Click to reveal menus
Print Order FormTestimonials
Kathy Maloney, Career Services Consultant
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachussetts
At Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), SkillScan has proven to be an extremely valuable and flexible tool in both our corporate initiatives and community service missions.
The SkillScan Advance Pack has been an instrumental tool in the corporate rollout of Career Services at BCBSMA. The initiative grew directly out of our associates asking for enhanced resources and tools to manage their careers, and our foundational workshops incorporate the Advanced Pack card sort as a core activity. To date, over 850 associates and leaders have experienced the tool through the workshops, and it is often mentioned in program evaluations as the highlight learning experience of the sessions.
Recently, we've enhanced our corporate intranet with a Career Site, and we have piloted the SkillScan Advance Pack online version; so far, SkillScan has gotten hundreds of hits.
On another note, SkillScan has proved useful to our company's dedication to its community partnership mission. We've recently used the Advance Pack card sort to help the United Way of Massachusetts Bay identify diverse skill sets amongst Account Executives that can be applied to best use in their fall campaign. Another upcoming application is to use the SkillScan Professional Pack for High School Juniors participating in a scholarship program as part of the Junior Achievement of Eastern Massachusetts.
Lesah Beckhusen has been extremely helpful and supportive of our efforts to expand the application of SkillScan in our Career Services programs and community service initiatives.
Devin Ryder, Senior Consultant for Career Development
Harvard University Center for Workplace Development
We've been using the SkillScan in our workshops for more than a decade to help employees find an easy, fun, and efficient way to identify their skills. The new Advance Pack and (revised Personal Skill Profile) not only looks good but pushes people to think about their skills more deeply. The plentiful supporting materials--including available optional training, a highly user-friendly manual, and a well-done Power Point presentation--are extremely helpful. Users also love the idea that they can go online to work more with the materials at the website, and that they can give the website address to friends and family members who may also need to identify skills but who can't get to a workshop. We particularly like the way this instruments organizes one's thinking about one's major skill areas. Users can then begin to get specific by recalling examples of actual work experiences that support the results of the Scan. We also value the way the SkillScan framework builds the user's skill vocabulary, which can then be used to create more truthful and dynamic resumes and more convincing interviews.
Gina Snyder, Career Counselor
Saint Mary's College of California—Moraga, CA
SkillScan is one of the most useful assessments that we use. It helps build self-esteem by acknowledging that students already have many skills. We use it throughout their career decision making years from choosing a major to getting internships to building a resume and cover letter and in preparing for interviews. I also use SkillScan in teaching high school counselors and college admissions advisors at UC Berkeley Extension. I show them a variety of ways they can use the assessment to help students identify their strengths for building self-knowledge and in targeting appropriate college majors and career options. I love the hands-on, tactile nature of the cards.
Terri Taylor, Career Tayloring
Career Counseling and Consulting Services—Pleasanton, CA
SkillScan has been one of my favorite career assessment instruments for 25 years; it is a timeless tool which clients frequently refer to over time as they focus on marketing their transferable skills throughout their careers. As a career management professional, I have used SkillScan successfully in multiple venues, including colleges and universities, outplacement venues, trainings, and my private career counseling practice to assist a variety of clients and business professionals. The newest version brings back the best of the original, and adds new features which bring a clearer focus to the results - key transferable skills which often lead to significant career insights - for users.
I have found SkillScan to be extremely effective in assisting individuals and groups in identifying, clarifying, and prioritizing work skills and interests. Participants very much enjoy the combination of initial tactile intuitive choices and prioritization followed by the presentation of a focused Skill Profile and Skill Wheel containing transferable skills in helpful cluster patterns. SkillScan is particularly effective because of its User's Manual rich with practical, useful resources. The newly revised manual on CD very conveniently allows for easy downloading of formatted exercise handouts and materials, in addition to original templates.
Graduate Students and the Haas School of Business
UC Berkeley—Berkeley, CA
I definitely liked it (Advance Pack). But then again I really like grouping and categorizing. I personally found that it helped me in the following ways:
- Understand specifically where my strengths lie (in language I can use throughout the recruiting process)
- See how those individual skills were related (i.e., many analytical)
- Understand what I like to do and what I don't like to do (really helpful as look at job descriptions)
Thanks again for all your help - it really has helped me a lot!
MBA Student Feedback from Career Decision Making Workshop at Haas School of Business
UC Berkeley—Berkeley, CA
- Saw a lot of valuable information about myself. The cards worked really well.
- Excellent tool to help discover myself.
- Loved the "tarot" (Advance Pack) cards.