Professional qualifications of course count and are often indicated as required but also specialism and specific skills or attributes might be described to as “core skills” in a job requirement.
In a job requirement definition, core skills suggest a minimum set of expectations for you to be effective as an additional member of the team beyond your professional qualifications and supposed expertise.
This requirement of core skills may cover how you persuade, get involved, instruct, listen, communicate, relate to others, disseminate information, or react to instructions passed down to you.
Are you a good communicator?
Communication is an essential skill for any employee, no matter the position you take up in an organisation.
Whether you’re going for a management or supervisory position or not, how you communicate, your innate potential to motivate and direct others, give and take instructions – these are all key concerns of employers.
Good communication suggests that you can operate as part of the team, that you can lead people, negotiate and persuade. Your written skills suggest that you could be able to communicate by email and your verbal by telephone.
Whether you communicate in English or any language specified as required by the job, your ability to communicate in correspondence, and face-to-face, articulate and describe can be viewed as highly desirable to your employer.
Can you plan and do research?
Depending on the nature of the job, planning and undertaking research may be important attributes of a given job.
For some employers this may hold more value – above qualifications. You have to demonstrate successful examples of planning and research. This is difficult in interview but perhaps you can lean on anecdotal descriptions of examples of where you were required to do planning and/or research.
Planning ties into how you define your own workload and perhaps lead others’ progress; can you take the thirty thousand foot and the three foot role in coordinating projects?
Your ability to resolve ambiguity and appropriately deal with problems/challenges will be highly valued; the ability to research, find information from various sources, analyse and interpret, report findings and make suggestions will make you more valuable as an employee or prospect.
Are you a self starter?
Employers prize their self-starters. Proactive people and generally optimistic people, are achievers who get things done, usually without being constantly told or reminded.
Self starters exhibit key traits that larger companies may identify in personality profile tests. These traits include self-confidence, a service-oriented mindset, conscientiousness, assertiveness, persistence, an orientation to achievement, flexibility and being a team player. Nobody can be all of these every day, but if you can do so most of the time, you’re sure to demonstrate that you’re a self-starter and will be prized.
Build your self-management skills around this ethos, project yourself, set and meet goals of the organisation for which you work.
If you’ve a clear idea of where the company you work for puts its emphasis, then emphasise the same in your self-management: prioritise your work based on the company’s objectives and expectations of you.
which work history is relevant ?
If you’ve a reasonable work history, there is seldom a problem. Show experience and skills relevant to the work you want to do – base this on your experience – focus on the requirements of the job and align your past role experiences accordingly.
As professional qualifications and work experience grow, what you thought important in the past will fall out; remember to always to pay close attention to the job requirements – if it unclear – ask.
To any employer, so long as you can show or demonstrate experience alongside professional qualifications – it can be useful. Anything that directly relates to the specification for the job for which you are applying or considering will put you in good stead.
