Skills That Will Get You Hired NOW

Here are five skills that you can expect employers to expect of you:

• Ability to analyse quantitative data
• Technical knowledge related to the job
• Proficiency with computer software programs
• Ability to create and/or edit written reports
• Ability to sell and influence others

These crucial skills help you function efficiently in any workspace. The upside is that these are specific skill sets that can be easily acquired and honed.

But this isn’t all. It has been established that employers look for certain “soft skills” in candidates that no college degree or professional programme really teaches you.

These soft skills are:

• Ability to work in a team structure
• Ability to make decisions and solve problems
• Ability to communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organisation
• Ability to plan, organise and prioritise work
• Ability to obtain and process information

Without these soft skills, the aforementioned specific skill sets won’t take you too far. 

Here’s what you can do:

1. Highlight your soft skills. While creating a CV, we often tend to focus on work experience, qualifications and specific skill sets. MeraJob’s SmartProfile takes the CV to the next level. For one, we create it for you. Our tele-recruiters call you to ask you for all the relevant information and then create a comprehensive SmartProfile for you. Your SmartProfile, an easy-to-read visual document, highlights not only your experiences and qualifications, but brings to light all your soft skills.

2. Work on improvement. Apart from emphasising your soft skills, you should identify one or more of the listed skills that you find challenging. Once you have zeroed in on certain problem areas, you should work on systematically improving them. For instance, if time management is a problem for you, then you could think about keeping a diary or using an app that helps you manage your time better.

3. Quality feedback. Another thing that will help you improve your soft skills is quality feedback. Asking your co-workers, employers and friends for honest feedback on the same will help you be more aware of the areas that need improvement.

In a CareerBuilder survey, 71 per cent of the respondents valued these soft skills (EQ) over the more specific skill sets (IQ) when making hiring decisions. So, remember not to take these soft skills lightly!