Personal Attributes
Most valued by employers
Task 1
Specific skills
Specific skills are important to an employer as if you have good technical knowledge then you won't need training and you will be able to start to work straight away without needing any help. If you know about health and safety also then you won't be at a risk of hurting your self or others around you making you more likely to get a job. If you have a good attitude towards working then you will be more likely to be employed as if you don't have a good working attitude then the employer will think that you will just do your minimum and try to get through the day with minimal effort. If you have a good working attitude then you will show that you are motivated to do more work.
General attributes
General attributes are important to an employer as if you have good planning skills then you will be able to plan what you are going to do meaning that you will have more time. This also ties in with time management as if you know what you are going to do then you can be more productive. If you are good at working in a team then you will be more likely to be employed as you will be able to work with others when you need to and you will be able to use good verbal skills in this to be able to communicate with your workers and with customers. You will also need to have good numeracy and creativity to get a job as if you will be able to solve equations easily.
Attitudes
Having a good attitude towards work will help you get employed as if you are determined to do a job then you will try your best at it unlike someone who doesn't want to do the work. If you can work well independently and you are dependable at working then it will be good as you can be trusted to work on your own and your employer will know that the work will be done at a high level. If you are good at leading people then you will also have a higher chance to be employed as you will be able to help and motivate people to work. If you have confidence then you will also be more likely to get a job as you will be yourself more meaning they can see your attributes more than if you were shy and didn't talk much.
Task 2
General communication skills
Having good communication skills will make you more likely to get employed as if you can ask questions and answer politely then you will be able to have a better conversation with the client and will be able to get more information out of them. Being able to adapt your voice and terminology to someone who doesn't know much about the subject will also help you get a job as if you are telling someone what to do and they don't understand the terminology that you are using then it will take longer to get the problem solved. Being able to talk to people from different cultures will also be an advantage as if you can understand and give feedback to them then you will be able to get the job done faster then someone who can't understand an accent that a client has.
Interpersonal skills
If you have good interpersonal skills then you will be more likely to get a job as if you can interact with other people well then you can get jobs done faster and will make the job go more smoothly. If you can give people positive notes then you will be more likely to get the job as if you are negative towards people then they might not want to talk to you meaning that you may not be able to work well in a team and therefore, work less. If you give good body language to people instead of having a negative body language then people may want to talk to you meaning it will be easier to get the information that you need for the job and therefore increase productivity.
Communicate in writing
If you can communicate with writing then it will mean that you will be more likely to get a job as if you can fax people instead of needing to call them then an employer would like that more as if someone was in a meeting then they wont be able to take the call but they can read the fax when they are available. This also applies with emails and letters as they will be able to read them when they have time. Having good grammar and spelling will also help as it will help people understand what you are trying to tell them.
Task 3a
Barriers to effective communication
Barriers in a job that reduce the effectiveness of communication can make peoples job a nightmare and can sometimes make someone not be able to do their job. If you are taking orders from someone or trying to get information from a customer and there is background noise then you might not be able to understand what they are saying and therefore might get something wrong. If you get distracted while trying to do your work or if you have a lack of concentration then you will loose productivity or even forget the task that you had to do resulting in you not doing the work or the task in hand. If you are in a location that makes it so you can't do your work efficiently then you will loose out on work that could of been done if you were in a place with proper facilities. If you can't see the customers physical actions if you are on a phone then it will make the communication less effective as you won't be able to see their body language while they are talking to you.
Task 3b
How to reduce the impact of the barriers
To reduce the background noise while you are trying to talk to someone you could get another room just to be able to talk to the customer or you could wear a headset if you are talking to someone on the phone to reduce the background noise and be able to hear the customer clearly. If you get distracted easily when working then you could wear a headset to reduce the noise that may cause you to get distracted or you could block out the view of anything that will distract you like your phone. If you are in a location that you will not be able to do your job in then you can move locations in order to be able to be more productive in your job. If you can't see a persons physical actions then you could see if they can come to the store or your workplace to be able to talk to them that way to get a better understanding.