Have you ever heard someone say they were going to “take inventory” of themselves before accepting a challenge? That means becoming more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and preparing accordingly so the challenge can be met.

SkillsUSA’s new Personal Leadership Inventory is a great (and free) resource to help students evaluate their leadership skills before hitting the job market.

As a class, work through each of the five self-assessments at: www.skillsusa.org/educators/pli.shtml. These assessments will help students identify strengths and weaknesses in working with teams, leading others, being a good employee, being a good citizen and developing into an effective individual. Advisors will also find detailed lesson plans on the site.

In today’s economy, it’s more important than ever to set yourself apart from the competition. Developing leadership and employability skills is one way to do it.

Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.
— John F. Kennedy