Skill Builders are designed to address the “essentials” or “fundamentals” of a specific skill. We do not believe that soft skills are ever truly “mastered" because this implies you are "finished" developing a skill. Rather, we believe you must continuously practice soft skills over the course of your life and career. To learn any skill, you must first be aware of it. Thus, we break down the “micro-competencies” that make up a main competency area, and provide concrete definitions for you. In this way we specify the abilities you should be able to demonstrate to claim the skill.

For example, to say you have “communication skills” is vague. This is a major skill area (competency area) that is comprised of “sub-skills” (micro-competencies) such as Listening Actively, Interpreting Non-verbal Communication, etc. We expose those for you and allow you to learn more about very specific topics so you can practice these concrete skills in the real world and start collecting and showcasing evidence of your skill demonstration using Skill Badges, your Career Portfolio, and your Career Site.