Successfully Handling the Skills Checklist

If you have applied to agencies, you know that you are required to fill out a skills checklist. Since each hospital has specific skills in mind, the skills checklist is used and relied upon fairly heavily in presenting your qualifications to hospitals for consideration of your skills. Filling out that checklist over and over can be frustrating and can cause high anxiety. Somehow, for every skill you check for proficiency, there are many in which you do not have skills. This can be tough on your self-esteem. But there is no need to be anxious about filling out these forms, and there is no chance that you are not going to have to do it, so let’s take a moment to discuss the dreaded checklist and some strategies for handling them successfully.

What kind of information is asked about on the checklist?

Agencies spend a good deal of time providing checklists that contain the skills you should have within your own stated specialty. These may range from simple skills like getting an IV started to more complicated and advanced techniques. Many checklists question your skills with specific equipment you should be familiar with. You are told to rank your own abilities on a numbers scale...1 to 3 or 1 to 5. 

Will the checklist keep me from specific assignments?

The skills checklist is a useful tool, but don’t be overly concerned about the answers you provide. They probably will not keep you from a certain assignment, because your skills are more or less in line with your peers, especially if you have been steadily working in your chosen specialty. The main qualities they are looking for is experience, availability and flexibility, and if you have travel experience that’s an added bonus. The only way in which your lack of skills can make a difference is when the hospital is looking for someone who is strong in a particular skills set.

So don’t stress out the next time you’re presented with a skills checklist. Fill it out honestly and, if you have kept your skills current, you should have no thing to worry about.