Two Former Classmates have applied for the same job role at an organization and have both been invited for a panel of interviews. They both studied Business Administration, Set of 2010. Same Class of Degree–2:1. Same number of years of working experience–5 years. Who would the organization choose and why?
We tend to feel that having an education/qualification is just enough to get us by or land us that ‘dream opportunity’. Candidates are often frustrated to find that despite being very much qualified for a job, they are not hired for it. Some attribute it to corruption within the system, a case of ‘who knows who’ or simply a case of ‘that hiring manager did not just like me!’. But most times it goes beyond that. If organizations were to go by the criteria above, it would be extremely difficult to choose out of the crowd of candidates that apply for jobs. So, what exactly separates one candidate from the other and what are organizations looking for?
Technical Skills or Job-Specific Competencies are not responsible for poor performance of employees in an organization. Neither are they sole reasons for hiring employees. If anything, they are skills that can be taught on the job or can easily be acquired through the school system. However, non-technical skills, popularly known as Soft Skills, are harder to come by because these are not taught in schools or infused into the curriculum.
There is a huge difference between knowing “How to Solve Mathematical Equations” and “Managing Multiple Projects Within a Tight Timeline” or “Collaborating with Cross-Functional Groups”. Organizations are looking for these sets of skills that are crucial for competitive advantage in a highly competitive global business world. These set of skills are hard to succeed without and are so important in today’s workforce that experts feel they are too critical to be called ‘Soft Skills’. They are preferably referred to as ‘Non-Technical Skills’, “Management Skills’ or ‘Business Leadership Skills’.
The higher one moves up the career ladder, the higher the demand for these skills. However, the days of waiting to move up the career ladder, in terms of job roles and responsibilities, before one can acquire these skills, are far behind. A huge part of these ‘skills-sets’ are in high demand from early to mid-career professionals; hence the popular term, ‘Employability/Job-Readiness Skills’.
It is very common to hear CEOs complain that ‘there are no qualified people anywhere’ and it makes one wonder how that could be possible with the teeming population of graduates and unemployed persons everywhere.
The essence of what employers are looking for in candidates can be summarized as follows:
- Focused Work Ethic: Self-Management, Working Hard as well as Working Smart, Taking the Initiative, Going the Extra Mile, Adding and Bringing Value, Consistently Delivering Results etc.
- Strategic Thinking: Ability to see the whole rather than the parts, Being Proactive, Planning, Creative Thinking, Ability to Visualize Beyond Present ‘Desk’, etc.
- Problem-Solving Skills: Ability to Adjust & Adapt Quickly to Change, Critical Decision Making, Flexibility etc.
- Organizational Skills: Leveraging Team & Resources to Achieve Efficiency, Planning, Prioritizing, Time-Management Skills etc.
- Influence: Ability to Get Others to Get the Job Done, Motivating Others, Team Skills, Interpersonal Skills etc.
- Communication Skills: Excellence in Oral and Written Communication, Business Communication Skills, Presentation Skills etc.
The examples above are just to mention a few and are by no means exhaustive. They can be acquired through trainings that are specifically designed to address these particular areas and by experience on the job. The more you practice, the better you become at using these skills at their different levels to broaden your scope of work and job responsibilities.
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This article was first published on 9th May 2018
soluchi
Soluchi Ogugua is a HR Business Partner with a strong passion and commitment to people and skills development. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics and a Master’s Degree in Global Human Resource Management. She has garnered over 15 years of hands-on experience in leadership, coaching and mentoring, assisting individuals and organizations to achieve their development objectives.
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