Choices Planner career profile.

For example, you can log into Choices Planner and click on Work. Click on Alphabetical List and then Accountant (or any other career). Click on Skills You Need. You will see the transferable skills used in this career at a medium or high level.

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