Read the passage below and answer questions.

Some years ago when executives and managers talked about the type of employees they wanted to contract for their businesses they spoke of skills and qualifications. These wordsare still used but have been overshadowed by the term competencies. Competencies are a concept taken on board by Human Resource departments to measure a person’s appropriateness fora particularjob.

In simple terms a competencyis a tool that an individual can use in order to demonstrate a high standard of performance. Competencies are characteristics that we use to achieve success. These characteristics or traits can include things like knowledge, aspects of leadership, self-esteem, skills or relationship building. There are a lot of competencies but they are usually divided into groups. Most organizations recognize two main groups and they have numerous sub groups which competencies can be further divided into.

Competencies can be divided into twodistinct types: technical competencies (sometimes referred to as functional) and personal competencies. As the name suggests. technical competencies are those whichare related to the skills and knowledge that are essential in order for a person to do a particular job appropriately. An example of a technical competency for a secretary might be: “Word processing: able to word process a text at a
rate of 80 words per minute with no mistakes.” Personal competencies are not linked to any particular function. They include characteristics that we use together with our technical competencies in order to do our work well. An example of a personal competency is: “interpersonal sensitivity: Demonstrates respect for the opinions ofothers, even when not in agreement.”

Competencies are probably here to stay so it is worth thinking about your own competencies and trying to categories them: first into the two sub-categories mentioned above and then into a more detailed list.