Top Employability Skills You Need To Develop

Transferable Skills: Independent From Any Profession

In today’s ever changing job environment, employers are focusing on transferable skills: Skills employees can use in almost any role. For example, time management is important in every job – a waitress needs time management skills as much as a manager does. If your role happens to change within the organisation over time but you have a good set of transferable skills, your employer can still rely on you in a different position.

Combined with good profession-specific skills, transferable skills will make you stand out from the mass of applicants. So make sure you are aware of yours, so you can advertise and use them.

Let’s talk about some important transferable skills that you should develop if you don’t have them already.

Adaptability

Since today’s work environment is continuously changing, no one can afford to stand still. Technology, industries, and market trends – everything is changing permanently. If you can show employers that you can adapt to these changes, you are increasing your value drastically.

If you are adaptable, your employer will be able to shift you into another role when necessary. They know you can upskill to stay on top of industry trends and changes relevant to your function and industry.

You may have to demonstrate your adaptability in a job interview. In this case you should be able to talk about recent courses or self-learning you have completed to widen your skill set. If you already have work experience, describe situations from previous roles where you had to show adaptability.

Analytical Thinking

Today’s businesses are about being economic, which relates to figures, so it is important to be able to analyse data. Numbers are one of the fundamentals of business decisions. While computers and programs can analyse data, the interpretation is still up to us – the humans. To increase efficiency and return on investment (ROI), you need to have a handle on analytical thinking. Be prepared to explain to potential employers how you have impacted business with your analytical skills before. Explain a situation where you had to fulfill an analytical task, and what activity you performed to achieve which specific result.

A Proactive Approach

Businesses are becoming more agile to adapt quickly or move before the market changes. This requires employees to be proactive and share their ideas.

To demonstrate your proactiveness, you need to be able to outline situations you have been in, as well as their challenges and what you did to overcome these challenges.

Empathy

Today’s consumers are used to unlimited access to information thanks to technology. They are seeking swift, seamless, personalised service. Ideally 24/7. To serve these needs, businesses are realising human-centred company design methods. These ensure the inclusion of the customer as a centre of business processes, products, and services. Empathy is required from all employees to understand your customer’s perspective.

Resilience

Today’s pace of work creates challenges which have to be approached with experimentation. Experimentation, aiming to find the best way to overcome these new challenges. For example, how to serve a newly established customer need. If you’re conducting experiments, you will soon find that you’ll be confronted with failure. Dealing with failure and being able to learn from it takes resilience. This is why employers are searching for employees with this skill. At your next job interview, be prepared to describe how you have effectively managed significant changes in previous workplaces.

More Transferable Skills

Time management, financial management, creative thinking… The list goes on. There are plenty of transferable skills that are good for you to develop. Start by growing in some of the areas we’ve talked about and continue on from there. If you’re feeling stuck, or want some support, check out some of our employability training.

Leonie Schaefer is part of the Marketing Team at Outcome.Life. As Content Coordinator she plans and creates content to empower better employability outcomes for international students and provide host companies with diverse and passionate interns. Leonie used to be an international student herself, therefore she is a bilingual content creator who also enjoys playing the Australian sport, polocrosse (a mix of polo and lacrosse).

If you have any questions...

The Outcome.Life team are always here to answer any questions or help with any problems you might encounter during your internship.

You can contact us between 9am – 5pm, Monday – Friday at:

Phone: 03 8899 7424

Email: hello@outcome.life

Should I Be More Present On Social Media? Yes, Absolutely!

If you haven’t heard, LinkedIn is the new Facebook for professionals. You may still get the odd cat or pet lizard photo, but the animals are in a home office!

For years, I thought LinkedIn was only helpful in maintaining connections with people you previously knew in a professional capacity. Only after I moved to Australia did I realise how effective a tool it is for creating future opportunities and employability pathways within and outside your chosen industry. It’s modern-day online networking. You know someone through someone and one day a connection offers you a job!

For that connection to vouch for you and offer you a job, you need to ensure you are present and active on social media. We live in a well connected yet remote world. (Thanks, COVID-19.) The connections you make physically or virtually can propel you a long way. So, how do you go about creating your presence?

Consider Yourself an Asset

You are the most valuable currency an organisation has. If you value yourself and build your profile on social media, companies will see your worth and want you as their professional asset. The more you increase your value and profile, the more you get paid and the more companies can’t live without you. Make yourself an acquisition rather than an employee.

Build your Network and Foster Relationships

The days of fishing out business cards and collecting them are gone! When you attend networking events these days, the thing people fish out of their bags and pockets is a phone.

Connections are directly made on LinkedIn so your profile photo and details reminds everyone of you – the person they had a conversation with.

Another important thing to note is to ADD A NOTE when you send your connection request to people on LinkedIn. Personalising your message to future connections makes you memorable for those connections. In this fast-paced world, it can be difficult to remember every person we meet. Sending them a nice, personalised message helps to jog their memory of you and reminds them of what you both have in common.

Be Engaging

According to LinkedIn Jobs statistics, 94% of recruiters globally use LinkedIn to vet a job applicant. Even if you send out the best personalised email to a recruiter, they will still look you up on social media to gauge how engaged you are with the industry. You need to stand out from the crowd by actively interacting with other professionals on social media platforms.

Check out what your favourite companies are doing – follow their initiatives, like their posts, comment creatively and positively on their endeavours. All of this active engagement commits your name to their memory. So when you seek a job from them, they see your initiative, hard work, and determination. If they are unable to offer you a job, they’ll be determined to connect you with someone else who can because they see your value.

Be Curious

Employers love people who grow and change with the times. Showing them you are interested in learning gives them confidence that you can grow their business and yourself.

There is so much to learn from other professionals on LinkedIn. A social media post unrelated to your specific industry can still spark ideas and bestow you with skills that can be transferred to your industry. Joining professional groups on LinkedIn or Facebook can keep you current on the latest industry trends. Invest in self-learning, improve your knowledge and skills base, and be your best professional self!

The professional world is a large place but you can make it smaller through your connections on social media.

Month: June 2021