Charles Lehman   on Thursday 10/01/2026 at 06:39 PM

Great infoarmation!

Robert London   on Thursday 10/01/2026 at 07:15 PM

The dimensions are really too general to help an individual with either career planning or job placement. In today's hyper-competitive job market the clients I see want concrete direction on what to do to get a job or what need to do to have an effective career plan that leads to employment. Each client is different with different circumstances strengths and weaknesses. I dimensions I look at with my clients are what is your life situation and barriers are you facing? What job interests do you have and how well prepared are you to meet the skills listed in the current job postings? These are quite specific these days and not general. How mobile are you? What kinds of training do you need to be competitive or make a pivot to another job path. Rather than a general framework a problem solving approach and framework might be more productive approach.

Michelle Johnson   on Friday 10/02/2026 at 06:30 PM

I am very glad to see human and interpersonal skills listed among the capabilities you mention. There is so much emphasis on AI taking jobs that the continuing importance of interpersonal skills often does not highlighted.

I think overall your capability framework is valuable and points to the way career professionals need to shift their thinking as the professional environment in the age of AI continues to evolve.

Jennifer Hay   on Friday 10/02/2026 at 09:48 PM

This is in response to Robert London.
Thank you for your comments. I agree that a problem-solving approach is essential, and I use one with every client. Your questions give me the opportunity to clarify some things that my brief article did not make clear. I think you'll find that our perspectives are similar and that our techniques complement each other.

In my experience, problem solving begins with problem framing: understanding the unique circumstances, needs, and capabilities of each individual. Some of this comes from conversation with the client, such as life situation, mobility, and other barriers. Problem framing also depends on fact gathering, and that is the purpose of my assessment.

The six dimensions in the article align with what employers look for today. At the next level, they are assessed across 84 capabilities. This connects with your question about how well prepared a person is to meet the skills listed in current job postings. Each capability is rated by four elements: skills, talents, interests, and knowledge. That yields 336 data points for each client, and it connects with your question about job interests.

From those ratings I build two profiles. The experience profile, based on skills and knowledge, shows a person's ability to perform in a particular job role. The energy profile, based on talents and interests, shows motivation to do a job and the rewards the person finds in doing it. Together, the profiles show strengths and weaknesses. Gaps between the two profiles help identify the training needed to be competitive or to make a pivot. Both profiles are important for job seeking and career planning, and they are the basis to work with the client using a conversational and collaborative problem solving approach.

Rob Moore   on Sunday 10/04/2026 at 09:03 PM

Seniorization of junior positions is a startling concept. Are employers actually expecting fresh-out candidates to have the capabilities of employees with several years experience?

As a recruiter, I didn’t think that way. I was just looking for the best candidates, people with resumes that show high potential. I looked for hints that a candidate could perform well in a target position and thus be worth an initial phone interview.

Evidence of a “blend of data [handling], AI, business, industry, technology, and human and interpersonal capabilities” is what influences my judgement, even if I’m not checking off that list.

Tailored resumes
Potential candidates who are genuinely interested in a position will tailor their resume to emphasize their fit, not just broadcast their standard resume.

Get professional guidance
Getting professional resume guidance is a great idea because one is “too close to it,” and can’t properly review their own work. I’ve reviewed resumes of friends, recruiters themselves, and realized they’d been too modest and have a much stronger story to tell.

Capable people can be clueless and fail to understand how a recruiter will evaluate a resume. Maybe a recruiter will only read the first few words of each line on first pass, or maybe they’ll use an AI to review a huge batch of resume submissions.

Building a strong resume takes foresight and investment
I look for evidence a potential candidate has acquired experiences like internships and participated in activities that show initiative in problem solving.

I would certainly favor candidates who have developed skills in using AI agents, not just prompting AI chat bots. Personal AI application projects or volunteer work would be good evidence. The key aspect of AI is it’s not a tool, it’s agents that might use tools in accomplishing tasks.

Inverted mentoring
I’ve been surprised to see inverse mentoring where new entry level employees coach their managers in use of new technologies. I bet there’ll be a lot of this happening with AI; the technology has been advancing too fast for busy people to understand and implement.

Libby Humphreys   about 6 hours ago

I really enjoyed this article because I can see how career counseling connects to addiction and recovery counseling, which Is where I am currently placed for my practicum in my Master's program. Many people in recovery may struggle with employment or have gaps in their work history because of their substance use. I think helping clients recognize their strengths and abilities can help rebuild their confidence and give them a sense of purpose. Meaningful employment can also provide stability and structure, which can be very important in recovery. As a future counselor, I think it will be important to help clients look beyond their past and recognize the possibilities they have for their future.

Jennifer Hay   about 4 hours ago

his is in response to Libby Humphreys.

Thank you for your thoughtful comment. You've made a connection I hadn't addressed in the article, and it's an important one.

Gaps in work history can make clients feel they have little to offer. A traditional resume tends to put those gaps front and center. Looking at capabilities rather than job titles lets us see the whole person. Skills and knowledge show what someone can do. Talents and interests show what energizes them and gives them meaning. A person in recovery may have a thinner experience profile for now. Their energy profile, though, can be as strong as anyone's, and that's often where a sense of purpose begins. People in recovery also work hard to build capabilities like accountability, adaptability, and judgment. Helping clients name these strengths can change how they tell their story.

Here is an example of how you might work with a client, from a book I am currently writing:

People Coach
The People Coach helps others do better work. They may teach a skill, give feedback, remove an obstacle, or create the conditions for someone to grow. This can happen with or without a manager title. A colleague who patiently helps new staff become confident may show this pattern before ever supervising anyone.

The rewarding part of coaching is often seeing another person succeed. The difficult part is that progress may be slow, feedback may be uncomfortable, and you cannot do the learning for someone else. Some people love helping but dislike the formal duties of management, such as staffing decisions and performance problems. Separate those possibilities when you explore roles.

Write down two examples of someone who learned or improved with your help. What did you notice they needed? What did you do? What changed? Ask that person, if appropriate, what helped most. To test a new direction, offer a short training session or mentor someone on a specific task. Pay attention to whether you enjoy preparation, listening, repeated explanation, and working at the learner's pace.

Robert London   about 3 hours ago

There are many different reasons for work gaps and this issue requires a solution based on the client. The question I find is how to reframe work gaps and skill gaps in a positive way with the client on their resume. This may take some creative discussions with the client to leverage other activities to fill the gap. Often you can reframe other work experiences into the meeting the job posting. If the client is interested in a career change then those skill and work gaps can be reframed as opportunities for tasks on their work and career journey. The client always has the options to purse a training plan to fill the skills gap or to look at other job postings where their skills gap are not a job application detractor. If you are looking at time away from work due to illness, being a homemaker, or termination, again its worth while to discuss what activities they have been doing in time away from traditional 9-5 work environments. Time away can also help set the guidelines for the type of job pursued when returning, which includes retraining, where time away is not an issue. I had a client who was a homemaker who was a weaver and sold her shawls, rugs, and scars never realizing that in fact she was an independent business owner will all sorts of skills.

Dave Wells   38 minutes ago

Rob Moore's comment that seniorization of junior roles is startling brought my thoughts to more startling stuff in the workplace. Paul Osterman's book, Disposable Workers: The Transformation of Employment, highlights a trend of reduced employer commitment to employees and declining investment in their careers. As part of career planning, we need to recognize that careers are no longer defined by long term relationships with employers. Independent work such as contracting and freelancing is now a big part of the career landscape. The two critical factors for career success in that world are capabilities and value creation. With that it mind, it seems to me that capabilities assessment and career portfolio are key instruments to present yourself to prospective employers.