Jump to content
HomeChoices along the way and jobsWhat can I use my education for?

What competencies do I have?

What can I do?

What competencies do I have?

What competencies have you acquired throughout your education? And through life? It is important to be able to put these things into words, e.g. when you are looking for a job or project oriented course (internship). But how do you find out and explain it to a company? And how is problem-based learning a competency?

What can I do?

What competencies do I have?

What competencies have you acquired throughout your education? And through life? It is important to be able to put these things into words, e.g. when you are looking for a job or project oriented course (internship). But how do you find out and explain it to a company? And how is problem-based learning a competency?

What are competencies?

A competency is your use of your learning. You get them from your experiences - both in and outside school. Your competencies are a combination of your knowledge, skills (e.g. analytical), professional insight, and the tools you have learned to use within a specific area.

It is a term for a skill that you can use in a specific context.

The word you choose to describe your competency is situational. A competency can be called different words, depending on the recipient and the context.

3 types of competencies

General academic competencies

Your general academic competencies can e.g. be:

- Project planning
- Problem analysis
- Organisation and planning of studies
- Data collection and processing

These are things that are not specific for your line of study, but still important competencies to possess.

Professional competencies

Your professional specialist competencies relate directly to your line of study and are subject specific.

”Subject specific” is difficult to define because competencies can be professional when they are used in a professional context. However, maybe you are really skilled at coding, even though it is "just" spare time activity for you. It is still a professional skill if it can be used in a professional setting.

Personal competencies

Your personal skills demonstrate something about:

- How you act as a colleague
- How you prefer to work
- What motivates you
- Who you are

There is a lot of different types of competencies. We divide them into the 3 above.

Depending on where you apply them, they can, e.g., change from being personal to being professional competencies. E.g., "creativity" can be a personal competency, but it becomes a professional competency when you put it in a professional context.

The important thing is that you yourself are clear about what you mean by the competencies you highlight and how you can use them. Therefore, attach your competencies to examples, e.g. where you have used them.

 

3 concrete ideas

Find your own competencies

Here's one more thing you can do!

Problem based learning is a competency

You may also be interested in...