Learn To Use Competencies Cornerstones For Job Search In Norway

by Dejan Mladenovic | Last Updated: April 30, 2021

Competencies cornerstones is a tool you can use to list your competencies and combine them with additional information that will give you an overview of your total competencies.

Competencies cornerstones give you the base to help you define which jobs you can search for. In addition, which working experience, motivation, and contributions you can highlight in the Cover Letter, targeted Resume (CV), Elevator Pitch, and Self-Presentation.

This is a personal and professional mapping that will help you know yourself much better in a job-related structured way.

It is very important to remember that the Competencies Cornerstone article is very important for Job Vacancy Analysis that follows this step in the job application process. So pay attention to both articles and use them together. Job Vacancy Analysis infographics show to you the matching between cornerstones mapping and Job Vacancy Analysis.

In this article, we will explain the structure of competencies cornerstones. Next, we further discuss each cornerstone with directions on how and where they are used further in the job application process. If you do this part the right way and together with Job Vacancy Analysis then writing Cover Letter, Resume and other documents will be a lot easier and more to the point for the actual job application.

What is the difference between competences and competencies?

The English language is very rich but tricky at the same time especially for us, not English native speakers. I have done some research and notice there is a difference between Competence and Competency. So there is a difference between plurals as well Competences vs Competencies.

So let’s clear that out first before moving on to the cornerstones.

A competence’s focus on WHAT

A competency’s focus on HOW

Competence

Referring to the capability to carry out a defined function effectively.

Competency

The description of the knowledge, skills, experience, and attributes necessary to effectively carry out a defined function.

What Do We Want To Do With Competencies Cornerstones

You want to list and write down all the items mentioned in the list below.

We have made a Word document as a template for mapping all the competencies cornerstones that you can download.

Get our FREE Competencies Cornerstones Mapping Template Word Document.

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COMPETENCIES CORNERSTONES – Structure

• Competencies
  • Formal (can be documented)
  • Real (are not documentable)
• Motivation (What drives you?)
• Values (What is important for you?)
• Personal Characteristics (Attributes)
  • Strengths
  • Social Skills

Formal and Real Competencies

Formal competencies are all the competencies you have obtained through education and can be documented with such documents as diplomas, certificates, courses, etc.

Real competencies are all your accomplishments that can give value to some job but cannot be documented such as organizational skills, cultural understanding, languages, etc.

When you list your formal and real competencies you will use them to search for Job vacancies based on the education and working experience that you have. You will use all formal competencies when you want to gather all the documents necessary for the job application as we have explained in the article Checklist – Which Documents Should You Hand In With Your Job Application In Norway.

We have already written the article Map Your Formal And Real Competencies where you can get everything you need to know about formal and real competencies.

Your tasks are to:

• read that article first,
• write down all your formal and real competencies in the Word document provided,
• come back to this article,
• and move on to the next cornerstone.

You will use listed formal and real competencies when you write the following documents or prepare for certain stages in the job application process:

• Job Vacancy Analysis
• Elevator Pitch
• Phone Call
• Cover Letter
• Resume (CV)
• Self-presentation
• Job Interview

Motivation

What drives you in work and life is very important and explained as motivation so you need to list these motivation factors. Motivation is giving the answer to the question.

What drives you?

Of course, there is no universal answer to that question and it depends from person to person.

Again like with the previous cornerstone we have already written the article Map Your Job Context Motivation where we have explained everything you want to know about the motivation for the job application process. So the exercise is the same, please read that article first to get some inspiration if you are stuck with ideas, write down your motivation factors in a provided word document, come back to this article, and move on to the next cornerstone.

Motivation as previously mentioned formal and real competencies will be usable in the same job application stages and documents such as Job vacancy analysis, elevator pitch, phone call, etc.

Values

Values give an answer to the question.

What is important for you?

Again one individual question with no unique answer. Based on your personal values you make your decisions, choose your career path, and what you want to pursue in work and life.

By now you know the drill, please read your article Map Your Values And Attitudes For Job Search In Norway get some ideas on the subject, write down your values in the Word document provided and move on to the final cornerstone.

However, values are not directly part of competencies but they are important for the choices you make.

Strengths and Social Skills

There are so many characteristics (attributes) that can become strengths or social skills. However, you do not want to pick them random, too many, too few, or even worse the wrong ones. If you struggle with ideas for strengths and social skills we have written the article Map Your Strengths And Social Skills For Job Search In Norway with a wishlist of many characteristics that can be used as strengths or social skills. In that article, we have also explained what the strengths and social skills are.

The takeaway from listing these cornerstones is to match them with the personal characteristics (attributes) required for the position in Job Vacancy. That is exactly what you will do in the Job Vacancy Analysis article that follows this one.

You can see in the infographic below how you do the matching between Competencies Cornerstones and Job Vacancy Analysis.

You will use listed strengths and social skills when writing the same documents as we have already listed for formal and real competencies or when you are preparing for certain stages in a job application process: Elevator Pitch, Cover Letter, Resume (CV), Self-presentation, Job Interview, etc.

Useful Vocabulary

Here are some useful words in Norwegian used in this text.

Next Step

Your next step is to do a Job Vacancy Analysis but remember that these two articles go hand in hand and you can go back and forth until you research and collect all the valuable data that will be helpful for writing Elevator Pitch, Cover Letter, or Resume.

Good Luck with your Job Search!

Find Job In Norway By Following These Easy 19 Steps

Don’t forget that this article is part of a text serious about finding a job in Norway. Depending on the phase you are in at the moment maybe you can find some articles useful for yourself. So please check them out.

Below you can see the infographic with an overview of all the texts in the series. If you click on the link above you will be sent to the page where all these steps are listed.

Author: Dejan Mladenovic

I moved my family of 3 to Norway in 2008 and created this website so that I can share what I’ve learned with anyone that’s thinking of moving or traveling to Norway. It’s such an awesome place, and I want you to get the most out of it!