Useful skills present from school days
You may believe that you don’t have any skills needed for the workplace when you leave college. In fact, you have more skills than you realise. These are skills that you have gained during your studies, even from primary level, and it’s just a matter of developing those skills further to become more employable.
For example, mathematics helps to build problem-solving skills by challenging you to produce the right answer through various working-out methods. There are certain subjects that seem more academic and only focused on reading and memorising text like English Literature, History and Religious Studies however, they also help to build valuable skills like research, critical thinking, analytical, debating and creative skills.
You may recall answering questions in class, contributing to discussions or delivering a presentation. These actions contribute to strengthening your communication skills and boosting your confidence. Taking part in sports activities support your leadership and teamwork skills as well as allowing you to exert your resilience and focus.
What is the difference between ‘soft ’ and ‘hard’ skills?
Soft skills are your own personal attributes and qualities that allow you to work well with others such as communication and interpersonal skills, positivity, confidence and time management amongst many others.
Hard skills are those that are developed through education and training, such as computer programming, technical engineering and IT skills, maths, law and accountancy amongst many others.
Top 10 skills needed by employers
1. Communication
Employers need people to communicate well with different people across the organisation. Being able to put your thoughts and ideas across clearly and persuasively is a great skill as it means others will listen and most likely to respond positively. You may have contributed to a class discussion.
How to Develop Good Communication Skills
2. Teamwork
Teamwork is a crucial ingredient to the success of a business. It relies on a number of people working well together to achieve a common goal. Therefore being able to work well with others, listening, contributing, supporting and taking direction from within the team is key. Therefore, employers want to hire people who are good team players that will work in harmony together.
How to Be a Successful Team Player at Work
3. Problem-solving and critical thinking
You will be faced with challenges at some point in your working career and employers are always looking for people who can analyse a situation or concept, think critically and offer solutions to problems. Employers do not want people who dwell on ‘what went wrong’ but rather ‘what can be improved’. You will need to be forward-thinking and resolution focused.
How to Improve Problem Solving Skills
How to Improve Critical Thinking Skills
4. Leadership
This is a top skill employers seek. If you are dealing with a challenging situation, then you will need to use your initiative and find a way to get the work done in a timely and efficient manner. If you work in a team, you may need to give people duties, take charge, make decisions and ensure everything runs smoothly. Be ready to take the lead and make an impact.
How to Develop Leadership Qualities
5. Creativity
This is a valuable skill and one which is used across all sectors of employment. Employers seek people who bring new ideas to the workplace and have an innovative approach. This helps to create efficiency, cost savings, drive in customers and clients as well as problem-solve. Do not worry if you don’t have creative skills just yet. It is said that creativity is something you can learn and is not something you are simply born with.
Big opportunities in the creative sector
Try the 30 circles test to boost your creativity below:
How to Develop a Creative Mind
6. Resilience
You may be faced with difficulties at work at some point and you will need to be able to deal with a bad situation, move on and still work to a high standard. Do not let the setbacks affect your confidence and find ways to learn from the experiences.
How to Develop Your Resilience
7. Negotiation and persuasion
This is about being able to convince and persuade others to take your ideas on board and show them the overall benefits to the organisation. It is also being able to understand what the other person needs. This way you can both decide on outcomes that meets the needs of both parties. You may need to compromise as part of your negotiation to move things forward and start taking action.
How to Develop the Skills Essential for Good Negotiation
8. Perseverance and motivation
Employers want people to have a bit of get-up-and-go attitude to work. The workplace will have many challenges and you need to show employers that you are the kind of person who will work hard and stay on task even when things get tough.
9. Willingness to learn
You should always be open and eager to learn new skills at work. Taking on a few additional responsibilities can really demonstrate your enthusiasm and passion for the job. This is a great way to highlight yourself as a good candidate for other positions and receive praise in the workplace.
10. Emotional intelligence
Sometimes hiding your own emotions can be difficult and this is why emotional intelligence is a very good skill to develop. This is a unique skill where you will need to be mindful of someone’s mood and beliefs, including your own. You will most likely build positive relationships with colleagues if you do this and have better outcomes for your work.
How to Master the Art of Emotional Intelligence
Tips and advice
Top 10 skills that will get you a job when you graduate
Do I have skills that are transferrable?
You most likely do. Think about work you have done independently, like coursework, a project or preparing for an exam? It may have been daunting at the time, but you have already taken initiative, completed research, kept organised in your own way and met deadlines. These are valuable skills that can be transferred to the workplace when you need to prioritise your workload, meet an urgent deadline or take initiative to solve a problem.
Can I develop my skills as I work?
Yes. Many workplaces offer training opportunities, depending on your role to develop your hard skills. For example, you might start in a junior role in a company and they will pay for training to upskill you and give you more responsibilities.
However, not all companies do this. Most first time jobs require a good set of skills to start off with such as good communication, organisation, ability to work under pressure and prioritising workloads. Ability to adapt and teamwork is also highly valued.
3 questions to ask yourself?
1. What are your top 5 skills?
2. What are you good at?
3. Do you know what type of job you want to do?
5 tips to raise your employability whilst studying
10 tips to help students become more employable
Remember that skills are developed over time. Do not worry if you don’t possess all of the skills required for a first job. Highlight the skills you have developed through your time in college, university, volunteering or whichever path you were on. Much like everyone else you may be better at certain things more than others and that is what will make you stand out from the rest.
Make time to discover what you enjoy doing as that is when you will start to research jobs to your liking. Once you land your job, you will develop useful skills and in time it will be swifter to become even more employable for future jobs.
Research relevant courses at NewVIc
Financial Studies (Level 3 Certificate)