http://www.cmyjobs.com/employers-looking-for-help/
What Employers Look For: Performance Skills Are Critical To Career Success
Whether searching for a new position, or looking to advance your current career, it’s necessary to understand the skills and traits employers are looking for. In an environment where education and training is fairly accessible, it is possible for technical skills to become a commodity. If so, then what will set you apart from all the other candidates when applying for a position?
In a recent survey, Portfolio Creative found performance skills (how you do the work) to be at least as important as technical skills (the work you do).
Clients were asked to rank the importance of five key areas considered when evaluating a candidate. While software skills, experience level, work samples and work history were all considered to be equally and moderately important, performance skills ranked higher in importance than all other categories.
Performance skills, or “soft skills,” are the behaviors exhibited while doing the work. They’re really the way you approach your work and manage your projects. Going beyond knowing software or being able to execute a task, it’s also being able to communicate clearly, set and achieve goals, and work well with your team.
In Portfolio Creative’s survey the highest ranking skills were team player, goal-oriented self-starter, takes direction well, excellent communicator, flexibility/multi-tasking ability, and adaptable. While there was some difference, the ranking of these top skills were quite close so they can all be considered equally important.
What does this mean to a job seeker or someone looking to advance their career? Being aware that these performance skills are so important to employers is key. A potential employer may be willing to teach a technical skill or overlook a little less experience for someone who has the right attitude and fits in well with their team.
When working on your resume or interviewing techniques, be sure to emphasize your performance at least as much as your technical skills and work experience. By demonstrating strong performance skills, you show the employer an understanding of how to work successfully and create positive outcomes that can be replicated.
While technical skills can be trained and several candidates may have similar experience, strengthening and emphasizing your performance skills can really set you apart from the pack, and set you up for success.
This article may be reprinted when the copyright and author bio are included.
©2009 Kristen Harris, Portfolio Creative, LLC.
Kristen Harris is co-founder and owner of Portfolio Creative, a workforce innovation firm that was named the 326th fastest growing company in the U.S. by Inc. magazine in 2009. Portfolio Creative helps companies streamline and innovate their creative work to save time, energy and money. www.portfolioiscreative.com.
About the Author
Kristen doesn’t just work with creative people, she is one, too. Thirteen years as a designer, art director and creative manager for Express, Structure, Limited Too and Victoria’s Secret gave her an eye for talent and a passion for working with creative people.
After years of wishing there was a better way to connect with creative people for projects or positions, she and Catherine decided to fill that need themselves.
Portfolio Creative gives her the opportunity to help other creatives achieve success in their own careers. Whether working with them directly or from behind the scenes, Kristen is the office cheerleader for every candidate and is proud to be a part of their personal and professional success.
Kristen is a Certified Staffing Professional and an active member of the American Staffing Association. She supports the local creative and business communities through her work with organizations like CSCA, AdFed Columbus, Columbus Chamber, and NAWBO Columbus. A 20+ year resident of Columbus, she’s a graduate of Columbus College of Art and Design with a BFA in Retail Advertising.
Free time is spent with a household full of males (one human, two canine and a feline), and is filled with lots of trips to the park, reading, gardening, and a variety of crafty pursuits. On the weekends, you might find her hanging around Clintonville at the Farmer’s Market or library, and window shopping for vintage jewelry or knitting supplies.
What are top employers looking for in interviewees?
|
|
TurboTax Basic Federal + e-File 2010 – [Old Version] $4.99 TurboTax Basic was designed to make doing your simple taxes easy, by guiding you step by step through your federal tax return. TurboTax guarantees its calculations are 100% accurate, or you’ll be paid any IRS penalties plus interest. TurboTax also double checks your return to help you get the deductions and credits you deserve. Everything you need to easily do your simple tax return. Does th… |
|
|
10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College, Revised: The Know-How You Need to Succeed $6.45 You’ll learn a lot of things in college, but there’s one thing the textbooks won’t teach you: how to acquire marketable job skills before you graduate.Award-winning college professor and student adviser Bill Coplin has been developing skill-based liberal arts curricula for more than 30 years, and has helped thousands of students get great jobs. Here, he lays down the essential skills you need to s… |
|
|
Employers looking to shed administrative functions. (Help wanted on health reform, ‘outsourcing.’) (Risk Management Employee Benefits Services … & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management $5.95 This digital document is an article from National Underwriter Property & Casualty-Risk & Benefits Management, published by The National Underwriter Company on May 17, 1993. The length of the article is 943 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You… |
|
|
Resumes: How to help employers see if you have what they are looking for.: An article from: Fund Raising Management $5.95 This digital document is an article from Fund Raising Management, published by Hoke Communications, Inc. on March 1, 2001. The length of the article is 1356 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.Citation Detail… |