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Identify the relevant labour market skills. Select the sector or job for which you want to find these skills. You can also search for general work-life skills. Include both soft and hard skills. Sources of information include the media, the internet, and job postings. Once you have identified them, select the 8–12 most important skills. If you are focusing on general labour market skills, select up to 15 skills.

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Create a 2×2 grid for the Importance–Difficulty Matrix.

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• Create a large square and divide it into four equal sections by drawing one vertical line and one horizontal line that cross in the middle.

• Label the axes.

      - Label the vertical axis: Importance (bottom = low, top = high)

      - Label the horizontal axis: Difficulty (left = low, right = high)

• Name the four quadrants. This makes the interpretation easier.

      - Top left: High Importance – Low Difficulty

      - Top right: High Importance – High Difficulty

      - Bottom left: Low Importance – Low Difficulty

      - Bottom right: Low Importance – High Difficulty

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Write the names of the selected skills on sticky notes and place them in the quadrant of the grid that matches their importance and difficulty rating. Evaluate the importance of each skill based on your research. The more important the skill, the higher it should be placed. Then, based on how difficult you find each skill, move them horizontally across the grid, placing low-difficulty skills on the left and high-difficulty skills on the right.

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Review your map. Look at how the skills are distributed to identify your priorities, challenges, and areas for developing your skills, based on the labour market skills that have been identified.

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