- The programme, which was introduced in the degree in Nursing, has been extended to other degree studies and advanced vocational training cycles (CFGS)
- The training responds to new labour market requirements for people with certain skills, in addition to the specific technical skills of a profession
A profession’s specific technical skills and a curriculum vitae are no longer enough to get a job. Those who work in recruitment state that, increasingly, companies want the people that join them to have other skills, known as transversal or soft skills. These are skills that, beyond the required technical knowledge, guarantee the suitability of a candidate for a job. Despite the growing importance of these skills in the labour market, the academic syllabus means that they are still worked on insufficiently, with sporadic, cross-cutting sessions in some subjects. UManresa sought to resolve this situation with the launch of a pioneering programme in the university system, in which students work on their own talent map. The aim of the programme is for students to get to know themselves better and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Based on this self-knowledge, they can improve their skills to become better professionals, which differentiates them from those who have the same training and the same technical capabilities associated with a given profession.
The aim of the programme is for students to get to know themselves better, and improve their skills to become better professionals, which differentiates them from people who have the same training and the same technical capabilities
The programme was launched three years ago in the degree in Nursing of the Faculty of Health Sciences at Manresa, and this year 2022-2023 it was incorporated into the degree in Business Administration and Management of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Manresa and the advanced vocational training cycles (CFGS) of International Trade and Early Childhood Education at the Professional Campus.
The promoter of the programme is the collaborating lecturer Carlos Bella. With extensive experience as a talent management professional, Bella explains that “drawing up a talent map is like constructing a building, with columns to support it and a structure made up of solid elements.” Helping to build this structure is the task that is carried out within the framework of this programme. Bella has designed material in the form of a facilitation kit called “Talento y punto”, which is the starting point for working on the identification of each person’s skills.
Starting from self-perception
Each student must start by creating a map based on their own self-perception, which is then checked against standardized assessments. The result of the two assessments marks the start of a task that is carried out during the academic year to work on each person’s identified shortfalls in terms of all the skills that form part of the talent map. The work is done through simulations and tutorials.
According to Bella, it is about "every student drawing up their talent map, knowing what their starting point is to develop their weakest skills and to equip themselves with communication tools that allow them to support their talent and enhance it.”
5 Ss that are the basis of the talent map
Self-knowledge, self-concept, self-esteem, self-confidence and positive self-evaluation are the 5 Ss that form the basis of a person’s talent map. Knowing them and working with them is essential for anyone who wants to go beyond the basic and technical skills they must have as a professional. The talent map is complemented by everything that drives or discourages motivation, with emotional skills, skills to relate to people and the elements that make us different.
Self-awareness is the ability to know ourselves and discover our strengths, our own characteristics and areas for improvement. Self-concept is the image we create of ourselves and the set of ideas and beliefs that define us. In the talent map, self-esteem is the assessment we make of ourselves according to our thoughts, feelings and actions. At the base of the map is also self-confidence, the ability to accurately define our line of action, everything we can face with guarantees of success in our daily challenges. The fifth of the Ss is positive self-evaluation, an assessment that compares the real self and the ideal self, that is, the value we place on training, experience and skills.
Three years of use in Nursing
This is the third year that Nursing degree students have used this methodology, so future nurses have been working for a long time, through seminars, on all the skills they should have beyond technical knowledge. These skills constitute the “ideal map of nursing”, which is being designed and worked on by a group of experts, teachers and working professionals. This work has meant that Nursing studies are undergoing a process of reflection and “review of the competencies covered by the syllabus to represent them graphically”, explained the director of studies, Carme Valiente.
“This work has meant that Nursing studies are undergoing a process of reflection and review of the competencies covered by the syllabus”
At the end of their studies, nursing students will be able to see how they have evolved and improved all their skills to be a good professional beyond their technical competencies and specific knowledge of the profession. According to Valiente, this is a programme that “helps students become aware of the importance of attitudes and of how managing emotions and self-awareness are key to providing quality nursing care.”
Emma Rodríguez is finishing her degree in Nursing at UManresa this year. She said that working on the talent map “helped me a lot to find out my strengths and weaknesses. To work in Nursing it is essential to do this type of training. I lacked confidence about joining the labour market but thanks to these sessions I have been able to work on this fear. I think that I am now better prepared emotionally to offer better health care."
Work on talent in all studies
What began as a pilot project in the degree in Nursing, where it has been converted into a subject, will be implemented from this academic year in other studies in the areas of Education and Business. This year, it has been included in Business Administration and Management studies, within the Business Initiative subject, and the advanced vocational training cycle of International Trade and Early Childhood Education at the Professional Campus. In these cases it works differently. For example, in the advanced vocational training cycle of Early Childhood Education, training sessions are held through individual interviews so that first year students can draw up the talent map. To this interview are added four theoretical sessions to work on the 5 Ss and at the end of the studies a second interview is held to assess how students have evolved. In the advanced vocational training cycle of International Trade, work is based on an individual test on basic competencies and then an individualized plan is drawn up for each student to work on and exploit their skills in a positive way. In addition, students are supported and advised to draw up a personalized strategy with a view to possible job interviews.
The coordinators of these two training cycles, Laura Torreguitart and Marc Selgas, rate the work that is being carried out in this area very positively. Torreguitart considers that “when students become education professionals and have been able to work on all these aspects, getting to know themselves better, with their strengths and weaknesses, this has a direct impact on their professional future, as it helps them to find a good job and know how to work better with other people.” She added, “everything that involves providing individual support to students adds to their emotional development. The map increases the rigour of individual tutoring, as it allows students to draw up objectives for improvement and work on them during the two years of the cycle.” According to Marc Selgas, “it provides an update on what companies demand and helps students prepare to sell themselves as good professionals. It has worked so well in the advanced vocational training cycle of International Trade that next year we will incorporate it into the programme for the Administration and Finance training cycle.”
“Everything that involves providing individual support to students adds to their emotional development. The map increases the rigour of individual tutoring, as it allows students to draw up objectives for improvement and work on them”
Both students and teachers highly valued the initiative. Chaima Diyani and Isatou Touray, advanced vocational training students of Administration and Finance, describe the experience as “spectacular” and “a necessary tool”. According to Diyani “it helped us get to know each other better. It gives you confidence in yourself.” For Touray, “it will give me basic knowledge to develop and identify skills, aptitudes and talent, and to understand how these relate to my future career options. It also helps me to identify my strengths and, in the case of weaknesses, to be able to improve them.”
Carlos Bella’s goal is for all the work being developed at UManresa to be extended to other studies and for it to be a cross-cutting element in all the University’s courses. In addition, he proposed that the work being done could be turned into research material that demonstrates the efficiency of a programme like this, which contributes to the comprehensive development of the student body.
Differentiating element
“Training opens the doors to the job market, but it’s the skills that will make you an efficient professional,” says Carlos Bella. Recruiters are already working from talent maps, so students who have worked on their self-awareness and competencies will be much better prepared to succeed in a recruitment process.
Beyond the impact it can have on job selection processes, working on the talent map can serve as a tool to prevent burnout, since self-knowledge helps in the management of emotions in the world of work and makes it easier for people to fit into work teams. According to Bella, people who have done this work are prepared to make strategic use of emotions, which is what is known as emotional intelligence.
The talent map in the job search
This work in studies is not the only initiative developed by UManresa in the field of talent development. Together with the work carried out by the Centre for Innovation in Simulation, it has enabled the launch with Manresa City Council of the Skills School, an innovative proposal aimed at entrepreneurs and people looking for work. The Skills School will allow the development of a pioneering programme to use simulation methodology to benefit these people. The aim is that those who participate know how to identify skills they have and those they lack, and work to develop them. The project, which is carried out in collaboration with Barcelona Provincial Council and will benefit users of the Bages local employment services, will later be applied to other employment services in the territory.