What Skills And Qualities Do Employers Look For – After a few months of study, you’ll be excited to earn a degree and start a new career path. But there’s another obstacle to being proud to say you love your job: finding a job.
You’re confident that your education will ultimately provide you with the technical skills you need, but the interview process is still up to you. Even in growing industries, positions at the best companies can be competitive – so what can you do to set yourself apart as a qualified candidate?
What Skills And Qualities Do Employers Look For
While some fields are more technically demanding than others, such as nursing or data analytics, you can also demonstrate that you possess the broad range of “soft” or “transferable” skills employers are looking for when hiring new team members. , leave a good impression. We spoke to hiring managers across a variety of fields to discover valuable transferable skills you can highlight to stand out.
How To Find Good Employees [updated For 2023]
When it comes to what employers are looking for when filling open positions, it’s not just technical skills. These abilities are expected to perform the job duties. But it’s often soft skills that separate average workers from great ones.
Soft skills are qualities like teamwork, listening, and communication that may not seem as important as technical skills, but they have a huge impact in the workplace. No matter what your ideal career path looks like, you’ll use soft skills—whether it’s communicating with patients as a medical assistant, giving presentations as a marketing specialist, or working on a team as a software developer.
“Companies can train employees in technical skills, but training soft skills is much more difficult,” said Sophie Miles, co-founder of elMejorTrato. If you enter a company with soft skills that are not easy to master, you can immediately attract the attention of employers.
Check out these soft skills so you’re prepared when you start your job search. You may even find that you possess many of the top skills employers are looking for when hiring.
Top Skills Every Professional Needs To Have
If you don’t have the ability to communicate well with those around you, you won’t get very far in the workplace. “Most issues that have occurred in the past could have been resolved with proper communication,” said Cornelius Charles, co-owner of Dream Home Property Solutions, LLC. Charles added that employers value this skill because it allows them to reduce risk and prevent problems before they occur.
Having strong communication skills in the digital age means strong written and spoken skills, whether in person or online through tools such as video conferencing and email. You can demonstrate your communication skills in interviews by practicing active listening, asking questions, remembering the interviewer’s name, and sending thank you notes.
For companies in any industry, it’s important to meet deadlines and stay productive. This makes time management a valuable skill for employees who are often juggling multiple projects at once. Employers want to know that their employees are managing their time well so managers don’t have to monitor them to make sure they stay on track.
“The ability to successfully manage time often comes through during the interview process,” Myers says. Just arrive on time and you can start your interview on the right foot. Beyond that, try talking about a time in your life when you clearly had competing priorities and explain what you did to get things done on time.
Essential Skills To Put On A Resume In 2024 [for Most Jobs]
Critical thinking is a skill that allows you to objectively examine information to determine the best way forward and is a key component in problem solving. “In every job and every company, employees must face unexpected challenges and failures. Companies rely on employees who take action and come up with creative solutions to the problems the company faces,” said Eleonora Israel, Director of Recruitment at Clutch.co. “
You can improve your critical thinking skills by practicing problems you encounter in your daily life. Why Does Your Cat Stop Using the Litter Box? How can you save enough money to go on vacation next year? What does your community baseball team need to do to win its next game? Ask smart questions, research, and guesswork to solve problems.
Any career path is inseparable from good teamwork skills. Even positions that involve a lot of independent work still require you to work with others. “Every role in the company is connected to other roles and teams,” Israel said. Employees who work well with others and understand their perspectives often come up with creative solutions that are efficient and effective.
The importance of teamwork cannot be overstated, so this is a skill you need to convey to your employer during your interview. Be sure to mention specific instances where you worked well with a team at school or at a past job, and share the positive results of the team effort.
The Most Important Personal Skills And Qualities
Emotional intelligence is the ability to understand your own emotions and those of those around you. This is especially helpful in the workplace, where teams work together to keep the company successful. If teamwork is a key component of a successful company, then emotional intelligence is the glue that makes all this collaboration possible.
There are many signs that you may have high emotional intelligence, but one of the most important signs is empathy. “To be a valued employee, it’s important to understand the facts from your colleagues’ perspective,” said Ketan Kapoor, CEO and co-founder of Mettl. “This shift in perspective helps create a thriving and positive corporate culture. . “
We live in an age of technology where digital literacy is required in almost every career. The need for digital literacy extends far beyond technology jobs. In today’s workplace, proficiency with computers, online research, and applications (rather than industry-specific software) is expected.
If mastering technology doesn’t come easily to you, there are many ways to develop your digital literacy. If this soft skill seems beyond your capabilities, make sure you show a willingness to learn new skills and follow your natural curiosity. Curious people make a conscious effort to explore, research, and learn without the need for outsiders to convince them. Such people are always part of the solution, Kapoor said.
Solution: Characteristics And Skills Of A Professional Photojournalist
Employers are always looking for hard-working employees who are proactive and find new ways to help the company get its work done. Proactive employees don’t just wait for their boss to assign them tasks. They are self-motivated and will do whatever they can to improve the company’s current situation.
As you might guess, employees with this kind of intrinsic motivation can add a lot of value to a company. “A strong work ethic is an important factor for any employee because they take ownership of their work and are motivated to achieve results,” Kapoor said. “They become a source of motivation for others to do their jobs.” Share with your interviewer an example of an experience in a previous organization where you proactively demonstrated that you possess this soft skill.
Now that you know what skills employers are looking for, no matter the job, you can go into your post-college interviews with confidence in your education.
Your Soft Skills Of course, you still need to put in the work and finish school. The university offers a wide range of flexible degree programs that will help complement your technical abilities and the global skills we already emphasize. If you’re ready to get started, contact an admissions counselor for more information.
Hard Skills: Definition, Examples, And Comparison To Soft Skills
Ashley is a freelance writer for college education, writing student-focused articles on behalf of colleges and universities. She believes in the power of language and knowledge and enjoys using both to encourage others on their learning journeys
This promotional content was created by the university to support its educational programs. Colleges may not prepare students for all positions identified in this content. See /Degrees for a list of courses offered. External links are provided for reference only. The University does not guarantee, endorse, control or endorse the information or products on linked websites, nor is it endorsed by the owners, authors and/or organizations of the websites mentioned. The university is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, an institutional accrediting agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. We and our partners use cookies to provide you with our services and to collect analytical and marketing data based on your preferences. Learn more about our cookie policy. Click “Settings” to set preferences. Click “Accept” to accept all cookies.
Click on the cookie types below to learn more about them and customize your experience on our site. You are free to give, refuse or withdraw your consent. Please keep in mind that disabling cookies may affect your experience on the website. For more information, please visit our Cookie Policy and Privacy Policy.
These cookies enable us to analyze your performance in order to make recommendations to you
What Qualities To Put On A Resume For First Job?
What skills do employers look for on a resume, what soft skills do employers look for, what skills employers look for, what qualities do employers look for in potential employees, top 10 skills and qualities employers look for, skills and qualities employers look for, soft skills employers look for, best skills employers look for, top skills and qualities employers look for, 10 skills employers look for, top qualities employers look for, what skills do employers look for