Employability
personal attributes valued by employers
Specific Skills
Knowledge of health and safety is desirable as it means you'll most likely be more compliant with the it and able to spot any hazards or possible liabilities within an area. Employers, directors, and trade unions are all trying to minimise operational losses, occupational health problems, accidents, and injuries... and if you can also show your willing and able to do so employers will see you as someone of use and a good asset to their business.
Technical knowledge within the working field you've decided to pursue would be extremely useful as it'd mean you have at least some knowledge of the field itself. Employers would find this very desirable as it means your prepared to begin the job earlier and at a better quality than someone who doesn't know what their doing. If you have the knowledge your more likely to get the job, due to being firstly more qualified and secondly not needing the training of which would be costly to an employer (something their not necessarily prepared to pay at all).
Working attitudes are the main barrier between you and getting a job. If you wish to get a job you must respect this and observe the required attitudes, as well as take on the attributes themselves.
Firstly, you must be enthusiastic, if you look unwilling to work people will pick up on it, and especially if customers in a workplace are seeing such an attitude your not going to last long. You must as much as possible look willing and happy to work at the place your pursuing.
Secondly, you must be efficient, meaning you should be performing effectively with the least waste of time and effort possible in the working environment. Employers hate time wasters and need people that are going to effectively work with no wastage of performance at all.
Thirdly, you must put some pressure on your self and get up to optimal performance, showing you can excel over all others (who of which are competing for the same job). If you don't challenge yourself the job will become boring for you and essentially your position would become useless (why would an employer hire someone with no use? they wouldn't).
Fourthly, you must be ready to work early. If your not prepared to work and get there late your not going to seem punctual at all. Punctuality is everything, be on time or earlier than most and you've got the upper hand... time to compose your self and prepare for work... if not get ahead or caught up with work... valuable time that could improve your image in the eyes of an employer.
Finally, you've not to make every effort possible to be the easiest person to work with. If people don't like you and feel your a pain to work with, your not going to last long. If others are complaining or your employer pick up on the fact your a drag, you'll simply just get told to go home and not return. Be polite, be friendly, and be useful if others need assistance with anything.
General Attributes
Planning skills are an exceptional resource in the working world and employers seek those with them specifically, as the planning means the persons able to keep track of time and plan out the future to ensure things are done correctly and before the deadline given (if any). This shows your reliable, punctual, and have good timekeeping.
Organisational skills are additionally searched for due to the fact organisation shows your prepared for the future, willing to keep track of work and get things done to a high standard in the least amount of time possible. Basically, this depicts your image as someone with good timekeeping, great planning skills, and the usual punctuality and reliability that would be expected from an applicant.
Time management is one of the most important skills as it shows you can be prepared and organised for anything that your assigned. This shows you can meet deadlines and plan your work around normal life to get things done correctly, efficiently, and as quick as possible.
Team working skills shows you can work well with others and successfully communicate with various different people without issues. This indicates to the employer that you can handle the responsibilities of others as well as your own, working in an environment that otherwise may be tedious or fast pace.
Verbal skills basically show the employer that you can communicate to a high standard and verbally converse with others. This may additionally show that you have good listening skills, ensuring you can take instructions correctly and basically, do as instructed.
Written communication is also very important due to the fact you must be able to write neatly and with good grammar, punctuation, and spelling. This shows that you have education and have a sophisticated and vast knowledge of language and literature. This may be useful when writing presentations, letters, reports, etc... for the use of your workplace or employer.
Numeracy, although not away essential, shows you have skills in working with numbers. This can be useful when working in stores and financing because you have no room for mistakes. The main thing you employer will care about is the financing of the company and profit, and if you cannot do some simple calculations at least, your not going to be able to work with money, and thous the employer won't see you as a useful asset, more of a burden. Numeracy skills can be extremely valued by employers in a working environment that involves the handling of money.
Finally, creativity shows you are unique and diverse from others who may just be bland and normal. If you can show that you have spirit in what you do and that you can do it creatively with a bit of imagination... employers are more likely to see you as someone with common sense and originality. It allows you to make decisions yourself and come up with useful concepts that may help you can the business that your working for.
(such as planning skills, organisational skills, time management, team working, verbal skills, written communication skills, numeracy and creativity)
Attitudes
If your determined your willing to work and doing to get it done more efficiently, two things an employer would be looking for.
Independence shows you can successfully work along without the need of someone else to lead you along... again, something employers will find valuable in an applicant.
Integrity and tolerance are both important assets. If your tolerant you can put up with awkward work and people around you that may otherwise be annoying. Integrity shows you have strong moral principle when making decisions and that you can be honest and trustworthy... employers definitely need trustworthy people otherwise they can't get stuff done. If your not trustworthy and honest then why would an employer trust you with work?
Dependable is reliability, and if your reliable your working at good performance.
Problem solving enables you to work things out for yourself without having to seek assistance. This saves time and thus the employer money of which I'm sure they'd want in an applicant.
Leadership additionally shows that you can keep control of varied situations and manage a team of people... making you more worthy of a higher level management job. Employers looking for good member of staff will be looking for those knowledgeable of leadership.
Finally, confidence and motivation are everything. You must show confidence in a workplace otherwise you'll seem unwilling... which isn't a good attribute. If your additionally motivated your more likely to do the work correctly and to a better quality. This can additionally save time and show that your an efficient worker.
Principles of Effective Communication
Cultural differences can divide people apart from one another. It can basically cause disagreement between two conflicting cultures and tension in a workplace. To effectively communicate, differences must be put aside to efficiently and productively work. If employers notice the confliction and that it's effecting productivity they won't hesitate in resolving the issue via replacing the you with another person. Additionally, if languages are different this can effect communication as well as the tension of conflicting beliefs. If translation is commonly used, misinterpretation or misunderstanding can occur that may effect the efficiency, productivity, and overall communication between different people. Along side this behavioral constrains may restrict a person to what their willing to do. In other words, some cultures have different rules for communication such as that of eye contact and posture when talking to another. This can basically make some people seem rude in the eyes of others or peculiar in the eyes of some. Additionally, this may affect communication as they may see you as disrespecting or rude for not abiding by their cultural rules within communication (ie. if you talk to them and abide by a different set of rules culturally, it may seem somewhat ignorant to them).
To adapt your voice you can simply assess the situation, identify your goal, get to know your audience (or the person your conversing with), consider methods of communication ensuring you monitor your wording, and be intentional with your body language. Additionally, you must listen carefully to the feedback of the person/people your talking to. This rectifies misunderstanding and can assist in the interpretation of speech within the conversation.
Terminology factors in communication are important to improve the understanding, concept, and continuation of a conversation. If you have overall good terminology, you have a much better chance of success in life.
Technology is a new age development that has greatly affected communication in the modern world. You can basically use technology to engage audiences in Q&A without the need for too much verbal communication. Presentations and videos are perfect examples of this as their used most often to demonstrate, teach, and add entertainment to a subject of discussion.
Verbal exchanges are essentially conversations, by them a quick "hi" when passing someone or a multiple hour debate. Some factors existing within verbal exchange include clarity of speak, remaining calm and focused, and being polite. Following these basic rules will give you a higher quality of communication between employer and other employees in a working environment.
Signing can be a very useful attribute in communication as without it your subjecting yourself to a low standard of communication with the disabled community (ie. those with hearing impediments). In understanding how to sign, your enabling your self to communicate with varied others that most wouldn't be able to communicate with at all.
Lip reading can help in a variety of situations when hearing loss occurs. It can help considerably in the receiving of the message someone is trying to put across in communicating. Lip reading not only helps with communicating, but can also boosts self confidence and motivation.
Body language is a very important asset in communication. If you have a relaxed demeanor that shows laziness, regret, and despair, people aren't going to take you seriously. You must stand straight, showing that your willing to communicate, and that you can pay attention without seeming ignorant.
The use of intonation enables you to alter the tone of your voice in order to get your point across easier in a conversation. For example, if you spoke quietly you'd generally expect the topic to either be personal or secretive, and if you spoke quickly or enthusiastically you'd expect the topic to be humerus or exciting. It simply helps provide some insight into the topic of a conversation almost subliminally.
Positive and negative language can have a huge impact on opinion. Positive communication skills can help make you seem friendly, helpful and intelligent. In comparison, negative communication skills can make you seem rude, ignorant, and, uninterested. Communication will usually consist of verbal communication and body language.
Active engagement consists of social interaction, knowledge, strategy, and motivation. To successfully communicate to a high standard we must firstly be able to consider an approach to conversing (strategy), because without the strategic value the communication becomes pointless and confusing. You must also be motivated to confidently communicate so to seem interested and must be knowledgeable to provide information and understand the point of the communication. These are all part of social communication at which we all should use for the highest quality of conversing.
Emoticons, as suggested, are used in text to express the emotion of the messages sender. For example, a smiley face may resemble excitement or happiness whilst a sad face may represent despair or vulnerability. This is used my a lot of people to provide some insight into how the sender feels about a specific topic instead of having to guess from the text received.
Letters are a form of written communication used to converse in writing through the physical illustrating of letters, numbers, and varied punctuation. Some prefer letters to computerized text to the personality reflected in the text and the hand written sentiment. Additionally, this may show sophistication and confidence in a working environment.
Fax is a form of communication in which we send scanned documents to varied other fax machines and their owners. This allows us to send documentation at a much faster speed than a letter, and much more efficiently in costs. This preserves the handwritten sentiment of the document appose to sending a computer generated file of printed letters, numbers, symbols, and punctuation.
E-mails are additionally a form of written communication via an electronic device such as a mobile phone, computer, or tablet. This basically allows you to send text, imagery, hyperlinks, videos, etc... from one device to another using a specified address assigned to the person/people. Essentially, this allows simplified electronic communication that's both high speed, efficient in costs (free), private, and easily customizable.
Spelling and Grammar are both very important assets in written communication. They show sophistication, knowledge, and potential. If you can produce sections of text in the highest quality of spelling and grammar possible, you can produce written content to an extremely good standard for personal use, or even an employers use. This is also a very important asset of documentation such as CV's and Applications as it shows you have some knowledge of communication and are able to successfully work well.
Relevance in written communication is of fair importance as it's the difference between gibberish and understanding. The more relevant to a topic a piece of writing is, the most understandable, organised, and thought through the resulting documentation becomes. If you somehow manage to write irrelevant material, the documentation doesn't just become useless, but it's reflects on your abilities to focus on a task in a bad way.
Proofreading can be used to rectify any issues you may have within a written document. This includes mistakes such as spelling, grammar, and punctuation, all of which are very important if your trying to make a good impression on someone. This can essentially be used to scan (proofread) a piece of text before it's published or otherwise distributed to someone else... ensuring your written documentation is up to standard.
Note taking can additionally be used to ensure you don't go over previously mentioned topics in a piece of text, as well as enabling you to plan ahead to further ensure mistakes aren't likely, if not possible. This can be used to produce a higher quality document of text, without any repetition or otherwise irrelevant information.
Barriers to Effective Communication
Background noise can be a significant barrier to communication. Such noise can distract, disorientate, and impair the hearing, and understanding of listeners. In the event such disruption occurs within or outside of a conversation it'd be beneficial to move elsewhere and continue, or communicate to a higher quality and more clearly for a better understanding. There would be no point in communicating with someone when you and them can't hear a thing or are distracted by something going on in the background, so the issue must be rectified in other ways as explained.
Distractions are extremely disruptive occurrences within or in the background of conversations. If someone or something is causing a distraction it can impair your listening, verbal communication, concentration, understanding, and overall contribution to the conversation. In this event it's best to either take the conversation elsewhere, ignore the issue, or make your disapproval of the issue known to the participants of the conversation and the disturbers themselves.
Physical barriers are fairly sufficient barriers within communication as they can spit a conversation in to multiple understandings (ie. they may not grasp the topic of the conversation at hand). An example of such a barrier would be the distance between the participants of the conversation as if someone is too far away it may become difficult to hear, and too close obviously just awkward. To converse over a shorter distance means less electronic communication is required meaning a better understanding of the topic and verbal communication is obtained.
Location barriers are fairly disruptive to the communication between different people. For example, a TV producing sound in the background creates background noise that may disturb the conversation. You must ideally locate yourself in accordance with varied disturbances around you, ensuring your understood and understand as much as possible without feeling distracted.
A lack of concentration caused by these various barriers can cause misunderstanding, disturbance, and distraction within a conversation. Last of concentration shows your uninterested meaning you come across as ignorant in the eyes of others, or otherwise occupied by another situation. To successfully communicate you must concentrate on what your saying to others and what their saying either in return or continuation.
Language barriers can be extremely difficult to overcome without a translator in the conversation. You must speak clearly and use body language to further what exactly your saying and the point your trying to put across. If you do so, your enabling them at least a chance to understand the conversation in amplified clarity and a chance to lip read what your saying if such a thing is possible. In it's most basic explanation, you must speak in clarity, as detailed as possible, as simple as possible, and you must act out the conversation using your body if possible (ie. hand signs to assist in the understanding).
Mechanisms to Reduce Communication Barriers
Distractions: A way in which this could be resolved would be moving the conversation to another location where distractions are more limited and you (as well as others) can be understood better. To additionally help you may speak more clearly in a closer proximity of each other so to rectify the issue at hand somewhat.
Physical: A way in which this could be resolved would be moving to a respectable proximity of the other conversation participants. This enables a higher level of understanding without the need of technology or heightened voices. It's good to stay somewhere between one and two feet from the person where both participants can be herd without the awkwardness of being to close or to far.
Location: A way in which this could be resolved would be to turn off any devices in the background that are producing a disruptive noise. Additionally you may relocate to a quieter area or lower the noise pollution somewhat to enable a higher standard of communication. Any disruptions or other assets of disturbance may also persuade you to otherwise relocate or act against the issue.
A lack of concentration: A way in which this could be resolved would be to look at the persons face when their talking and listen carefully to what their saying, even if it's considerably boring. You must always do your best to focus no matter what the distraction may be, taking precautions and action to prevent and eliminate any disturbances in your proximity.
Language: A way in which this could be resolved would be speak the highest clarity possible, using body language to improve understanding and hand signs to signify the point of the conversation. You must explain the point of the conversation in as much detail as possible, in it's simplest form possible. These actions together can sufficiently improve understanding and clarity of the communication.