Finding work can be difficult, especially if you find yourself searching for a prolonged period. It can be draining, exhausting, and demotivating if you find yourself getting rejection after rejection. However, by focusing on improving just a few skills, you can quickly make yourself an attractive candidate for any role.
Of course, each job is going to have its own unique and specialised set of required skills, although there is still a plethora of important ones you can learn and develop which can be transferred and will be beneficial for any job role. Here are some of the top skills to help your job search and make you irresistible to employers.
1. Communication
Being able to communicate and relay information is critical for any role in a team. Employers desire those who excel in both written and verbal communication so that they can be equally effective in email and instant messaging and presentations and negotiation. To communicate well, you need to be confident, interpret instructions correctly and effectively, as well as being concise and clear.
There are many different ways to work on your communication skills and highlight them in your resume, with the top one being to engage with writing tasks. Creating a blog is an ideal venture to highlight your communication skills.
2. Leadership
Even if you are applying for an entry-level assistant role, displaying leadership skills is still extremely beneficial. This is because employers want to see if you have the potential to progress within the company. Leadership is a great trait to possess to help you do that. Good leadership helps you keep others motivated and on task, take the initiative and stick to a timeframe. Common things that imply leadership include active listening, dependability, and patience.
3. Self-Management
This is a beneficial skill to possess and basically means you are a self-starter and can start and complete tasks without being prompted. It displays a great deal of agency and awareness, something that employers really like as it means you can be trusted to be left to your own devices and remain productive. People with good self-management skills can organize their time, identify and work on tasks depending on their urgency, and focus on professional growth.
A great way to demonstrate self-management is to take up a club or learn something new, as this displays a great deal of motivation — which is the driving factor behind self-management. In fact, this motivation is a great asset if you are facing the possibility of losing your job during covid, as it shows resilience and determination that employers admire.
4. Teamwork
Teamwork is vital for those working in a team of any size, as it helps you work effectively in this environment. Employers are incredibly attracted to team players or those that can work collaboratively and assess the group’s strengths and weaknesses.
The ability to listen, be responsible, and show honesty helps you be a good team worker. To improve your teamwork skills, a good tactic is to mimic those that display these skills, as it helps you identify what you need to do and take mindful steps to implement those practices into your own work life.
5. Adaptability
The ability to learn new skills is a skill in itself is a really useful and sought-after skill to have, as it means that you are malleable and able to integrate into a wide array of roles and tasks. This skill suits those who are applying to smaller businesses with compact teams, as you are more likely to be doing a wider array of tasks. This willingness to change and learn can set you apart from other candidates as it adds value to you.
It is also a good skill as it helps you deal with change better, such as moving to a new workplace, because you can be produced quicker.
6. Organisation
Being well-organized is a critical skill to have when job searching. Without it, it suggests you cannot be trusted to manage your time effectively and complete tasks in an effective manner. The organization helps with productivity, time management, and goal achievement. Using a journal or a planner is a great way to boost your organization skills as it creates an easy reference point to keep you on top of your tasks. Leaning how to use, create and navigate spreadsheets is one particularly great thing that demonstrates organization.
7. Computer Skills
Businesses have made a big shift into technology in recent years, and for the majority, it would be impossible to find a role that does not use a computer or at least a smartphone. It’s because of this that computer skills have skyrocketed in importance, as you’ll be effectively useless without them for most office-based roles.
The specific computer skills include the ability to use emails, write word documents and spreadsheets, make presentations, and search the web. Of course, these are just the basics, so spending time to brush up on more specialist and difficult computer skills like Photoshop can really help you stand out from the crowd and become a desirable candidate.
8. Open-mindedness
Being open-minded is another way of saying that you can take criticism and use that feedback to better yourself and your performance. No employer likes individuals who are stuck in their ways and are unwilling to alter their tactics. Even if you’re going into similar roles, each company will do things in slightly different ways, so having the open-mindedness to go along with these new practices will help you integrate quicker.
9. Problem Solving
By having good problem-solving skills, it shows you’re an individual and creative thinker, capable of coming up with new ideas which can benefit both you and the company you’re working for.
It’s also a good indicator to show that you can overcome changes and maintain a positive attitude, something that’s really important in demanding jobs or large companies. There are many ways to improve your problem solving capacity. One way to show that you’re an effective problem solver is by learning research skills and decision making, as they help you find the best solutions.
