Following are some commonly asked questions about natural abilities, the assessment, who should take it and what to expect from the process:

What are “natural abilities”—and how are they different from “skills?”

Your natural abilities are your gifts, talents and strengths. While you’re not necessarily born with them, they stabilize by the time you’re around 14 years old. When you work in alignment with your natural abilities, it feels like you’re in the flow, swimming with the current rather than against it. It’s not that you can’t do things that don’t come naturally to you; it’s just that they’ll require more time, effort and energy.

Skills, on the other hand, are developed and learned at any point in your life. You’ll learn some new skills by choice (e.g., designing social media posts on Canva or playing the guitar)—and others out of necessity to do your job or fulfill other adult responsibilities, like managing your finances.

One of the biggest differences between abilities and skills is that while skills decline with disuse—“use em or lose em”—your natural abilities remain accessible to you throughout your lifetime (barring accident, injury or cognitive decline).

Why Take the Highlands Ability Battery?

Understanding your natural abilities and style preferences can help steer you toward tasks and roles that utilize your stronger abilities — and away from those that don’t. In conjunction with other critical factors, you can use this increased self-awareness to:

• Make college and career decisions with greater confidence

• Find your best-fit career, job and work environment

• Increase satisfaction and fulfillment in your current career

• Navigate career transitions with greater ease

• Maximize your strongest learning channels

What differentiates the HAB from other career assessments?

Unlike many other assessments that rely on self-reporting based on your perception of yourself — or how you think others see you … or the way you want others to see you — the HAB objectively measures your natural gifts and talents through a series of 19 objective work samples.

Each work sample is timed to minimize the use of compensatory skills or external tools, thus revealing your natural abilities.

How much time will it take?

The HAB was introduced in 1992 as a paper-and-pencil assessment that had to be completed in one three-hour session. Thanks to technology, the assessment is now administered online, allowing you far greater flexibility to take the assessment at a pace that feels comfortable for you.

Each work sample is between 3 - 12 minutes in length. While each work sample needs to be completed in a single sitting, you can choose to take the entire assessment in one sitting — or to break it into smaller, more manageable sittings.

After you’ve completed the assessment, we’ll schedule a 90-minute, individualized debrief session to review your results and discuss how you can apply them to your career … and life.

Who can benefit from taking the HAB?

Growth-minded individuals interested in personal and/or professional development can use the insights gained from the Highlands experience to learn about, appreciate and apply their natural gifts. The HAB can be particularly helpful for:

• High school juniors and seniors exploring colleges, majors and careers

• Recent college grads launching or refining their early careers

• Mid-career professionals contemplating a career change or seeking greater satisfaction

• Late-career professionals considering their “encore” careers

• Entrepreneurs and business owners looking to scale their businesses and hire appropriate support to fill gaps so they can focus on what they do best!