What is this tool and what is its purpose and benefit?

This tool benchmarks the soft and hard skills, knowledge, character traits and experience required for a certain job, as well as those of professionals in such positions. Combining these results with an individual’s own skills, knowledge, character traits and experience reveals areas for development. Besides helping to understand what skills and expertise are needed for the position, it also supports preparation for the application process.

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Choose a career path, profession or job that interests you.

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Create a table on a sheet of paper, a whiteboard, or in a computer file, such as a Word or Excel document. Add the name of your chosen profession to the top of the table. Add six columns and six rows to your table.

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Add the following headings to the top row, each in its own column: ‘Soft skills’, ‘Hard skills’, ‘Knowledge’, ‘Character traits’ and ‘Experience’. In the left-hand column, write the following on different rows:

(Row 2) Benchmarked professionals

(Row 3) Media research (benchmarking)

(Row 4). The main findings from the media research and benchmarking.

(Row 5) My information.

(Row 6) Comparison of own information with the media research and benchmarks.

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Identify three successful professionals in this field and use them as benchmarks. Select professionals from a variety of backgrounds to gain a broader perspective.

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Add their soft (transversal) and hard (technical) skills, knowledge, character traits and experience of the three benchmarked professionals to row two, ‘Benchmarked professionals’. You can either write this information directly in your table or use sticky notes, which can be attached to the table to make rearranging and comparison easier.

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Search media sources and job advertisements to identify the soft and hard skills, knowledge, character traits, and experience that are considered valuable for this role. Add this information to each column in row three.

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Combine the results of the media research with the benchmarking results, and then summarise your findings in row four. For example, note down the soft skills that emerge from the benchmarked cases and the media research.

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In row five, add your soft and hard skills, knowledge, character traits and experience.

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Finally,  compare the combined results from the media research and the benchmarked cases with your own findings. Which skills, knowledge and character traits do you already have, and at what level? What are you lacking, and how could you improve? Do you have any other skills or experience that could be useful for this job? What else can you find? Write down your findings. You will need them later. They will help you to plan your career path.

Tips and hints for using this tool