Mad Skillz Yo

I had a good conversation with a couple of ad agency big shots last week. One of the things we discussed was their challenges in finding qualified, local people for a couple of quite technical jobs they're filling. They were quite impressed with the resume of one individual in particular, though, who provided a simple three column chart showing: 1 - his skills, 2 - how long he's been doing each, and 3 - his approximate skill level for each.

This works great for programmers, Web developers, and other roles with very clearly defined skills. "Photoshop, 8 years, advanced. Flash, 5 years, competent..."

But, we said to each other, what about those of us who can't quite quantitatively describe our capabilities? A copywriter can't really say "Heartfelt drama, 7 years, excellent. Ironic quips, 4 years, proficient..."

During the hiring/job-hunting process, this is a challenge on both sides. Employers can't clearly and succinctly define what they need, and the candidates can't simply provide a measurable summary of what they can do. My wife recently showed me a great example of this - a posting for a "Strategy Manager" with virtually no details to say what the heck this even means, let alone how someone could possibly know if they're qualified.

Even beyond employment situations, this really brings home the reliance everyone with "soft" skills must place on their personality (or personal brand, I suppose).

Professionally, who am I?