Expanding our capabilities involves a learning process where we install new knowledge which in turn controls a set of actions. For example, someone who is interested in moving into computer programming will need to study and learn one or more programming languages and this will allow them to act as a software design engineer.

I spent over 24 years as an independent Executive Recruiter. I interviewed thousands of candidates and there was always one quality that stood out above all the rest: CONFIDENCE.

Why did one candidate have confidence and another did not? I think I know the answer. It has to do with the quality of preparation that takes place before the interview. Not just the rehearsing of scripts and answers to the tough questions, but the preparation involved in determining your overall Capabilities expressed as your Unique Market Value.

Your Unique Market Value is what you are selling to the marketplace.

It’s what sets you apart from the others. Your UMV is what you get when you add up all your talents, skills, traits, education and strengths.

There is nothing more powerful than the confidence that comes from knowing your true value and communicating it effec­tively to a hiring manager, a potential client, a customer, or the market you want to sell your services to.

You have to ask your­self the following questions:

• What are my Talents? These are the abilities that you are born with. The abilities that seem to come easy to you.

• What are my Skills? These are the abilities you studied hard to obtain and you have degrees and certificates to prove it. Also, of course, those abilities you developed while working on the job. When you are born, you have very few skills. You spend your life in learning skills; job skills, skills of getting along with others, and skills to just enjoy life more, like skiing, tennis, gardening, etc.

• What are my Traits? It’s important to have a good set of skills but it’s also important to list your personal Traits. Traits determine how you will use your skills.

  • Your Traits determine the Style of how you work. Are you an energetic, focused, bulldog of a worker? Well then, energy, focus and tenacity are a few of your traits. You can see clearly how important these are to any line of work you want to enter.

  • Who wants to work with a highly skilled person who is lazy, dishonest and never shows up on time? That’s why you must discover all your posi­tive traits.

• What are my greatest work accomplish­ments? You don’t just go and sit at work all day. You accomplish things. Have you received special recognition or awards? You might also want to ask yourself, “What tal­ents, skills and traits did I need to possess in order to have achieved each of these accom­plishments?”

• What is my formal education? What have you learned in schools, training seminars, etc.?

Answering these questions may take longer than you expect, but I’m sure you can see the value in them.

When you explore and begin to understand your talents, skills, traits, strengths, and accom­plishments, you begin to understand the power of your Unique Market Value.

No one has the same UMV as you. No one was born with the same talents, developed the same skills and sharpened them with the same traits as you.

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