Top 10 Skills Demanded By Employers

Do I have the skills to make the cut?

This is a question every job seeker should ask when hunting for a job. Otherwise, how would you know whether you have what it takes to be hired or not?

Now this list is not catered to specific careers. Obviously if you are an engineer, you should expect the technical know-how of an engineer to form part of your essential skills.

Here, the skills are more general and cater to all types of professional careers.

You may be surprised to find out that with today’s IT domination in every facet of our lives, some skills can never be replaced even with the best technology.

1.Communications Skills

You would notice that every job advertisement would not be short of this requirement: Possess good communication skills.

2.Analytical/Research Skills

Deals with your ability to assess a situation, seek multiple perspectives, gather more information and etc. Resourcefulness is a well sought after trait!

3.Computer/Technical Literacy

Almost all jobs now require some basic understanding of computer hardware and software whether it is in word processing, spreadsheets, email and surfing the net.

4.Flexibility/Adaptability/Managing Multiple Priorities

Deals with your ability to manage multiple assignments and tasks, set priorities, and adapt to changing conditions and work assignments. The business landscape is changing all the time and employees must be able to adapt to changes quickly.

5.Interpersonal Abilities

The ability to relate to your co-workers, inspire others to participate, and mitigate conflict with co-workers is essential since everybody’s work is inter-related nowadays.

6.Leadership/Management Skills

When an employer makes a statement that a candidate has great potential, more often than not, it refers to the personal leadership ability. Ability to take charge and managing others effectively is a scarce trait.

7.Planning/Organizing

Deals with your ability to design, plan, organize, and implement projects and tasks within an allotted time frame.

8.Problem-Solving/Reasoning/Creativity

Involves the ability to find solutions to problems using your creativity, reasoning, and past experiences along with the available information and resources.

9.Ability to work in a team

Because so many jobs involve working in one or more work-groups, you must have the ability to work with others in a professional manner while attempting to achieve a common goal.

10.Multicultural Sensitivity & Awareness

As the world is getting smaller and as more opportunities to work with people of different nationalities, culture and background presenting itself to us, job seekers are required to embrace diversity and possess a stronger awareness of what it takes to work in a global community.

Obtaining these skills is not a one-off affair but rather they are to be learned and sharpened each and every day. The learning experience never ends.

Stop Doing It!

I read somewhere about the late Frank Sinatra that he was excellent at giving up the things that did not move him closer to his goal. One of the sayings, “Frank Sinatra doesn’t move pianos.” This does not mean he is vain or found manual work too undignified for him. It simply means he understood his fame and fortune rested on his singing ability, not his ability to get the stage ready for him to sing! He did what he did best and allowed others to perform their best on things they did best.

As most of us are hard-pressed for time, the way we make use of our time is important. Otherwise, our goals can never be achieved. For example, a Customer Service Manager’s goal is to be a General Manager one day. But if he spent most of his time attending to customers’ queries and not on “managing” his team by developing and coaching them, his goal of becoming a General Manager can never be achieved or might take longer to be realized. So even though he is excellent in customer service, he should STOP doing it. Instead he should invest more of his time and energy in the activities that are focused toward his goal.

It is and has to be a deliberate act. Are you going to include this in your resolution this year?

Hire Gardeners To Be Your Managers

I’ve been doing a bit of gardening lately and I discovered some interesting facts.

There are a few ingredients that make up a good garden. Choosing the right kind of plants or flowers is one of them. The other is to provide the right kind of environment for the plant to grow healthily.



Interestingly, these are the traits of a good manager. Identifying the right kind of plant is like hiring the right kind of people to work with you. A good gardener will tell you some type of flowers that are suitable in a temperate climate will not survive long in a tropical weather, unless you are ready to build a green house.



After getting the right kind of plants, a good gardener will need to provide a conducive environment in terms of soil, water, sunshine and fertilizers to make them thrive. Different plant needs different treatment. For example, flowers like Gailladria (below) do best when grown in full sun and light, and well drained soil. Anything short of that, they will wither easily.



Good managers will see themselves as mentors, the focus is to build people by creating environments for them to be their best and achieve the objectives of the organization.