I always find it strange that people concentrate on talking about skills and ignore the issue of talents.
There is a belief that with the correct training anyone can learn to be good at a particular subject or task, that simple hard work and commitment is all that is necessary.
Yet we all know in our own lives that ,yes, you can work hard at something and become proficient, but to be great you need something else!
I always wanted to learn a musical instrument and started the piano as soon as my daughter was interested in doing the same… she sped away while I struggled, and the worst exam in my life was Grade 1 piano, when I realised 5 year olds were much better than me!
I have worked with ‘experts’ who have both the talents and skills to own that accolade, and seen the energy and passion combining the two creates and how inspirational to others these people can be.
The best Leaders are those who have that inbuilt ability to engage with and motivate others, who don’t have to try hard, and where their authenticity shines through everything they say or do.
The difficulty for most organisations is that they over value skills or competencies and look for those who have proven ability in a particular role.
Yet those inspirational leaders I talk to all say they look for attitude and talents rather than competencies…. That commitment that comes from really enjoying a subject means those who have talent will never stop learning.
Going back to the piano analogy, a friend who teaches piano say increasingly parent stop children playing once they have achieved grade 8… yet that is the time when they can really explore and extend their range and abilities.
Having the piece of paper to say you have done something, like a CV, doesn’t show where your talents lie and certainly doesn’t mean you have the commitment to keep learning and developing yourself.
I believe we all have talents, it is , for most people, simply a matter of helping them recognise them.
Yet the emphasis is on skills that can be measured, and the obsession in the world of work on measurement, means in most cases talents are dismissed as they are too difficult to measure.
What we have done in Future Resume is recognise the importance of talents and enable people to understand them more clearly by going through our questionnaire, and then promote them through the document produced which shows their potential to prospective hiring managers.
With the changes in technology in recent years skills are becoming redundant even faster, understanding one’s Talents means that in those circumstances you can better see where to go next. Talents have an ability to give you much greater flexibility in what you do, a talent engaging with people give a range of possibilities as does a talent using your hands to create something, or help others, as in massage, osteopathy etc.
So, I may be swimming against the tide of processes to complicate the recruitment process, but give me Talents to work with any time!!