BEING THE PROFESSIONAL WORKER (1)

A Guide to Possessing The Right Skillset For Your Dream Job

It’s the first full working day in July and we’re still delivering on our promise to serve you 31 days of super positive fun. So, even though it’s a busy Monday, don’t get so serious reading this post.

A young man walked up to me and asked, “Why is it that good people and sometimes, even smart people don’t get good jobs, and why does this happen too often?” Chances are that as a Nigerian, you have even come to accept this as a norm. It isn’t uncommon to hear people say there are no jobs out there, or that you can’t get jobs without strong connections, as they put it. I even used to believe this until I realised certain things that shifted my mind-set, and I’ll be willing to share with you. If this doesn’t change your perspective about this false notion, tell me and I’ll be willing to have a more detailed conversation with you.

The truth is; there are more vacancies than people think are available. There are more jobs than you think; they are just waiting for the right person. The question for you, the job seeker is, are you the right person?

Take a minute to think that question through. If you were an employer, would you hire yourself knowing that your competency or incompetence would determine the success of failure of the firm you work for? Does your profile fit that of those who are already working with that company you want to work for or are you growing into it? Even in a system bedevilled with nepotism and corrupt practices, people are still getting top, lucrative jobs, or at least decent enough jobs.

There is often just one requirement, and it is that you meet their criterion, that’s all. Now, while the criteria may vary across jobs, the fact remains that every well-meaning firm seeks to hire candidates who fit and possibly exceed their criteria for the job.

Fitting a recruiter’s criteria pretty much means one thing; that you possess the requisite skills! Employers require skilled people to handle and execute tasks, and every task comes with its own required skill set. If you don’t meet the required skill set, sorry no job for you.

These skills are classified into two, and we would cover them every Monday in the month of July, maybe even into August, depending on feedback we get from our audience. The two sets of skills employers look for are known as;

1. Hard skills

2. Soft skills

1. Hard skills

Hard skills are technical knowledge or training that you gain through any life experience, including in your career or education. To put it simply, they are skills that are professionally taught as a vocation. They are the skills required for you to actually do the job. They are the practical hands on knowledge you should possess and be able to display. They are industry specific and as such vary from one industry to another. A doctor for instance, would not have the same hard skill set a lawyer or a musician might have. The hard skills the doctor would possess would enable him to competently perform his duties as a doctor, and so it goes for the banker, teacher, or even comedian.

For the purpose of this series, I would classify hard skills into two. You wouldn’t find this expressly stated elsewhere, so be careful when quoting this post:

a. Field skills (Offline skills)

Now this might be tricky when dealing with techies, but we refer to field skills as the abilities and competencies you have picked up which are demonstrated I your fioeld of practice. Acquired through months and often years of education, practice and repetition, they are the most industry specific skills you can bring to the table.

They include, but are not restricted to:

i. A degree, diploma, or other academic qualification

ii. Industry specific certification

iii. Foreign language skills (Bilingual or multilingual)

iv. Project management

v. Bookkeeping

vi. Storage systems and management

b. Tech skills (Online skills)

This refers to skills that are learnt and are acquired in a bid to apply IT to your field skill set. Except you are a tech enthusiast or professional, you only need to get just enough knowledge of them to apply in your actual field, but going all the way could also be an option, especially if you are considering a career change.

Tech skills are fast becoming a must possess as businesses are globally going digital, and employers are more forward thinking now than they once were, thanks to increasing competition in the market.

Some vital tech skills you should have are:

i. Data mining

ii. Network security

iii. Database management

iv. User interface design

v. Statistical analysis

vi. SEO marketing

2. Soft skills

Soft skills are personal habits and traits that shape how you work, on your own, and with others. They are not taught but are possessed and developed over time. Even the soft skill schools that are popping up here and there lately do not give you the skills. They only teach you about them.

In today’s economy, employers are increasingly more interested in employing people with excellent soft skills above people with hard skills. This is because research has shown that it is easier to train a person with soft skill in acquiring a hard skill than it is to teach a person with the right hard skill a soft skill. To illustrate this, it is easier to train a proven team player in project management than it is to teach a skilled but aggressive project manager how to be patient or a team player, he might have jeopardized a project or two already.

Soft skills are classified into two:

a. Intrapersonal skills

b. Interpersonal skills

a. Intrapersonal skills

These are skills that deal with you as a person, and how a sound understanding of yourself and your environment affect or influence your productivity at work. Some of such skills include:

i. Time management

ii. Analytical thinking

iii. Problem solving ability

iv. Creativity

v. Organization

b. Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills are skills that concern your relationship and interaction with others at work. Unlike intrapersonal skills that concern you as an individual unit, interpersonal skills are about you as a team member and how your input improves or impedes the execution of tasks assigned to your team. Some of these skills are:

i. Communication

ii. Empathy

iii. Teamwork

iv. Open-mindedness

v. Willingness to learn

So, let’s slow down a bit and do a quick recap, because we aren’t going further in this post. The next Monday’s post would focus on tech hard skills, and the rest of this series would be focused on soft skills, so don’t be in a rush. You now know what hard and soft skills are and you probably now know why you haven’t really nailed that job you’ve been looking for. Well, we’re here to help you as much as we can and I’m sure that following this series to the end would get you more enlightened and ready for industry business more than you ever were.

Till I come your way next Monday, stay smart!