ruraLAB employability competences self-assessment

Welcome to your rural employability competences self-assessment

You are going to find in total 24 short scenarios that should be answered honestly to find out your profile of competences related with rural employability, are you ready?

NOTE: You can choose your language at the top right of this questionnaire. Please note that the translation is automatically generated and that there may be some minor inconsistencies with the original English version. We apologise for any inconvenience 🙂

1. Your name (optional)

2. Your country

3. Your gender (optional)

4. Your e-mail (optional)

1.- You meet some friends and they turn up with an exchange friend from Poland... how do you react?

You don't know why someone else has to come and they don't tell you about it…

You hardly speak, how embarrassing... although you like to see new faces…

Your English is not good, but you try to communicate, you like to meet new people.

You love to get to know other cultures and other realities, so you quickly integrate and start asking questions.

2.- Imagine you have the opportunity to do an internship in another EU country... how do you react?

You are scared of the idea, you'd rather try to find a job close to your area…

You don't feel entirely comfortable in environments or countries that you don't know, although it might be a good experience…

You feel a bit dizzy, but you accept and start preparing yourself!

You love the idea! Life is more fun and complete with this kind of experience, besides, you will meet new people!

3.- In a training you are asked to do a SWOT analysis (an assessment of your strengths, threats, opportunities and weaknesses), how do you feel?

Totally lost, you are terrible at doing these things.

It's hard to get started, but with the help of some colleagues, you get ideas.

It's difficult to have total self-awareness, but you start to complete the template and finish the task satisfactorily.

You are very clear about your strengths and weaknesses, so you don't find it difficult to complete the activity at all.

4.- In a job interview, you are asked why you should be chosen... what would you answer?

That it's not up to you to decide and that your CV contains all the information...

That you can bring a lot of good things to the table, although I'm sure there are many other candidates who could also do well in the job.

That you are willing to learn new things and that you always make an effort…

That you are undoubtedly the ideal candidate, you know that you can work well in this position and you want it to be yours!

5.- You live in a small village in rural area and you are aware that for the elder people it is very difficult to go shopping … What would you do?

You are concerned but your are not able to do anything about it

You talk to shop owners about any possibilities for supporting elder people in the village

You suggest the shop owners to collect orders and perform delivery services for elder people in the village

You will organize a network of young people in the village for offering support and various services to the elders using an online platform

6.- You live in a small village in rural area where the elder people are not able to use technologies but are motivated because they want to communicate with their grandchildren living abroad ….. What would you do?

You will stay passive because you are not able to teach technologies to elder people

You will talk to the mayor, explainig the established problem and asking for possible solution

You will organize sessions with elder people in order to show them how to use their phones for communication

You will create a network of volunteers who would organize sessions with elder people in order to show them how to use their phones for communication

7.- Imagine that you're playing Monopoly and the other player gets distracted for a moment?

You take advantage and steal some banknotes from the bank, she/he won't notice...

You think about cheating, but you're more determined to play fair…

For a moment, you think about advancing your chip a little, but you've never cheated before and this won't be the first time…

You would never cheat! Transparency and fair play are part of your DNA.

8.- Imagine you are strolling through the city and you accompany a friend to a clothes shop…

You take the opportunity to buy some cheap clothes, you don't need them, but at those prices…

You consider buying some clothes, but you decide to buy just one item because you don't need anything…

You are aware of the conditions in which some of these clothes are produced and you try to buy clothes with sustainability labels.

You only buy clothes when you need them, and always paying attention to the country where they were produced and whether the product is environmentally responsible.

9.- Imagine that you are not happy with you current educational background and you want to start a new career path in the IT sector….. What would you do?

You would often think about your dream job but the change seems impossible

You will collect information about the necessary requirements for a job in the IT sector but you will not undertake any actions

You will start taking a course but if it becomes too difficult, you will quit

You would take the necessary courses and apply for a job in the IT sector

10.- Since you were young, you dreamed about your future...

Dreaming is one thing, reality another...

You eventually start inquiring about how to make your dreams come true with your friends and parents

You inquire about your possibilities in the field you dream with your teachers and you look for opportunities on internet

You contact a career counsellor who is able to properly advise you

11.- Imagine that suddenly the course you are attending in presence needs to be delivered online due to unforeseen reasons

You withdraw from the course because you are not able to use digital tools

You go on attending the course because you paid for it, even though you are not able to use digital tools properly

You go on attending the course. However, you know that you won't be able to properly use all the required digital tools. Therefore, you ask your friends for some help.

You would love to go on attending the course. Therefore, after asking your friends for some help, you start taking an ICT course to improve your digital skills.

12.- It is your first day at work and your supervisor informs you that you will have use a specific digital tool that you do not know.

You are not able to use such a tool and you think you will be fired soon.

You are aware of your digital weakness but you say nothing to your supervisor and you will pretend you know how to use the tool.

You know this will be a challenge and you understand your digital weakness. Therefore, you will look for some free resources, available online, that will give you an instant help for your work.

You tell your supervisor that you are not proficient with the required tool, but you start taking a course to learn how to use it.

13.- You see a colleague struggling. What will you do?

Nothing, it is not your business

You ask if everything is okay but keep a bit of distance

You ask if everything is okay and discuss a bit about the issues raised.

You ask if everything is okay, discuss and propose solutions to the issues raised and check in the following days for updates.

14.- At home, you see that your parents are incredibly busy. They have a hard time doing groceries, cooking and cleaning within the 'normal' time. What do you do?

You do nothing. They are your parents and should take care of you.

If they are lucky, you will support them by doing the dishes.

You let your parents know that you notice they are busy, however, you are busy yourself so you can't be of any help.

You talk to your parents that you notice they are so busy. You say you can imagine that it is a stressful time and ask them what you can do to help, although you are busy too.

15.- Imagine you are working at a marketing office and you have you're own desk for already 5 years. One day, the management decides to create flexdesks and your colleague now is seated at your former desk. What do you do?

You start yelling your colleague need to find another desk, because this is yours!

You find another desk and try to hang in there for the rest of the day, but aren't able to concentrate. You go to talk to your colleague if he wants to swop places.

You show no sign of your discomfort and start working on a different desk. You feel disoriented, but try to get used to it

No problem at all! You'll go to a different desk and have no problem switching all the time.

16.- Imagine you are in charge of a school project. Together with 8 fellow students, you need to organize a party at school. In the past few weeks, you took the lead and had some crazy ideas about the organization of this party! It looks like everyone agrees and follows you, however, one day a new student joins the group and has even more amazing ideas about some activities. You look around and see that the other members of the group tend to go with the new student. What do you do?

Hell no! The new student won't be able to take the lead. You led the group for weeks already!

You listen to his ideas, but since you see no future in these, you start to come up with all kinds of disadvantages. Hopefully the other team members will turn to you and follow your ideas which they did in the first place.

You invite him to have a chat to see if his ideas would fit yours. Perhaps you can convince him to go with your ideas, since he is the new student and don't know the obstacles you already been through.

Although the new student's ideas aren't completely your type of activities, you see the importance of involving him in the organization of the party. You invite him to have a small chat to see if you can collaborate on certain ideas. Of course, you involve the other team members as well, so you can create a joint (revised) vision and activity plan. The more great ideas, the better the party will be!

17.- Tell us about a big decision you've made recently in a task you had as an employee and how you made it...

You don't remember to make a big decision. You usually ask your manager.

You never clarify my decision, you just make a guess and you follow your instinct.

You try to clarify your decision making a guess that seems logic and then you ask about and discuss it with all your colleagues

When you want to decide between specific, short-term options you face, you clarify your decision, you write out your most important priorities, you generate options, you rank your options, you list your key uncertainties, you go and investigate, you make a report with all the above for your manager, you discuss the above with a few experienced colleagues you trust, you make your final assessment, you make your best guess, and then you prepare to adapt.

18.- You are asked to inspire members of your experienced team tasked with giving a presentation to prospective clients just in an hour. What do you do to ensure your co-workers are excited about the task at hand?

Instead of empowering team members to work independently, you have an agenda and you aim at coercing your team members to carry it out.

You're not necessarily one to embrace going above and beyond what is expected. You dangle a carrot in front of each workhorse. If the employee does something positive, they are rewarded. If they don’t meet the exact expectation, they may be punished.

Just like a political democracy, where people with diverse opinions work together to come up with a consensus for decisions, you get everyone involved. The whole team is a part of creating a vision and the ideal way to get there. You embrace group meetings and surveys. You value transparency in decision-making. You take your time and you let your team do the same. You want your team to feel as involved in work processes as you are. They are aware that they’re part of a larger team. They learn the value of collaboration and know they play a role in the evolution of their work environment. You foster discussion, but you also are able to step in when needed and make a decision that’s guided by overall input.

Your task must be effectively and fast executed by your experienced colleagues and you. You strive to create strong emotional bonds on the team so that those working on it feel a sense of belonging. You make it a priority to make teammates satisfied with you as a manager and with their team. You focus on people first, then work. A competent team like yours knows the job they need to do. Little direction is needed from the leader. The team will benefit more from space and independence to complete tasks than micromanaging. But you look for opportunities to put other leadership styles into practice when they’re appropriate. Shifting your leadership style based on the situation or team member you're dealing with doesn’t make you inconsistent. It can make me more successful, because you can connect more effectively and guide your team toward better results.

19.- Imagine seeing someone who has very different physical characteristics from yours and expresses opinions diametrically opposed to yours. What do you think?

To stay as far away as possible from that person

To feel a feeling of rejection initially, then to try to understand

Of trying to understand and establish a dialogue

To try to understand his reasons, to establish a dialogue by creatively trying to find common paths to travel together

20.- You are standing in front of a group of people who are having a heated discussion about a problem concerning the apartment building where they live. If you could intervene what would you propose to do?

You still stay away from the discussion

You approach to listen to the discussion and take the side of those who are prevailing

You try to listen to the arguments of everyone in the discussion and then mediate between the positions

You try to listen to everyone's reasons for participating in the discussion, propose to try to explore the issues on the table for discussion, and then find a positive mediation for everyone

21.- The software you are using to manage your client portfolio does not generate the reports you need

Ask a colleague to generate the report for you

Look in the manual for instructions on how to generate the report

Ask a colleague to explain how to do it and support you in the first steps

You watch your colleague (or a tutorial on the Internet) as the action is performed, then try it out for yourself, trying to understand what the basic operation of the software is.

22.- It’s your first day on the job, and you’re sitting in the agricultural office's meeting room. One of your new colleagues comes in and hands you a checklist and tells you that this is what everyone reads before they start suggesting pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers whenever there is a problem in the cultivation of a farmer client. He asks you to finish it today because one of the others called in sick for the week, so they need you to join the team tomorrow. He then leaves the room, and you’re alone with the checklist. What do you do?

You don't believe you can make it, you don't even read the list

You read the list trying to remember what to do in every case presented there.

You go to see some experienced colleagues to discuss your problem so they help you by giving you some advice and some help and courage based to their experience

You go to see your manager to present him your problem so he/she helps you by giving you some advice and help. You also ask from him/her a scenario based training through animated videos so you can gain experience the faster time allows it in a safe and controlled manner.

23.- A new project has been assigned to you and a group of people (classmates, colleagues). What is the procedure to be followed?

Each person starts working on their own and at the end they merge what has been done.

Short discussion about who does what based on each one's preferences, then each person works on their own and at the end, they merge what has been done.

Discussion on who does what based on each one's preferences and expertise, each person works on their own, and at the end, they merge what has been done. Feedback is provided when needed.

Discussion on who does what based on each one's preferences and expertise, each person works on their own, and in the meantime, short meetings in regards to updates, feedback, and questions are organised. At the end, they merge what has been done.

24.- During this project, conflicts have been arised between the group members. What do you do?

Nothing, they can resolve it on their own. After all, you can continue working on your part without distractions.

You may ask what the issue is but then, let them resolve it on their own.

You will ask what the issue is and may listen to both sides just to know what is going on.

You will ask what the issue is, listen to both sides and suggest possible solutions in order for our project to continue being developed.

Time is Up!

Time's up

Competences self-assessment

ruraLAB employability competences self-assessment

NOTE: You can choose your language at the top right of this questionnaire. Please note that the translation is automatically generated and that there may be some minor inconsistencies with the original English version. We apologise for any inconvenience 🙂

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