The job market is ever-evolving and the criteria for employment changes periodically. Being employable requires you to stay ahead of the requirements. Not only that, but you also have to stay ahead of the competition. The three things employers lookout for the most are skill and culture fit, personality, and agility. Employers want people that can work effectively and also coordinate with their colleagues. They want people who are natural problem solvers, who have a positive attitude to work and display ingenuity. And finally, they want people who can handle pressure and unfamiliar circumstances—how people handle situations matter.
Other qualities pique employers’ attention but these three are at the core. And in knowing this, you can prepare yourself by acquiring much-needed skills and positioning yourself. Here are some tips, built around the core qualities and some others, to help you out:
Specialize Your Skillset
Employers want candidates who possess skills at a sufficient level to perform required tasks, but this is considered basic in this department. To impress employers, you need to do a little extra.
Be specific with your skillset: Specialization is the key to mastery. The deeper you go in mastering your discipline, the more developed your skills become, and employers notice this.
Get certified: If there are professional bodies in your field that award certificates for the completion of courses or skill tests, then you should see to getting one. For example, if your discipline is analytics, you should see to getting a certificate from Google for the completion of their analytics course. This gives them a more accurate picture of where your skills are. It also shows that you are developing yourself.
Seek Somewhere You’ll Fit In
A well-oiled organization requires not only skills but also teamwork and cooperation—and this falls under the culture department. Employers want to know that you’re a good fit for their company, that you’ll be able to get along and work with others, thus, they lookout for great interpersonal skills.
In this light, showing that you possess such skills by participating in volunteer activities and heading up teams show that you can lead, that you work well with people, and that you take responsibility for your actions and the actions of those on your team. Employers are delighted by candidates with these abilities.
Show Your Best Self
Your personality includes everything from your attitude to the way you handle tasks and conflict. How you go about doing things affects company operations. Employers want to know that you are naturally inclined to handle yourself in a way that is beneficial to both parties.
Personality outside your CV: It’s common to want to make a good impression during an interview, but most times people forget that impressions can be made outside an interview room. It’s no secret that employers run background checks on potential candidates, and this has lost many candidates’ jobs because of one discretion or the other. No employer expects you to be perfect some statements or actions just don’t cut it. For example, a drunk video or an inappropriate online status update could cost you a job. Employers take this seriously because they believe these actions are a testament to a person’s personality, and while that may not always be the case the damage is already done.
Knowing this, you could run a search on yourself using leading online information databases like www.golookup.com before applying for jobs to make sure that there is nothing unsavory out there. It’s never a bad idea to familiarize yourself with your own background check.
Clean Up Your Online Presence
Great skill and personality are useless if recruiters cannot find you. An online presence is paramount. Platforms like Linkedin help display your skills and experience, but you’ll need to take it a step further i.e. a retained search firm. Retained search firms help market you to top recruiters and companies. So, with these services, the necessary skills, a great personality, and attitude, you’ll be scooped up quicker than you can say job search.