Skills vs Talent – What’s the difference, and how can we help?

 

Ask a successful entrepreneur how they made their money, and their answer may be that they spotted a gap in the market, and then filled it.

 

If you’re looking for a new role in the IT industry, there are certainly gaps to fill. With demand for IT Professionals on the rise, the number one concern among IT recruiters is the widening IT skills gap. However, as counter-intuitive as it may sound, skills are not everything. Employers are also looking for another invaluable commodity – and one that can be more difficult to define – talent.

 

As an IT candidate in a crowded market, identifying and building on your talents, whilst complementing them with the appropriate skills, could help you stand out from the crowd. Differentiating between your skills and your talent allows you to target your personal development activities more effectively. However, if talent is difficult to define, how can it be identified or demonstrated? Let’s start with what can be pinned down.

 

The ebb and flow of the IT industry can be a challenge for candidates. Shifting recruitment priorities result in evolving certification requirements. As a candidate, you may find yourself chasing both vendor-specific and industry-focused certifications, in an attempt to meet the potential requirements of a future role. For example, GDPR and cybersecurity are the current in-demand areas, with the desire for skilled, certificated individuals to fill such roles driving up salaries.

 

Depending on the type of roles you are targeting, generalist certificates such as ITIL and core Microsoft solutions are always helpful. However, the real value comes from tailoring the certifications you hold to fit the roles you are applying for and reflecting changes in those roles over the years.

 

For IT Programme or Project Management, employers used to love to see MSP or PRINCE, but outside large government projects, the focus can switch to Agile certifications, such as Scrum Master. For roles such as cybersecurity, there is a far wider range of options, from network defence to ethical hacking, which may require decisions to be made as to how specialised a candidate you wish to be.

 

A useful selection of relevant, current certifications also demonstrates that you are investing in your own personal development. It shows a dedication to your career, and as the certifications become more specialist, it is also indicative of a long-term commitment to the domain in which you are working.

 

The truth is, even an inch-thick wad of certificates will only get you so far, particularly if other candidates can demonstrate a similarly impressive set of certifications. The differentiator may be your talent, but how does your talent differ from your skills?

 

 

Consider juggling. Jugglers may appear regularly in the early rounds of Britain’s Got Talent, but is juggling actually a talent, or is it a skill? No one is born with the innate ability to juggle – it’s ‘innate ability’ that is often used to define ‘talent’ – but the ability to juggle can be learnt. It does, however, rely on a considerable amount of hand-eye coordination and spatial awareness, not something that comes naturally to everyone. Is it therefore a skill that builds on a talent? Maybe it is, but this highlights the importance of identifying your own talents and building upon them.

 

It has been often said that if you do something for 10,000 hours, you will become an expert in it. Surely if you are an expert, you have a talent? For those who think that this is a great excuse to spend 10,000 hours on the golf course or cricket pitch, a study of professional baseball players found that on average they had 20/13 vision, a visual acuity which far exceeds that of the wider population. Thus a portion of their baseball ability comes from the genetics behind their eyesight, rather than their hours in the batting cages.

 

20/13 vision is not going to help you see around a project blocker, or allow you to stare deeper into your code, but the point is that these baseball players found something which sets them apart from most people – in this case, being able to see a small, fast moving ball heading towards them. To be a successful candidate, you also have to find something that sets you apart from the others, because that is exactly what an employer will be looking for.

 

So, how do you identify your talents, and what can do you if your talents seem to lie outside of the domain in which you want to work?

 

Talents often align more closely with what are often described as ‘soft skills’. Of those soft skills, it is the ability to communicate effectively that can have the greatest impact on the way you are perceived. Some people exude confidence, are happy to stand up in front of a room full of strangers and are perfectly comfortable in one-on-one situations with powerful people. Charisma, oratory and supreme self-confidence are talents, but so is the ability to listen, reflect and respond effectively – the trick is finding the balance.

 

Whether you are a great talker or a great listener, communication is where skills and talents can complement each other. Practising these communication skills – either through training or by deliberately putting yourself in situations outside of your comfort zone – can fill gaps in your ‘talent’ and boost your confidence.

 

The erroneously named ‘people skills’, an ability linked to effective team working and successful leadership, is another area where some may find their talents lie. Again, however, these are soft skills that can be honed over time with the right guidance, to ultimately produce a more balanced, rounded candidate.

 

Whether you have a talent for stepping back and viewing the big picture, or drilling down and analysing the minutiae, these talents can be melded with the skills and certifications you have acquired to present a compelling offering to any future employer.

 

With talent being an important commodity, it is no surprise that mechanisms have been created to measure it. Psychometric testing, such as Criterion’s Psycruit tool, uses personality questionnaires and situational judgement tests to assess talent as well as skills. The results of these tests can be used by employers and recruiters for job matching and can replace costly assessment centres. The results may also unearth talents and aptitudes that candidates did not know they have, opening up new career possibilities.

 

As a candidate looking to enhance your CV, the temptation may be to focus on certifications, as training can be picked off the shelf and certifications are both tangible and demonstrable. However, if you want to be the complete package, take more time to look inward and identify the talents you have – and be honest with yourself about those you don’t.

 

Although it can be hard, work on your soft skills to boost your confidence and make up any shortcomings you feel you have. Where you do identify talents, learn how to articulate them, find ways of demonstrating them to a potential employer and, most importantly, explore how to align your talents with the vision, mindset and culture of the business you are looking to join.