Overview

Purpose: An interactive measure aimed at identifying people's transferable skills with particular (but by no means exclusive) reference to working.

For: 16+ years.

Length: Untimed (usually 10 to 30 minutes).

Format: Interactive card sort.

Materials: Manual, set of cards, answer sheet, profile sheet.

Transferable skills are capabilities developed in one context which may be useful in another.

Change is the defining characteristic of modern work and working, and one of the strategies frequently mentioned in dealing with career disruption and workplace change, is the identification of transferable skills. However people frequently underestimate the skills they have which may be able to be used in other activities or they are almost unaware of the applicability of skills from one type of work to another.

The CSS measures a wide range of skills across four major dimensions:

- Physical (including sensory, endurance and motor skills);
- People (including communicating, leading and helping);
- Thinking (including reasoning, organizing and creating); and
- Attitude (including effort, adaptability and dependability).

Being a card sort the CSS has the advantage of being an interactive form of assessment, where much of the emphasis is on the self-awareness - helping people to discover for themselves the skills they have which could be used in other contexts.

The CSS is very adaptable in the way in which it can be used. As well as identifying skills which the client has used in recent employment, the CSS can be used to match a clients' perceived skills with those perceived to be in a particular job that the client is considering. In this way underutilised skills and skill deficiencies can be identified.

Alternative sorting techniques may identify skills from non-work contexts that may be transferable to work, thus increasing clients' self-confidence when they doubt their skills. These data in turn may suggest a range of vocational options for further consideration.

The nature of this instrument also allows for flexibility in adapting the sort for a particular kind of client or for a specific purpose. For example the CSS can be used to have the client sort the cards according to one set of categories, and then while retaining this sort, have the client sort the cards again according to a different criteria.

Other advantages are that the CSS may be presented verbally, for use with clients of very low general ability or those with very limited literacy skills. On occasions the test administrator may wish to investigate only one of the four dimensions measured by the card sort, in which case a shortened version may be given.