New Skills To Develop
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Skills Most Sought After by Employers
So, what are these critical employability skills that employers demand of job-seekers?
Communications Skills (listening, verbal, written). By far, the one skill
mentioned most often by employers is the ability to listen, write, and speak effectively.
Successful communication is critical in business.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Exceptional listener and communicator who effectively conveys information verbally and in writing.
Analytical/Research Skills. Deals with your ability to assess a situation, seek multiple
perspectives, gather more information if necessary, and identify key issues that need to be addressed.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Highly analytical thinking with demonstrated talent for identifying, scrutinizing,
improving, and streamlining complex work processes.
Computer/Technical Literacy. Almost all jobs now require some basic understanding of
computer hardware and software, especially word processing, spreadsheets, and email.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Computer-literate performer with extensive software proficiency covering wide variety of applications.
Flexibility/Adaptability/Managing Multiple Priorities. Deals with your ability to manage
multiple assignments and tasks, set priorities, and adapt to changing conditions and work assignments.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Flexible team player who thrives in environments requiring ability to
effectively prioritize and juggle multiple concurrent projects.
Conflict Resolution
Inspiring Others
Getting Along
Interpersonal Abilities. The ability to relate to your co-workers, inspire others to
participate, mitigate conflict with co-workers is essential given the amount of time
spent at work each day.
Sample resume bullet point describing this skill:
- Proven relationship-builder with unsurpassed interpersonal skills.
Leadership/Management Skills. While there is some debate about whether
leadership is something people are born with, these skills deal with your ability to take
charge and manage your co-workers.
Sample resume bullet point describing this skill:
- Goal-driven leader who maintains a productive climate and confidently motivates,
mobilizes, and coaches employees to meet high performance standards.
Multicultural Sensitivity/Awareness. There is possibly no bigger issue in the
workplace than diversity, and job-seekers must demonstrate a sensitivity and awareness
to other people and cultures.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Personable professional whose strengths include cultural sensitivity and an
ability to build rapport with a diverse workforce in multicultural settings.
Planning/Organizing. Deals with your ability to design, plan, organize, and implement
projects and tasks within an allotted timeframe. Also involves goal-setting.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Results-driven achiever with exemplary planning and organizational skills, along
with a high degree of detail orientation.
Problem-Solving/Reasoning/Creativity. Involves the ability to find solutions to
problems using your creativity, reasoning, and past experiences along with the available
information and resources.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Innovative problem-solver who can generate workable solutions
and resolve complaints.
Teamwork. Because so many jobs involve working in one or more
work-groups, you must have the ability to work with others in a professional
manner while attempting to achieve a common goal.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Resourceful team player who excels at building trusting relationships with customers and colleagues.
Integrity: - Can
be trusted; recognizes when faced with making a decision or exhibiting behavior that may
break with commonly-held personal or societal values; understands the impact of violating
these beliefs and codes on an organization, self, and others; and chooses an ethical
course of action. [This skill definition is not yet completely developed.
Personal Values Employers Seek in Employees
Of equal importance to skills are the values, personality traits, and personal
characteristics that employers seek. Look for ways to weave examples of these
characteristics into your resume, cover letters, and answers to interview questions.
Here is our list of the 10 most important categories of values.
Honesty/Integrity/Morality. Employers probably respect personal integrity
more than any other value, especially in light of the many recent corporate scandals.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Seasoned professional whose honesty and integrity provide for effective
leadership and optimal business relationships.
Adaptability/Flexibility. Deals with openness to new ideas and concepts, to
working independently or as part of a team, and to carrying out multiple tasks or projects.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Highly adaptable, mobile, positive, resilient, patient risk-taker who is open to new ideas.
Dedication/Hard-Working/Work Ethic/Tenacity. Employers seek job-seekers who
love what they do and will keep at it until they solve the problem and get the job done.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Productive worker with solid work ethic who exerts optimal effort in successfully completing tasks.
Dependability/Reliability/Responsibility. There's no question that all employers
desire employees who will arrive to work every day - on time - and ready to work, and who
will take responsibility for their actions.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Dependable, responsible contributor with committed to excellence and success.
Loyalty. Employers want employees who will have a strong devotion to the
company -- even at times when the company is not necessarily loyal to its employees.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Loyal and dedicated manager with an excellent work record.
Positive Attitude/Motivation/Energy/Passion. The job-seekers who get hired
and the employees who get promoted are the ones with drive and passion -- and who
demonstrate this enthusiasm through their words and actions.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Energetic performer consistently cited for unbridled passion for work, sunny
disposition, and upbeat, positive attitude.
Professionalism. Deals with acting in a responsible and fair manner in
all your personal and work activities, which is seen as a sign of maturity and self-confidence;
avoid being petty.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Conscientious go-getter who is highly organized, dedicated, and committed to professionalism.
Self-Confidence. Look at it this way: if you don't believe in yourself, in your
unique mix of skills, education, and abilities, why should a prospective employer?
Be confident in yourself and what you can offer employers.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Confident, hard-working employee who is committed to achieving excellence.
Self-Motivated/Ability to Work With Little or No Supervision. While teamwork
is always mentioned as an important skill, so is the ability to work independently, with
minimal supervision.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Highly motivated self-starter who takes initiative with minimal supervision.
Willingness to Learn. No matter what your age, no matter how much
experience you have, you should always be willing to learn a new skill or technique.
Jobs are constantly changing and evolving, and you must show an openness to
grow and learn with that change.
Sample bullet point describing this skill:
- Enthusiastic, knowledge-hungry learner, eager to meet challenges and
quickly assimilate new concepts.
http://www.arp.sprnet.org/curric/scans.htm
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SCANS
[These excerpts are from the book "Skills and Tasks
for Jobs - A SCANS report for America 2000" published by the U.S. Department of
Labor. The book may be purchased from the U.S. Government Printing Office under ISBN
0-16-036177-X.]
Table 2-1. Definitions of Competencies and Foundation Skills
Competencies
Resources
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Cl Time Management: Allocates Time - Selects
relevant, goal-related activities, ranks them in order of importance, allocates time to
activities, and understands, prepares, and follows schedules. Competent performance in
allocating time includes properly identifying tasks to be completed; ranking tasks in
order of importance; developing and following an effective, workable schedule based on
accurate estimates of such things as importance of tasks, time to complete tasks, time
available for completion, and task deadlines; avoiding wasting time; and accurately
evaluating and adjusting a schedule. |
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C2 Money Management: Allocates Money - Uses or
prepares budgets, including making cost and revenue forecasts, keeps detailed records to
track budget performance, and makes appropriate adjustments. Competent performance in
allocating money includes accurately preparing and using a budget according to a
consistent and orderly accounting method; accurately calculating future budgetary needs
based on projected costs and revenues; accurately tracking the extent to which actual
costs and revenues differ from the estimated budget, and taking appropriate and effective
actions. |
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C3 Resource Management: Allocates Material and
Facility Resources - Acquires, stores, and distributes materials, supplies, parts,
equipment, space, or final products in order to make the best use of them. Competent
performance in allocating material and facility resources includes carefully planning the
steps involved in the acquisition, storage, and distribution of resources; safely and
efficiently acquiring, transporting or storing them; maintaining them in good condition;
and distributing them to the end user. |
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C4 People Management: Allocates Human Resources -
Assesses knowledge and skills and distributes work accordingly, evaluates performance and
provides feedback. Competent performance in allocating human resources includes accurately
assessing people's knowledge, skills, abilities, and potential; identifying present and
future workload; making effective matches between individual talents and workload; and
actively monitoring performance and providing feedback. |
Information
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C5 Acquires and Evaluates
Information - Identifies need for data, obtains them from existing sources or creates
them, and evaluates their relevance and accuracy. Competently performing the tasks of
acquiring data and evaluating information includes posing analytic questions to determine
specific information needs; selecting possible information and evaluating its
appropriateness; and determining when new information must be created. |
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C6 Organizes and Maintains
Information - Organizes, processes, and maintains written or computerized records and
other forms of information in a systematic fashion. Competently performing the tasks of
organizing and maintaining information includes understanding and organizing information
from computer, visual, oral and physical sources in readily accessible formats, such as
computerized data bases, spreadsheets, microfiche, video disks, paper files, etc.; when
necessary, transforming data into different formats in order to organize them by the
application of various methods such as sorting, classifying, or more formal methods. |
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C7 Interprets and Communicates
Information - Selects and analyzes information and communicates the results to others
using oral, written, graphic, pictorial, or multi-media methods. Competently performing
the tasks of communicating and interpreting information to others includes determining
information to be communicated; identifying the best methods to present information (e.g.,
overheads, handouts); if necessary, converting to desired format and conveying information
to others through a variety of means including oral presentation, written communication,
etc. |
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C8 Uses Computers to Process
Information - Employs computers to acquire, organize, analyze, and communicate
information. Competently using computers to process information includes entering,
modifying, retrieving, storing, and verifying data and other information; choosing format
for display (e.g., line graphs, bar graphs, tables, pie charts, narrative); and ensuring
the accurate conversion of information into the chosen format. |
Interpersonal
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C9 Participates as a Member of a
Team - Works cooperatively with others and contributes to group with ideas,
suggestions, and effort. Demonstrating competence in participating as a member of a team
includes doing own share of tasks necessary to complete a project; encouraging team
members by listening and responding appropriately to their contributions; building on
individual team members' strengths; resolving differences for the benefit of the team;
taking personal responsibility for accomplishing goals; and responsibly challenging
existing procedures, policies, or authorities. |
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C10 Teaches Others - Helps
others learn. Demonstrating competence in teaching others includes helping others to apply
related concepts and theories to tasks through coaching or other means; identifying
training needs; conveying job information to allow others to see its applicability and
relevance to tasks; and assessing performance and providing constructive
feedback/reinforcement. |
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Cll Serves Clients/Customers -
Works and communicates with clients and customers to satisfy their expectations.
Demonstrating competence in serving clients and customers includes actively listening to
customers to avoid misunderstandings and identifying needs; communicating in a positive
manner especially when handling complaints or conflict; efficiently obtaining additional
resources to satisfy client needs. |
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C12 Exercises Leadership - Communicates
thoughts, feelings, and ideas to justify a position, encourages, persuades, convinces, or
otherwise motivates an individual or groups, including responsibly challenging existing
procedures, policies, or authority. Demonstrating competence in exercising leadership
includes making positive use of the rules/values followed by others; justifying a position
logically and appropriately; establishing credibility through competence and integrity;
and taking minority viewpoints into consideration. |
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C13 Negotiates to Arrive at a
Decision - Works toward an agreement that may involve exchanging specific resources or
resolving divergent interests. Demonstrating competence in negotiating to arrive at a
decision involves researching opposition and the history of the conflict; setting
realistic and attainable goals; presenting facts and arguments; listening to and
reflecting on what has been said; clarifying problems and resolving conflicts; adjusting
quickly to new facts/ideas; proposing and examining possible options; and making
reasonable compromises. |
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C14 Works with Cultural Diversity
- Works well with men and women and with a variety of ethnic, social, or educational
backgrounds. Demonstrating competence in working with cultural diversity involves
understanding one's own culture and those of others and how they differ; respecting the
rights of others while helping them make cultural adjustments where necessary; basing
impressions on individual performance, not on stereotypes; and understanding concerns of
members of other ethnic and gender groups. |
Systems
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C15 Understands Systems -
Knows how social, organizational, and technological systems work and operates effectively
within them. Demonstrating competence in understanding systems involves knowing how a
system's structures relate to goals; responding to the demands of the system/organization;
knowing the right people to ask for information and where to get resources; and
functioning within the formal and informal codes of the social/organizational system. |
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C16 Monitors and Corrects
Performance - Distinguishes trends, predicts impact of actions on system operations,
diagnoses deviations in the function of a system/organization, and takes necessary action
to correct performance. Demonstrating competence in monitoring and correcting performance
includes identifying trends and gathering needed information about how the system is
intended to function; detecting deviations from system's intended purpose; troubleshooting
the system; and making changes to the system to rectify system functioning and to ensure
quality of product. |
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C17 Improves and Designs Systems
- Makes suggestions to modify existing systems to improve products or services and
develops new or alterative systems. Demonstrating competence in improving or designing
systems involves making suggestions for improving the functioning of the
system/organization; recommending alterative system designs based on relevant feedback;
and responsibly challenging the status quo to benefit the larger system. |
Technology
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C18 Selects Technology -
Judges which set of procedures, tools, or machines, including computers and their
programs, will produce the desired results. Demonstrating competence in selecting
technology includes determining desired outcomes and applicable constraints; visualizing
the necessary methods and applicable technology; evaluating specifications; and judging
which machine or tool will produce the desired results. |
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C19 Applies Technology to Task
- Understands the overall intent and the proper procedures for setting up and operating
machines, including computers and their programming systems. Demonstrating competence in
how to apply technology to task includes understanding how different parts of machines
interact and how machines interact with broader production systems; on occasion installing
machines including computers; setting up machines or systems of machines efficiently to
get desired results; accurately interpreting machine output; and detecting errors from
program output. |
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C20 Maintains and Troubleshoots
Technology - Prevents, identifies, or solves problems in machines, computers, and
other technologies. Demonstrating competence in maintaining and troubleshooting technology
includes identifying, understanding, and performing routine preventative maintenance and
service on technology; detecting more serious problems; generating workable solutions to
correct deviations; and recognizing when to get additional help. |
Foundation Skills
Basic Skills
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Fl Reading - Locates,
understands, and interprets written information in prose and documents-including manuals,
graphs, and schedules-to perform tasks; learns from text by determining the main idea or
essential message; identifies relevant details, facts, and specifications; infers or
locates the meaning of unknown or technical vocabulary; and judges the accuracy,
appropriateness, style, and plausibility of reports, proposals, or theories of other
writers. |
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F2 Writing - Communicates
thoughts, ideas, information, and messages in writing; records information completely and
accurately; composes and creates documents such as letters, directions, manuals, reports,
proposals, graphs, flow-charts; uses language, style, organization, and format appropriate
to the subject matter, purpose, and audience; includes supporting documentation and
attends to level of detail; and checks, edits, and revises for correct information,
appropriate emphasis, form, grammar, spelling, and punctuation. |
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F3 Arithmetic - Performs
basic computations; uses basic numerical concepts such as whole numbers and percentages in
practical situations; makes reasonable estimates of arithmetic results without a
calculator; and uses tables, graphs, diagrams, and charts to obtain or convey quantitative
information. |
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F4 Mathematics - Approaches
practical problems by choosing appropriately from a variety of mathematical techniques;
uses quantitative data to construct logical explanations for real world situations;
expresses mathematical ideas and concepts orally and in writing; and understands the role
of chance in the occurrence and prediction of events. [This skill definition is not yet
completely developed. |
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F5 Listening - Receives,
attends to, interprets, and responds to verbal messages and other cues such as body
language in ways that are appropriate to the purpose; for example, to comprehend, to
learn, to critically evaluate, to appreciate, or to support the speaker. |
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F6 Speaking - Organizes ideas
and communicates oral messages appropriate to listeners and situations; participates in
conversation, discussion, and group presentations; selects an appropriate medium for
conveying a message; uses verbal language and other cues such as body language appropriate
in style, tone, and level of complexity to the audience and the occasion; speaks clearly
and communicates a message; understands and responds to listener feedback; and asks
questions when needed. |
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F7 Creative Thinking - Uses
imagination freely, combines ideas or information in new ways, makes connections between
seemingly unrelated ideas, and reshapes goals in ways that reveal new possibilities. |
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F8 Decision Making -
Specifies goals and constraints, generates alternatives, considers risks, and evaluates
and chooses best alternative. |
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F9 Problem Solving -
Recognizes that a problem exists (i.e., there is a discrepancy between what is and what
should or could be); identifies possible reasons for the discrepancy; devises and
implements a plan of action to resolve it; evaluates and monitors progress; and revises
plan as indicated by findings. |
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F10 Seeing Things in the Mind's
Eye - Organizes and processes symbols, pictures, graphs, objects or other information;
for example, sees a building from a blueprint, a system's operation from schematics, the
flow of work activities from narrative descriptions, or the taste of food from reading a
recipe. |
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Fll Knowing How To Learn -
Recognizes and can use learning techniques to apply and adapt new knowledge and skills in
both familiar and changing situations and is aware of teaming tools such as personal
teaming styles (visual, aural, etc.), formal learning strategies (note taking or
clustering items that share some characteristics), and informal teaming strategies
(awareness of unidentified false assumptions that may lead to faulty conclusions). [This
skill definition is not yet completely developed. |
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F12 Reasoning - Discovers a
rule or principle underlying the relationship between two or more objects and applies it
in solving a problem; uses logic to draw conclusions from available information; extracts
rules or principles from a set of objects or written text; applies rules and principles to
a new situation or determines which conclusions are correct when given a set of facts and
a set of conclusions. [This skill definition is not yet completely developed. |
Personal Qualities
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F13 Responsibility - Exerts a
high level of effort and perseverance toward goal attainment; works hard to become
excellent at doing tasks by setting high standards, paying attention to details, working
well and displaying a high level of concentration even when assigned an unpleasant task;
and displays high standards of attendance, punctuality, enthusiasm, vitality, and optimism
in approaching and completing tasks. |
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F14 Self-Esteem - Believes in
own self-worth and maintains a positive view of self; demonstrates knowledge of own skills
and abilities; is aware of impact on others; and knows own emotional capacity and needs
and how to address them. [This skill definition is not yet completely developed. |
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F15 Social - Demonstrates
understanding, friendliness, adaptability, empathy and politeness in new and on-going
group settings; asserts self in familiar and unfamiliar social situations; relates well to
others; responds appropriately as the situation requires; and takes an interest in what
others say and do. |
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F16 Self-Management -
Assesses own knowledge, skis, and abilities accurately; sets well-defined and realistic
personal goals; monitors progress toward goal attainment and motivates self through goal
achievement; exhibits self-control and responds to feedback unemotionally and
non-defensively; and is a "self-starter." |
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F17 |
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- --End of Excerpts---
[These extended excerpts are from the book "Skills and Tasks
for Jobs - A SCANS report for America 2000" published by the U.S. Department of
Labor. The book may be purchased from the U.S. Government Printing Office under ISBN
0-16-036177-X.]----------------------------------------------------------------
Bibliographic data below was posted to EdNet by Mr. Thomas J.
Pitre, whose e-mail account appears to be with the California state university system. The
data itself is from the University of Saskatchewan Library System:
ED350414
Author: Department of Labor, Washington, DC. Secretary's
Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills.;
Title: Skills and Tasks for Jobs. A SCANS Report for America
2000.
Abstract: This report identifies generic competencies (skills
necessary for success in the workplace) and foundations (skills and qualities underlying
the competencies).
Chapter 1 explains use of this report to help educators make high
school courses more relevant to the needs of a modern work force and to help employers
ensure that their employees possess appropriate, up-to-date skills. Development of the
material is described.
Chapter 2 contains definitions of the Secretary's Commission on
Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS) competencies and foundation skills, followed by
displays of job tasks in descending levels of difficulty. A two-page display of each
competency/foundation skill provides a definition of the skill and illustrative tasks,
along with corresponding job titles. Tasks are arranged in rows, with a maximum of three
distinct tasks per row. Rows are arranged in ascending order of difficulty.
Chapter 3 lists the task descriptions of 35 jobs clustered in the
following areas: health and human services; office,financial services, government;
accommodations and personal business; manufacturing, agribusiness, mining, construction;
and trade, transportation, and communication. Chapter 3 also contains information about
the importance of the competency and foundation skills required for these jobs. Two tables
present the means and standard deviations of the ratings for all jobs for competencies and
foundation skills determined through interviews with people holding these jobs.
Information is then provided for each job, grouped by the five sectors of the economy. For
each job, a brief general description is given. Next, the mean and standard deviations of
the competencies and foundations are shown for that job. Following these data,
illustrative tasks are provided that demonstrate the use of some skills. The appendix
contains information on 15 additional jobs. (YLB)
Descriptors: Vocational Education; Task Analysis; Skill Analysis;
Secondary Education; Postsecondary Education; Occupational Information; Labor Force
Development; Job Skills; Job Analysis; Employment Qualifications; Education Work
Relationship; Difficulty Level; Competency Based Education;
Collation: 545; 6
Note: Government Document: Federal
Note: Country of Origin: U.S.; District of Columbia
Note: Language: English
Note: 545p.; For related documents, see ED 332 054 and ED 346
348.
Note: EDRS Price - MF02/PC22 Plus Postage.--end---
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