See also:Applying for a Job
Are you on the hunt for a new job? Don’t know exactly what skills are required beyond “past experience”? Having a strong command of basic life skills is a good place to start.
During personnel recruitment, recruiters are on the look-out for the right candidate. Honing these abilities is a prerequisite to any position that you will have in your entire lifetime, whether you’re looking at becoming a waitress, or an accountant.
Buffing up your resume with these basic, but very important, skills can help.
Organisation
Being organised can help you save time.
By having a system in place for where you file certain documents, and where you store particular items, you will know exactly where everything is, freeing up time that you would normally spend on searching for them.
Being such a basic skill, it is expected that you will be able to organise your own work so that, if someone needs your assistance, you can access whatever aids are required straight away.
Working in an organised environment will also help with stress levels. Having an organised system, and an organised work space, means that you have your current workload managed, so that when new tasks come your way, you are able to deal with them as fast as possible.
Tips for staying organised:
Make sure every item has a specific place to be put and do not cross-contaminate the area with any irrelevant items.
Keep a tidy desktop on your computer with folders that separate your work into quickly accessible sections.
See our page: Organising Skills for more information
Time Management Skills
Closely associated with organisation, time management skills are another requirement to getting hired.
Being able to effectively manage your time is necessary to succeed in the workforce. Having multitudes of tasks on your to-do list, and only a short amount of time to do them, you will need to decide how long to spend on each task in order to complete them all by their due dates.
Managing your time at work will help you feel less stressed as you will have a time available for all of your tasks. Having set this time aside, you will be able to focus on the task at hand.
How to manage your time effectively:
At the beginning of each week, plan what you have to do and set aside a certain amount of time for each task.
Always leave yourself an extra hour so that if you run over on anything, you will still be able to complete the task without lagging too far behind.
If you have leftover time, get on to the next day’s task. Being ahead is always better than being behind!
See our pages: Time Management and Avoiding Procrastination for more tips.
Listening and Memory Skills
You will be required in any position to listen, and remember, a fair amount of information.
This could be passwords for the computers, confidentiality agreements that limit what you can share outside of the workplace, or even just the schedule for when to empty the rubbish bins. These things are easily forgotten amongst the other large amounts of information that we take in on a daily basis.
Remembering all of the information that is required for a job can be stressful and overwhelming, so it is important to recognise whether you are able to memorise this information and, if not, finding ways of retaining it.
Tips for remembering important information:
Write it down in a book with other things that you need to remember. This way you can pull out your notebook when you need to remember something specific.
Write it on a post-it note and put it somewhere relevant in your workspace so that, whenever you look in that spot, you will be reminded.
Repeat things in your head enough times so that they stick.
Learn more about Listening Skills and Memory Skills
Self-Motivation
Self-motivation is probably one of the most tricky skills to master - it is hard to stay motivated sometimes, due to being tired, sick, or just a genuine lack of enthusiasm (this does happen!)
However, it is important to try to maintain self-motivation in order to keep yourself happy and productive.
At the end of the day, you are there to work, so motivation is paramount to succeeding. If you aren’t motivated enough to do your job, then you probably shouldn’t be in that position to begin with.
Quick tips to keep yourself motivated:
Make a list of your short term goals and long term goals and see how your current job is going to help you achieve them.
Remind yourself of why you applied for the position in the first place and apply it to your current situation.
See our page: Self Motivation for more information.
Self-Confidence
And last, but not least, self-confidence. Having self confidence in your job is a very important skill to maintain. When you think about it, why would someone hire you if you don’t even have confidence in your abilities?
When projecting self-confidence to an employer, it is important that you do it with respect and humility as sometimes confidence can come off as arrogance, which can be viewed as a negative personality trait. However, having confidence will not only give your employer confidence in you, but it will also give you faith in the work that you produce, often resulting in a more impressive end product.
How to keep yourself confident:
Remind yourself about your past success and be empowered by the fact that you have achieved positive progress in the past.
Reflect on how you got to where you are, the steps that you have taken, and the qualifications that you have.
Remember that you are there to offer your skills and that, without you, your organisation wouldn’t have what you are offering.
See our page on Building Confidence for more information.
When looking for a new job, remembering to have these basic skills honed and evident will show that you are workplace ready, and focusing on improving yourself in these areas is important to furthering yourself in your chosen career.
You will notice, as you start job hunting, that a mixture of these skills will be in every job advertisem*nt, so make sure that you address your abilities when writing your cover letter and in the interview. Show off your amazing skills at your next job interview and watch the offers come pouring in!
Further Reading from Skills You Need
The Skills You Need Guide to Getting a Job
Develop the skills you need to get that job.
This eBook is essential reading for potential job-seekers. Not only does it cover identifying your skills but also the mechanics of applying for a job, writing a CV or resume and attending interviews.
About the Author
Wayne Fleming specialises in recruitment and HR consulting at Flexi Personnel. His passion for aiding business’ to find the right staff is what drives him. He also hopes to help job hunters find the right position for themselves through his wealth of knowledge and advice.
Continue to:
Transferable Skills
Commercial Awareness
See Also:
Writing a CV or Résumé | Writing a Covering Letter
4 Essential Job Skills Employers Look For
