Know These Sought After Skills as You Continue to Develop in Your Career Path: PART 1

If you are looking to land your dream job or progress in your current career, check out the sought-after skills below, assess yourself, and find a way to work on the areas that are not your strongest suit.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

The first set of skills noticed by prospective employers is communication skills. When do communication skills first appear?

Usually, it starts from the moment you receive a screening phone call to the way you send information in an email to your scheduled interview meeting with the employer. They will be keeping an eye on how you present yourself, your interactions, and the way you behave. Your communication skills will always be under assessment.

Make sure to proofread all written communication you send and pay close attention to questions they ask you and follow the instructions they provide you carefully. Your answers should be well-thought-out, grammatically correct, and concise. That’s how employers expect potential candidates to communicate as they join and integrate themselves into the organization and its culture.

RESEARCH AND ANALYTICAL SKILLS

When a problem or question presents itself, how you work through analyzing a situation, considering possible scenarios, as well as doing your due diligence if possible, through research makes all the difference. Showing your analytical skills is excellent; however, having strong research skills will differentiate employees from one another.

It is critical to demonstrate your determination, your commitment to be 100% confident in your answers and findings, and your ability to assess different scenarios.

In the end, it’s the difference between a poorly planned idea and a great one that may give the company significant profit or save costs.

FLEXIBILITY/ADAPTABILITY

The ability to manage multiple assignments, being flexible enough to work with an agile mindset, and in fast-changing conditions, management, environment, and rules are considered assets.

In today’s world, a job description is quite changeable and can shape at any time. An employee that is willing to work under fast-changing circumstances will be considered highly adaptable and sought after.

Being able to shift from one working environment to the next, or even from one type of assignment to another, is considered an advantage. It demonstrates the individual’s flexibility and commitment to the organization; their ability to adapt will positively influence their career success and progression in the long run.

INTERPERSONAL ABILITIES

We all must work with others to complete projects or assignments in the workplace. Whether working in a team, or dealing with clients, or vendors, having the interpersonal ability dealing with all walks of life is a definite advantage skill set. The ability to build relationships and inspire those around you under any circumstances to do what needs to be done is essential.

TO MAKE DECISIONS AND PROBLEM SOLVE

Decision-making and problem-solving skills are high in demand.

Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information is critical. This is simply because they will be used to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions. This of course, is what will distinguish one employee from another (literally a statement that you always see included in the job requirement section of a job post).

Using your critical thinking skill to rationalize a decision, will set one individual apart from the rest.

PLANNING, ORGANIZING AND PRIORITIZING WORK

In short, a valuable employee is one who can plan and organize their work. Paying attention to how you plan your day, aligning your tasks to make sure you keep up with the deadlines is critical to the success of any project or work involved.

Successful employees can deliver on target deadlines and can provide data and information quickly and easily. They remain on top of their priorities and can always be relied upon to execute and deliver the required information promptly.

Equally, knowing which tasks are prioritized and which ones should be left for later completion is an important skill.

ABILITY TO WEAR MULTIPLE HATS

In Theory, when an individual gets a job, they are also provided with a job description that is included with their offer letter.

In reality, however, employees are expected to perform duties as assigned and not just what’s has been written under their job description (the proverbial “Duties as Assigned” began here).

On the contrary, they are expected to get involved in other areas of the business going above and beyond in the call of duty to understand all the different steps, moving parts, and are expected to offer assistance where necessary.

Employers look for someone who has the willingness to stretch themselves and try to take on different responsibilities. This involves wearing multiple hats and dealing with a variety of projects, diverse individuals, and providing many various contributions to the company. In the end, it equates to the company getting their money’s worth from an employee doing more with less staff onboard.

MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP SKILLS

The ability to successfully manage and influence people is a strong skill. Inspiring individuals to go as far as they can by pushing them in discovering their ability in how far they can go while doing the right thing, guiding them along the way, and helping them by monitoring their progress will make a great leader stand out from a bad one.

The ability to lead employees and manage them in a way that will not hinder their growth and cripple their judgment is highly preferable in today’s workplace.

Millennials are taking over the workplace, with their strong desire not to be micro-managed in order for them to do what needs to be done. That said, it is vital to have managers who understand leading and managing their teams in a way that gives all employees the flexibility, time and space to come up with innovative ways of getting work done.

Exhibiting active management and leadership skills is, therefore, a significant advantage to have in today’s working world.

ATTENTION TO DETAIL

Most people prefer to stick to the big picture as they believe it’s crucial to focus on rather than waste time getting consumed with little details or what we like to call “getting down in the weeds.” Yet attention to detail is great strength and skill to have. For some people, it’s a skill that will help them stand out in what they do.

Paying attention to more information may save the company a lot of hassles and possibly a negative outcome. Everyone benefits from having a detail-orientated individual on their team or department.  So, don’t be too quick to dismiss.

Do you have any thoughts to add to the information above? Please include them in the comments below.