Attributes Valued by Employers
By Marley Dabb
Personal Attributes Valued by Employers
Specific Skills
This includes job specific skills, for example if you were to apply for an IT programming related job you would be expected to have knowledge in the programming language used, how to use a computer and the basic knowledge of computer hardware. Specific skills are something you have to learn and do so by going to school, college, university or by practicing/researching on your own.
Other specific skills include
Technical Knowledge - It is important to have knowledge is all the different aspects of your job.
Health & Safety - Employers want people to be aware of the health and safety rules that apply to ensure that no accidents will happen.
Working Attitudes - Employers expect you to have a good attitude so that they can enjoy your company and not have any issues with other people in the work place.
General Attributes
Employers require these attributes so that you will work as efficiently as you possibly can. Not having some of these skills could cause very unorganized desks, arriving late and missing meetings, and falling behind on work.
Having a lot of general attributes will allow you work very efficiently which is what all employers are looking for.
Attitudes
Tolerance - When getting a job you may work with someone who you don't mix well with so it is important to not express personal opinions.
Leadership - In work places being a leader is important depending on your role and employers are always looking for someone with the attitude of a leader so that other people in the work place have somebody to look up to and to follow as an example.
Self Motivation - Motivation is very important as it ensures that you're always aiming to succeed and never wanting to give up.
Effective Communication
General Communication Skills
In addition, knowing cultural differences is also important as in work places you may be working with people with different nationalities where some gestures you do or things you say can be seen as very offensive.
Showing interest when communicating is also a key thing employers are looking for, stuff such as asking and answering questions shows that you are interested in what's being said and are wanting to learn more about the situation.
Interpersonal Skills
Examples:
Listening - Being able to listen to other peoples ideas without interrupting them allows for efficient team work as everyone will be able to input their ideas/opinions.
Body language - This will enable you to get your point across in a much better way and will help catch the attention of the people you're communicating with. Positive and negative body language will help show people how you're feeling so they know your current mood.
Problem solving - Being able to work with other people to solve and identify problems without causing issues among yourselves will help for better team work.
Negotiating - Negotiating with other people to come to a final result without any bickering will enable you to come to a conclusion much quicker.
Written Communication
When just texting to friends you will mostly use informal language and use internet slang to help communicate faster and in most cases to show you're not serious.
Being able to express how you're feeling can be done with simple emoticons such as smiley faces or sad faces.
Taking notes when talking to people can help you to remember key parts of what was said. It will allow you to bring up counter points if you're having a debate or will allow you to just remember things that you believe you will need later on.
In conclusion, writing effectively is very important and a lot of jobs require it such as journalism, working on social media for companies and writing emails to other companies for business inquiries to show that you're professional.
Barriers to Effective Communication
Background Noise
Distractions
Physical Barriers
To prevent these from happening you should be sure to check that everything is working as it should way before the presentation even starts so that you can be sure everything's working or to replace something that isn't.
Location
To prevent this you could see the location for yourself before booking it so that you can be sure it is suitable for your needs.
Lack of Concentration
To prevent this do research on what is going to be discussed so you have a better understanding and are able to join in on the conversations more effectively.
False Expectations
To prevent this listen to what is fully being said before jumping to any conclusions.
Different Accents
To prevent this, if you know you're going to be talking to someone with a different nationality that can be hard to understand try listen to some people talking on videos with the same accent to see if you can get a grasp of it. Or you can politely ask the person you're talking to to try speak more clearly.