Employability Skills: Abilities that Help You Get, Do, and Stay in Your Job

A lifelong career is no longer a possibility for many individuals nowadays. Most of us work with several companies and move through several employment sectors. Consequently, we must all be flexible in our working habits and willing to shift occupations and/or industries if we feel greater possibilities elsewhere. To do this, we must realize that we all have transferrable skills or employability skills. These are abilities that are not unique to a single professional path but helpful in various work areas.??

Compared to its more glamourous twin named hard or technical skills, the humble human skills have been hidden under the radar even though people can benefit from developing higher level of proficiency in these soft skills to stay employed.

Unsurprising is the training industry that positioned a higher premium price tag for technical training while soft skills are offered at lower investment point. However, both skillsets are equally important to succeed in our professional arena.

Getting To Know?Employability?Skills????

Employers?frequently?want new hires and their existing employees to?possess?abilities that go beyond credentials and experience.? The UK Employment and Skills Commission (UKCES) defined employability in terms of qualifications as the simplest and most accessible "quality of skills nearly everyone needs to perform just about any job." This is a fantastic concept, still, employability is not just about talents. It is also about skills or competences: ability, attitude, and conduct.??

Education and experience may enable you to apply for work. Being able, in other words, to obtain a job, to apply for a job correctly and shine in an interview is not a vital employability skill. In addition, you need skills that you will?acquire?through time over a long period in most jobs to succeed. Some are unique to the work you do. Most of these skills come under the term of 'soft skills' that are relevant to be utilized in any position or job area. These soft skills are also known as 'employability skills': they make you workable or being employed.??

A soft skill is intangible and difficult to define, in contrast to hard skills, which can?be shown?and evaluated in a controlled environment. Soft skills encompass analytical thinking, verbal and written communication, and leadership, to name a few examples.?

Employability Skills Are In-Demand

As outlined in the Monster Future of Work: 2021 Outlook study, recruiters?identified?soft skills as the most essential qualities they are looking for in new recruits, with dependability, teamwork/ collaboration, and problem solving/critical thinking ranking first, second, and third, respectively. Recruiters also predict that this will be the area in which they will?encounter?the greatest ability disparities among applicants (Monster, 2021, January 5).??The wider scope of workplace employability abilities?includes?the soft skills that enable you to collaborate well with others, use knowledge to solve issues, and adapt to whatever work situation you?encounter. One of the justifications that soft skills are highly regarded is because they aid in the facilitation of interpersonal relationships.?

For the most part, you?may be the greatest at what you do, however if your soft skills are not up to par, you will find yourself restricting your prospects of achieving professional success.??

Most employers are ready to educate anybody on the areas of work skill needed, for example, how to?operate?specific equipment parts or how to utilize special computer programmes that?are extremely?unique to that job position or business. However, employers want to see that you already have the list of 'soft skills' before joining a new company, since these soft or people skills are tougher to teach in short time. In fact, soft skills?are accumulated? over years of experience, application, and practice in functional work areas within various workplace settings.???

According to a study conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management, technical abilities such as reading comprehension and mathematics?are not valued?as highly as soft skills. This means that you must deliver more on the table than, for example, impressive sales numbers, knowledge of coding languages, or test scores (Society for Human Resource Management., 2016). Thus, your?generic?employability skills?or soft skills are?required?because the job market is extremely competitive, and companies are searching for people who are adaptable, take the initiative, and?have the ability to?perform a variety of tasks in a range of changing environments.??

The Importance?Of?Employability??

The Institute of Directors has undertaken an employability survey, which questioned directors employing new graduates to assess the significance of employability compared with the?particular technical?or academic knowledge and abilities connected with their degrees:??

• 36%?stated?the skills of employability are significantly more essential.?
• 29% believed they were a little more important.??
• 23% thought they were of the same significance.??

In another way, employability is your ability to?acquire?initial jobs,?retain?jobs and, if necessary, find new jobs. Simply put, employability is about being able to work and continuing doing it. Employability is about having a range of talents, knowledge, understanding and personal characteristics. (Cork Institute?Of?Technology., n.d.). It is the creation of skills and adaptable workforces in which all people who are capable of working?are encouraged?to develop the skills, knowledge, technology, and adaptability necessary to enter and stay in employment throughout their working lives that?is defined?as "employability" (HM Treasury, 1997). These soft skills are abilities not job-specific; they play a significant role in increasing your performance and value in the workplace. Thus, employability skills are vital with the possible that they will also?influence? your? capacity?to advance in your professional life.?

Furthermore, the fundamental abilities and characteristics? required?in almost any profession are employability skills. A person's general talents are those that make him or her attractive to an organisation.?

The Cornerstones?Of?Any Career?

Most of us are beginning to?acquire?these soft skills or lifelong abilities early in life, but we do not know that. In time, the employable skills stand us in good stead because they?are needed?in any?workplace,?and they enable you to develop in your profession and help you grow efficiently in interacting with colleagues as well as fixing issues. ?In this case, the building blocks of your career are employability or "soft skills."?

The media often report how school leavers, graduates and/or people who work already are lacking these abilities. Because of this soft skills challenge, organisations spend a lot of time and money training employees in general and fundamental skills, instead of areas?within the hard or technical fields.?In periods of high unemployment, businesses have a greater choice of applicants and are more inclusive in their employability through hiring of people from diverse backgrounds. As a result, soft skills are gaining prominence to equip different team members to work well together in harmony and productive manner.?Remember that?acquiring?soft skills are enduring abilities in a long-term process: so far, few individuals can – or would – say that soft skills cannot?be enhanced?forever.?Reason being that soft skills development is limitless!?

Among the most essential abilities in employability are the domains of:??

• Work well with other people, such as communication abilities and other interpersonal?skills;???
• Be confident and reliable: do what you say based on the time you agree and be present when you are supposed to arrive; and???
• A desire to?acquire?and expand new abilities, whether they are broader knowledge or?job-specific.??

In-depth descriptions are:

1. Working well with others??

The?capacity?to successfully engage, cooperate, collaborate, and manage disputes with other people?in order to?accomplish?tasks and achieve common?objectives?is known as working with others. These teamwork abilities necessary for working effectively with others are known as interpersonal skills.????

Good interpersonal skills enable you as a team member to successfully engage, fulfil the expectations of consumers and customers, negotiate, make choices, resolve issues with others, and?generally work?well with other workers. In addition, well-groomed interpersonal skills enable us to understand and develop relationships with colleagues as well as customers, resulting in a better working environment with less stress. Interpersonal communication is the process of face-to-face exchange of thoughts, ideas, feelings, and emotions between two or more people. Interpersonal skills areas include:????

Communication skills- the abilities necessary to properly convey or receive messages by speaking or writing to and from others, without misunderstanding. These competencies include:????

Verbal Communication — or the words we use, face-to-face or written. The proportion between face to face and written will undoubtedly vary in various professions;???

Non-Verbal Communication – or what we do without words, such as body language, voice tone, or even?emojis;????

Listen — how we accept and then understand the verbal and nonverbal signals given by others, even in writing.????

Emotional intelligence - or the?capacity?to recognize and regulate your own emotions as well as in others, so that you utilize emotions for the intended results.????

Teamwork?— the?capacity?to work formally and informally with others in organizations and teams. Not everyone needs to?operate?inside a tight business unit. Still, performing effectively in a group is a crucial skill in most professions, despite the different group terminologies used in many organizations.??

Negotiation, persuasion, and skills influencing - abilities include finding mutually acceptable solutions, whether by convincing others that your proposal is best or by sharing ideas.??

Conflict resolution and mediation - the abilities necessary to settle disputes in a constructive manner, whether your own or other problems. These abilities are?frequently?underestimated until an issue exists.????

Problem-solving and decision-making — the ability to work effectively with others to?identify, define, and solve issues, including decision making on the best way forward. Naturally, it is also possible to decide and solve problems alone, but doing it with others adds depth to the scenario.????

Not?all of?these categories will?be?needed?in every job at all times. But you can fairly be sure that you will?need?them at some time in your career, and many of these soft skills to work with others be necessary each day.??Notwithstanding?that, strong interpersonal skills are an advantage in the workplace, as they may help you manage complexity, change, and day-to-day responsibilities.?

2. Be trustworthy and dependable??

Being trustworthy and dependable means doing what you say you would do. It also say to look about and see what needs to?be done?and then to do it.????

That seems straightforward but needs several skills,?mainly personal?rather than interpersonal level.????

First, to do what you say is to be organized and to manage your time efficiently. You?have to?know how long it takes in the time to complete the work to the fulfilled the required quality. You also need to choose what to?accomplish?first, so it is less significant if anything?is overlooked.

Reliability also implies trustworthiness and awareness. This might indicate, for example, not leaving work (too?frequently) while things still need to?be done. Confidence and self-awareness are both elements of self-regulation and self-management, an essential?component?of emotional intelligence. Self-regulation shows that you have the discipline to?accomplish?tasks you may not want to do but realize they?need to be completed.????

Self-regulated and trustworthy people?are responsible for?their own activities and guarantee that their ideas?of deadlines are met. They?monitor?timelines and fulfil deadlines without having to?be pursued.??

However, being trustworthy does not mean that you have to do everything yourself. On the contrary, it may be crucial for you at certain times seek?assistance?if you perceive that you would not otherwise be able to fulfil a deadline.????

The last aspect of being dependable is to use your initiative to discover and continue to do where work needs to?be done. Daniel Goleman, who created the emotional intelligence concept (Amazon., 2021),?recognized that initiative is an essential element in self-motivation. He described it as 'ready to take advantage of chances.' You may find it helpful to create certain creative thought methods to complete work efficiently while also beneficial in addressing the last aspect, the desire to learn, to improve your? capacity?to utilize your drive to achieve at work.??

3. A Willingness to Learn??

To be ready to learn is to be open to new ideas and experiences and constantly?seek?to enhance your abilities and knowledge.? Individual skills and motivation for self-regulated, generative learning, as well as life events that impose challenges require incremental/adaptive change at times while frame-breaking change and transformational learning at other times. Hence, you have to nurture lifelong learning as a dynamic process noted in The Oxford Handbook of Lifelong Learning (London,2011).?Often called personal development, a commitment to life-long learning?is also used?for a more formal process of?establishing?goals, action, and reflection.

In the current “era of the growth of the world’s knowledge resources, permanent learning is indispensable in order to maintain or strengthen one’s employability” (Wi?niewska, Wi?niewski, &? Szyd?o, 2021). Whether you decide to learn formally or?informally,?the contemporary world demands us to refresh and upgrade our abilities continuously.??

Change in most organizations is continuous, and the most valued workers welcome personal change and recognize that it?provides?more possibilities than?dangers.?Employers usually seek robust, adaptive, and flexible individuals – another important element of emotional intelligence and self-regulation (Serrat, 2017).?The criteria for job success are of course also shifting.

Staff?are now measured?by new criteria: not only how clever they are, or the amount of training and experience , but also how effectively they manage themselves and one another. These skills are heavily affected?by personal characteristics like persistence, self-control, and interpersonal skills. New criteria are increasingly being used?to encourage staff with motivation to embark on life-long learning, This is apart from?determining?who will?be recruited ?and who will not, who will?be fired?and who will?be kept, and who will?be demoted?or promoted.?

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In conclusion, we need a variety of soft skills to keep us employed in an organization. Individually,?everyone?of us has our talents; therefore, we can each offer a unique contribution to any organization. Consequently, it is important to learn to recognize and utilize your skills properly. Have an open mind and a desire to accept new ideas because both are among the most beneficial features for any organization.?

References?

?Amazon. (2021). Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ: Goleman, Daniel: 9780553383713: Amazon.com: Books. Retrieved July 13, 2021, from Amazon.com website:?https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Intelligence-Matter-More-Than/dp/055338371X??

Cork Institute?Of?Technology. (n.d.). What is Employability. In?mycit.ie. Retrieved from?https://www.mycit.ie/contentfiles/careers/what%20is%20employability.pdf?

HM Treasury (1997) Treasury Press Release 122/97, 13th October: Gordon Brown unveils UK Employment Action Plan. London: HM Treasury??

Monster. (2021, January 5). The Future of Work 2021: A Summary of This Year’s Survey | Monster.com. Retrieved July 13, 2021, from Monster Employer Resources | Monster.com website: https://hiring.monster.com/employer-resources/blog/labor-statistics/future-of-work-2021-summary?_ga=2.212736403.661671517.1626183343-2040000228.1626183343?

Institute of Directors skills briefing December 2007 Graduates employability skills 1. (2013). Institute of Directors skills briefing December PDF Free Download. Retrieved July 11, 2021, from Docplayer.net website:?https://docplayer.net/14250289-Institute-of-directors-skills-briefing-december-2007.html?

London, M. (2011). Lifelong Learning: Introduction.?The Oxford Handbook of Lifelong Learning, 2–11.?https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195390483.013.0013?

Serrat, O. (2017). Understanding and Developing Emotional Intelligence.?Knowledge Solutions, 329–339.?https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-0983-9_37?

Society for Human Resource Management. (2016). SHRM/Mercer Survey Findings: Entry-Level Applicant Job Skills. Retrieved 2021, from?www.shrm.org?website:?https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/research-and-surveys/PublishingImages/Pages/Entry-Level-Applicant-Job-Skills-Survey-/Entry-Level%20Applicant%20Job%20Skills%20Survey.pdf?

Wi?niewska, S., Wi?niewski, K., &?Szyd?o, R. (2021). The Relationship between Organizational Learning at the Individual Level and Perceived Employability: A Model-Based Approach. Sustainability, 13(14), 7561.?

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