Abilities are enduring attributes of the individual that influence performance. Our assessments use elements from the O*NET taxonomy that has comprehensively described these ability areas required across occupations based on Fleishman’s extensive body of research (Fleishman, 1962;Fleishman, Quaintance and Broedling,1984). The items that are used by Tucareers self assessments are defined below

Cognitive Abilities - Abilities that influence the acquisition and application of knowledge in problem solving

Verbal Abilities - Abilities that influence the acquisition and application of verbal information in problem solving

  • Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Written Comprehension         - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
  • Oral Expression         - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Expression -The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Idea Generation and Reasoning Abilities - Abilities that influence the application and manipulation of information in problem solving

  • Fluency of Ideas - The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
  • Originality -The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
  • Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering - The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Category Flexibility - The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.

Quantitative Abilities - Abilities that influence the solution of problems involving mathematical relationships

  • Mathematical Reasoning - The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
  • Number Facility -The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.

Memory -Abilities related to the recall of available information

  • Memorization -The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.

Perceptual Abilities - Abilities related to the acquisition and organization of visual information

  • Speed of Closure - The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
  • Flexibility of Closure -The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
  • Perceptual Speed - The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.

Spatial Abilities - Abilities related to the manipulation and organization of spatial information

  • Spatial Orientation - The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Visualization - The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.

Attentiveness - Abilities related to application of attention

  • Selective Attention - The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
  • Time Sharing - The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).

Psychomotor Abilities - Abilities that influence the capacity to manipulate and control objects

  • Manual Dexterity  - The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
  • Finger Dexterity - The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
  • Wrist-Finger Speed -The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.

Physical Abilities - Abilities that influence strength, endurance, flexibility, balance and coordination

  • Stamina - The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.

Refer O*NET for the complete taxonomy