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| Image by fsse8info via Flickr |
Employability
Employers are looking for different skills - each suited for
the position that they are hiring for.
People always ask what skills employers are looking for but you are likely to get different answers
from each employer you ask. There are
some answers that are likely to turn up over and over again though because they
are transferable skills that can be used in almost any job.
Let’s look at some of the skills that you can use in almost
any job that employers are likely to be looking for.
Essential Skills - Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic
Believe it or not, employers still place these skills high
on the list of the requirements and part of the reason for that is because they
are not skills that everyone has. You
may have graduated from high school but that does not necessarily mean that these are skill you have developed,
unfortunately. Many graduates from high
school can’t read or do math at a grade 9 level.
Most people can read but can they read for
understanding? This is important. You need to be able to read and understand
the material and then be able to use that material in future tasks. Same with writing. Anyone can write a couple of lines of text
but can you write them in a way that conveys your message? Most people know how to use a calculator but
many people cannot do simple math
problems in their head, like figuring out how much change to give back to a
customer.
Verbal Communications
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| talk (Photo credit: lovelornpoets) |
Other Factors
Employability is only part of the ways that you will reach
career success. There are other factors
that will come into play as well. 4 more
factors that you should think about if you want to have success in your career
are:
Desire & Motivation
It isn’t easy to find the job you want. You need to put a lot of work into it and you might hear a lot of “no”s. This can be very discouraging and many people
give up along the way. You need to put
in your full effort all of the time
because if you slack off and start
putting in a half-hearted effort you will not get the results you desire.
Someone that has desire and motivation will take the time to
do job research. They will learn how to
present themselves in the most appealing manner. They will learn how to speak clearly and
effectively. They will put serious time
and effort into resumes, cover letters, and interview preparation. If you do these things with the least amount
of effort that you can get away with, you will get the least amount of results.
Be a Survivor
In our day and age, layoffs are the norm. We hear about them every day.
Large companies lay off entire departments, sometimes entire offices in
a city. How do you survive these
layoffs? Sometimes you can’t - you just
have to be ready to move on at any given time.
You need to have contacts and a resume that is ready to go when you need
it. You need to keep up to date
with current job search trends and know
who is hiring in your industry.
That being said, not everyone is subjected to the company
layoff. There are people who
consistently take initiative and make it a priority to be an asset to the
company that they work for. Sometimes
that is so obvious to the owners of the
company that they know they simply can’t let these people go and they provide
them with other opportunities within the company. You might be offered a job in another city or
the opportunity to continue working from home.
There are options and businesses might provide them for those that show
that they are worth going above and beyond for.
Professional Development
You should always be on the lookout for ways that you can increase your skill
set. You need to constantly be working
on professional development. Update your
skills, learn new ones, and think about skills that might be useful to your
career in the future. Look for
workshops, seminars, and short courses that you can take. Learning should be a lifelong activity.
Career Development
Career development is the process of planning and setting
goals. You should have short term and
long term goals for your career. Write
them down. Make sure that they are
measureable. Give them deadlines. Work out steps for each goal to determine how
you are going to get there. Make your
goals known and discuss them with a mentor in your company. Business love it when people plan to stay
with the company for the long term and by working on your goals with your superiors
you can demonstrate that you have that intention.
