A skill is the learned capacity to carry out pre-determined results often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of work, some general skills would include time management, teamwork and leadership, self motivation and others, whereas domain-specific skills would be useful only for a certain job. Skill usually requires certain environmental stimuli and situations to assess the level of skill being shown and used.

People need a broad range of skills in order to contribute to a modern economy and take their place in the technological society of the 21st century. A joint ASTD and U.S. Department of Labor study showed that through technology, the workplace is changing, and identified 16 basic skills that employees must have to be able to change with it.

Verb

skill (third-person singular simple present skills, present participle skilling, simple past and past participle skilled)

1. (transitive) To set apart; separate.
2. (transitive, chiefly dialectal) To discern; have knowledge or understanding; to know how (to).
3. (intransitive) To have knowledge or comprehension; discern.
4. (intransitive) To have personal or practical knowledge of; be versed or practised; be expert or dextrous.
5. (intransitive, archaic) To make a difference; signify; matter.

From Middle English skill, skille (also schil, schile), from Old English *scile and Old Norse skil (“a distinction, discernment, knowledge”), from Proto-Germanic *skilin (“separation, limit”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kalǝ-, *(s)kelǝ- (“to split, cut”). Cognate with Danish skel (“a separation, boundary, divide”), Swedish skäl (“reason”), Dutch verschil (“difference”).Dutch schillen (verb) (“to sperate the outer layer (schil) from the product”).

• The Wall Street Journal - Education
  online.wsj.com
  [ ] - Articles designed to help those preparing to start a new job or those who have recently started one.
• Youth Rules
  youthrules.dol.gov
  [ ] - Provides information about working, getting paid, and safety on the job. From the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor.
• Young Workers.org
  youngworkers.org
  [ ] - The basics about young worker health and safety. Includes information on workplace rights and responsibilities, work hours, job restrictions, hazards on the job, and ways to prevent injuries, as well as educational resources and fact sheets.