Talents and Interests survey

[nmecantwin73]

The Talents and Interests section inMLS is a great feature that our ward is not utilizing to its usefulness. We have a great need to find out what the members are interested in and what their talents are in order to fill much needed callings, and to give others different opportunities to serve. We think the best way we can gather this information is by having the members fill out a survey form.

Does anyone use some type of survey form for their wards that would list interests, talents, previous callings, etc.? I would guess that most wards have new move-ins complete this form when they first move into a ward. Then actually put the information in MLS to run reports from the info.

I would love to see any examples that anyone uses that you would be willing to post in this thread. And, yes, I am aware of - and have downloaded - the Talent and Interest Survey form the church provides.

Thanks in advance.

[aebrown]

I am aware of - and have downloaded - the Talent and Interest Survey form the church provides.

In case others don't know what you are referring to, the Talent and Interest Survey form is available (free of charge) at store.lds.org. It's a bit out of date (it's 10 years old), but it gives you some ideas and might be a helpful starting place.

[russellhltn]

While the concept is great, I think most people find the way the Talents and Interests are implemented is too unwieldy to be really usable. It's not easy to input and the reports are limited.

[mkmurray]

The Talents and Interests section inMLS is a great feature that our ward is not utilizing to its usefulness. We have a great need to find out what the members are interested in and what their talents are in order to fill much needed callings, and to give others different opportunities to serve. We think the best way we can gather this information is by having the members fill out a survey form.

Does anyone use some type of survey form for their wards that would list interests, talents, previous callings, etc.? I would guess that most wards have new move-ins complete this form when they first move into a ward. Then actually put the information in MLS to run reports from the info.

I would love to see any examples that anyone uses that you would be willing to post in this thread. And, yes, I am aware of - and have downloaded - the Talent and Interest Survey form the church provides.

Thanks in advance.

We have one that I could scan and post on this thread. Give me a day or so, I'll try to post it here.

The talent part of our document is not so comprehensive, as the main purpose of the document is to collect the information to help request records. Still, you may find it useful.

[craiger]

I think RussellHltn hit the nail on the head. The feature as implemented in MLS is difficult to use and has limited usefulness. I've had to find other ways to gather and report on this kind of info.

[aebrown]

I think RussellHltn hit the nail on the head. The feature as implemented in MLS is difficult to use and has limited usefulness. I've had to find other ways to gather and report on this kind of info.

I believe the initial post was looking for suggestions of what would work, not opinions of what wouldn't work. So if you have used other means to gather and report, please share your experiences.

[nmecantwin73]

I believe the initial post was looking for suggestions of what would work, not opinions of what wouldn't work. So if you have used other means to gather and report, please share your experiences.

This is true. I agree with those of you who feel the MLS Talents and Interest function is somewhat cumbersome, but we are just looking for a way to gather the information. Whether or not we use MLS to store and query the data has yet to be determined.

Thanks!

[mkmurray]

We have one that I could scan and post on this thread. Give me a day or so, I'll try to post it here.

The talent part of our document is not so comprehensive, as the main purpose of the document is to collect the information to help request records. Still, you may find it useful.

I apologize it's later than promised. Hopefully it is close to what you are looking for. Here is the attachment:

[jbh001]

I posted one that is attached here a while back. But I echo the sentiment that the current implementation of it in MLS and MLS's custom reports options in are to cumbersome and limited to be of much use right now.

[mprusse]

I would like to find an interactive PDF version of the Talent and Interest Survey (33812) so it can be distributed via email or LUWS. Ward members can then fill out the form electronically and submit it with a click of a button on the form to someone's email address.

I have started adapting the Talent and Interest Survey to be interactive but it will require quite a bit of work building all of the fields, etc. I'm wondering if anyone has already done this so I don't repeat the effort unnecessarily.

Thank you.