Career Success: The Necessary 5 Basic Skills!
Career Success: 5 Basic Skills to Career Advancement and how to be a Winning Applicant.
What are the key factors that recruiters and employers are looking for in potential employees? How does the interviewer separate the applicant with five years experience from the applicant with one months experience sixty times? In addition, for each position the employer may be looking for different specific career skills and experience.
There are however, similar career skill sets and attitudes that employers look for in all applicants from engineer to janitor. What career skills are continually in demand?
1. Bedrock Basic Career Skills
Simply put: basic educational skills learned by the end of junior high school. How well does the applicant read, write and do basic math? For example, a few years ago an automobile manufacturer was planning to add over 1000 new employees to a large assembly plant. Slightly over 20,000 applied for the well paying jobs.(With overtime annual earnings could exceed $45,000) All the applicants were high school graduates and ranged in age from 18 to 67, with the bulk of the applicants between ages 25 to 45.
In the selection process all the applicants were required to take a series of paper and pencil tests. Tests built so an average high school freshman should easily pass. The tests were designed to determine basic reading, writing (comprehension) and analytical (math, reading simple charts and forms) skills. The series of tests took about four hours to complete. Slightly over 50% failed these basic skill tests, even some applicants with 2 or more years of college couldn't pass the tests.
This is a sad commentary on the erosion of basic skills after high school.
Move the skills up a notch to include basic keyboarding skills, basic computer knowledge and other modern tools: fax, copy machine, basic work processing and you have the bedrock basic skills required for career success in almost any employment situation.
2. Team and Interpersonal Career Skills
How well does the applicant speak? Do they answer questions in a positive manner? Do they get to the point? Can they demonstrate good customer service skills? Although not everyone needs to be outgoing can the applicant communicate well with coworkers, other team members, management and customers? Working well with others is a critical career skill for job success.
3. Ongoing Career (Job) Search Achievements
A successful job search is a process that requires a high level of dedication. If you’re waiting for your ship to come in after only sending out two applications in two months your chances of success is severely diminished compared to the applicant who sends out 2, 5 and even 10 applications a day. Employers are seeking employees who are positive and show enthusiasm and knowledge of the industry and companies they approach. You will be evaluated, positively or negatively, on how you are approaching the job search. Even with fewer skills, with this positive approach, you have a better chance in getting the job over a lackluster candidate with better skills.
This approach is equally applicable for new positions or internal moves or promotions at your present place of employment.
4. Job Performance
Employers are constantly adding and subtracting employees and operations depending upon the marketplace. A safe job today may be axed six months from now. How do you manage to somewhat insulate yourself from these fluctuations?
Beyond the numbers, it all comes down to performance. By demonstrating your worth, taken the initiative and otherwise developed into a valuable employee you have less chance of being downsized than those will average performance. This superior performance will also lead to other successes as you move up the career ladder.
5. Career and Job Development
Start with career development. This is a planning skill. Setting career goals both short and long term and reaching them will be of great assistance in climbing your career ladder. A key ingredient to career development is learning new skills, updating established skills and applying new concepts.
This is accomplished by job or professional development in taking classes, self-study programs, attending seminars and otherwise being open to new opportunities to grow your career. This is only done if you are committed to be a lifelong student. People who demonstrate this trait are keeping themselves marketable as employers are always looking for people who have the up to date training and skills to handle new challenges.
Where do you fit? Need help in polishing up you writing skills? Having a problem conducting meetings or making presentations? Haven’t done as assessment on your career progress for some time? Read any good books lately? All require taking the first step. Commit not to “rust out” like many of the applicants were apparently doing who applied for the assembly line jobs. Better to be in the “wear out” category, with the life long learning process supplying the lubricant to keep everything humming and really never wearing out.
Quick Tips to Make a Career Change and Plan a Better Future
It's unlikely that you will stay with one employer your whole working life. As you make choices regarding your career your identity comes from these choices and not from your employer.
Who is making a lifetime commitment to your career? It's surely not your employer, no matter how benevolent they might be. The person controlling your life is you, so if you take responsibility for your career and your future you'll be far ahead of most people. Even more important is how well and consistently you apply your career planning if you are looking to make a midlife career change.
If you feel powerless because of where you work, or the career you are in, wakeup and get started on your future. Even if you are over 40 or 50 a mid life career change is not out of the question. Everyone, no matter what the age, with a bit of careful career planning has the ability to quit their jobs and start with another employer, another career or start working for themselves.
The job market is relatively soft right now, but the economy will change and if you plan for a job or midlife career change you future success starts now.
Five Ways to Quickly Get Control of Your Career and Your Future.
1. The key to success in mid life career change is to research job opportunities all the time. This doesn't mean you need to send out five resumes every day. What is does mean is you are constantly looking for opportunities. Some may be internal-with your current employer, some may be external.
Some career opportunities may be additional education, self-study, networking with outside organizations, and becoming a player in a career related organization. All will provide you with a constant stream of valuable career information.
If you get stuck and don't see a way out, work hard at getting help. Career coaches are everywhere. How about a mentor or someone from your network? Build up your support team and soon you'll have a group of people working on your behalf advancing your career.
2. Don't use money issues as the reasons holding you back. If you use this as an excuse for making a career or job decision you are shortchanging yourself. If you think you need a certain income to live well, there are many families living better but earning 10%, 20% and even 50% less than you do. How do they do it? Do some research.
After your research then make your plans and follow through and you'll soon find that financial issues will drop off your worry/excuse list.
3. Honestly assess where you happiness comes from. If it were money, millionaires would be the happiest people on the planet. And earning 25% more may or may not increase you level of happiness. Probably not as there is always 25% more, and 25% after that.
After you've built your career plan and you take action this is the fasted path to fulfillment and happiness, not ruminating about what you cannot control.
4. Blaming others for your situation or taking a negative approach to a situation because of your age or experience level is a lose-lose proposition. How you view situations matters. If a problem becomes framed as an opportunity you'll be well on your way to controlling the situation. Search for the best in every situation, taking the optimistic approach will put you more in control of your career, your possible career change and your future.
5. Do the best presenting in your "brand." Looking your best starts with physical conditioning. What is your ideal weight? Do you regularly exercise? Do you go out of your way to build in some physical activity into your daily routine?
Working in a three story building-how often do you use the stairs? Going shopping? How about parking at the edge of the parking lot and getting in some extra walking. You get the idea.
What you wear can make a difference. Recently I meet with a manager who was dressed in what looked like Goodwill castoffs. He didn't impress any member of my team and he had to work extra hard to get his points across. This is not to suggest that he had to wear a $2000 designer suit, but freshly pressed khakis, with a shirt without a frayed collar and shined shoes would have made at least a neutral impression.
Need assistance with the rest of your appearance? Get help, get a regular haircut, etc.
Also, as part of your career planning work hard to improve your ability to communicate, both in writing and in making an oral presentation. Improvement in this area will also improve your "brand" and will pay big dividends.
Controlling your life, career and future is no easy task. Once you make the decision to start, work through one thing at a time. Keep it up and before you know it you will put together a record of personal achievements and career advancement. Moreover, that planned midlife career change will come into focus and you'll be better prepared to make the move. The time to start is now.
For further information on career planning and development, career change, midlife career change, recruitment, and interviewing you'll find a wealth of valuable information in the links listed above. Also, don't miss our Career Ideas Blog for up to date career info and ideas to assist you in managing your career.
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