The Highlands Company Blog

Life Lessons in the Age of COVID

These are extraordinary times, and as we prepare to return to work and emerge from lockdown, many of us are rethinking our contribution in the workplace, and to the world around us.

The coronavirus pandemic has forever changed the way we work and live. In the aftermath of this global crisis, many offices and workplaces are permanently closing, or reopening with reduced capacity. Due to an economic downfall, not experienced since the Great Depression of the 1930s, we are faced with work situations that look vastly different than they did just a few months ago.

However, there is a silver lining. The shining examples of our frontline heroes and their contribution for the benefit of others have inspired us to reconsider the true meaning of our lives and our world of work. Perhaps it has caused you to reconsider your career, or to rethink your present position and where your efforts would have a greater impact. Or, maybe your perception of your job has shifted to include service, not just salary.

Redirecting your career, as you move forward to fulfill your purpose in the world, will require a heightened self-awareness from which to reset your compass. Each of us are born with powerful abilities. The answer lies in knowing what those abilities are, and how to use them to navigate your career for the greater good.

Know Your Inner Strengths

Throughout the past few months, it was our inner strengths that has helped us to endure isolation as we were forced to shelter in. So, as we prepare to reunite with our communities and our colleagues to return to work, it makes sense to continue to tap into those strengths. Fortunately, there is no mystery to the process of uncovering what those strengths, or natural abilities, are.

Based upon a scientific process, not speculation, and backed by nearly a century of research, the Highlands Ability Battery (HAB) is the gold standard of human assessments for objectively measuring your innate abilities. A series of 19 timed worksamples assesses your performance in areas such as visual speed and accuracy, inductive and deductive reasoning, verbal aptitude, idea flow, and more.

The results of the HAB are revealed in an individualized Standard report of 30+ pages, detailing your Personal Style (pattern of behavior), Driving Abilities (what powers you) and Specialized Abilities (how you communicate and take in information).

Transform Your Career

A thorough understanding of your abilities equips you with a solid foundation to help you identify the right career fit for you. The Career Exploration Supplement, which accompanies the Standard report, looks at how your personal abilities align with in-demand careers, and profiles work roles, within occupations, that align with your pattern of abilities. Through the HAB Person-to-Occupation Fit Matching Tool, a list of the top 50 closest matched occupations are provided with links to the O*NET, the Department of Labor’s information network, for making informed career decisions.

Click here to learn more about this cutting-edge tool for career exploration.

The significance of your ability profile and how it relates to your career will be reviewed during a two-hour feedback session with a certified consultant. Highlands’ consultants undergo extensive training to help you gain a clear understanding of your results of the assessment and personalized reports. (Click here to learn more about the value of the debrief session with a Highlands Consultant.)

Don’t Waste Your Talent (or Your Time)

The one thing that has been made abundantly clear, as we rise from the devastation caused by the pandemic of our lifetime, is that the promise of tomorrow is not guaranteed. We as a global society need people who are passionately committed to making a difference. Now more than ever, make everyday count … lesson learned.

What will your future contributions be? Contact a Highlands Certified Consultant and schedule an online session to take the Highlands Ability Battery.


The Highlands Company is the sole publisher of the Highlands Ability Battery™ (HAB). Administered online, the HAB is an aptitude assessment that objectively measures one’s natural talents through timed, performance-based worksamples. Since 1992, tens of thousands of individuals have taken the HAB for career guidance and development, gaining insight into their natural strengths and applying that insight across a lifetime for greater career satisfaction. To learn more about The Highlands Company, click here.