Landing your dream role in today’s competitive market is not all about being technically skilled or working hard or sheer luck. While a number of people believe it stops at having the technical skills for whatever role you are aiming at, it doesn’t. There is something called ‘soft skill’- these are character traits and interpersonal skills that characterizes your relationship with other employees, your employer and customers or clients in the workplace environment.
Employers value these unique attributes in their potential employees because they have always been necessary for a productive and smoothly functioning workforce. Bear in mind that employers would prefer to hire a technical expert who also displays well-rounded employability skills over one who possesses technical expertise only.
Hence, possessing soft skills isn’t just beneficial—it is also essential for your personal growth and career advancement. Continuous learning and development in this area not only enhances your professional competence but also contributes to a positive work culture and organizational success.
Now that we know why employability skills are essential for landing that job role, this article provides five out of the number of employable skills you must possess.
Communication Skills
Being able to communicate both in written and oral form is very important in any workplace environment. Without good communication skills, there is a limit to how far you can go as a professional in the 21st century workplace.
Problem Solving Skills
Your ability to identify problems, analyze them and find practical solutions shows your employer how resourceful you are. Being a professional requires that you can think critically and find innovative solutions to challenges.
Teamwork & Collaboration Skills
For you to successfully carry out tasks in a workplace environment, you need to learn to work with others. Employers are always in search of individuals who can contribute positively to team dynamics, share ideas and work towards a goal.
Planning & Organization
Being able to organize and plan effectively in a workplace environment is important. It helps you and your employer save time, effort and money by improving workflow. You ensure that assignments and projects are completed on time and prevents confusion and errors that can be costly to the company. This makes you stand out as an employee.
Reliability
You are a reliable employee if you can consistently complete your tasks on time, deliver quality work and make minimal mistakes. Reliability promotes trust between you and your employer. Your ability to respond to inquiries and emails promptly and only make promises you can keep eases your employer of a lot of burden and that is a major reason you will be hired in the first place.
Conclusion
Your education and experience may make you eligible to apply for a job but, to be successful in most job roles and to experience progress and growth in most job roles, you need skills that you can develop over time. Some will be specific to the job, but the vast majority are ‘soft skills’ that can be used in any job or employment sectors. These soft skills are ‘employability skills.’ Soft skills are the catalysts that make you employable and propel you towards success. And they don’t stop after you have landed your dream role, you carry them for life wherever you go because once you learn them, they become a part of you. Invest in soft skills today!
