A fresher does not have a lot of experience backing him up. Around 80% of your resume is the same as your peers, be it work experience or domain knowledge. What is it that will separate you from the rest? What are the set of skills that will help you stand out from the rest of the crowd. The only way to know it for sure is to understand from the recruiter’s perspective.
Here are a list of Core skills that hiring managers are looking for in fresh graduates .
Skill # 1 : Thinking & Reasoning Ability
Recruiters want problem solvers. Recruiters value employees who can think critically and reason objectively. These are the employees who bring creative solutions to the table and help businesses to innovate and remain competitive.
WHAT IS THINKING AND REASONING ABILITY?
Thinking and Reasoning ability involves viewing things objectively to come to logical conclusions. It shows how individuals unique problem-solving capabilities are dependent on understanding the concept, asking right questions, connecting the dots ,manipulating the given information and making the right judgement
WHERE DO WE USE IT?
Financial Investment A will be more beneficial that B?
Email Advertisement – Fake or Real??
Which Career option to choose from ?
All these scenarios involves
- Taking in information and making inferences
- Understanding ideas and concepts
- Ability to differentiate good from bad, what works for you , what does not
- Arriving at logical conclusions.
HOW DO WE DEVELOP IT?
There are many active ways through which thinking skills can be enhanced, nurtured and strengthened. These are skills are not something that students can learn just by hearing about them.
Skills needed to assimilate information, manipulate them, evaluate and justify comes into play when students are involved in activities such as reading materials rich in content , analyzing an opinion piece, forming own opinion, writing essays, participating in debates etc.
Deliberately and consciously surrounding yourself in an intellectual environment will definitely go a long way in increasing the quality of analytical mind.
Skill # 2 : Social Reliability
Being able to relate, understand and respond appropriately to people from diverse backgrounds, diverse culture and most importantly diverse point of view is the measure of how “Socially Relatable” an individual is .
WHY ARE COMPANIES LOOKING FOR SOCIALLY RELIABLE EMPLOYEES?
Employees are always required to understand human nature and personality differences. The new requirement for employees in today’s’ age is to understand a wider, richer array of perspectives than ever before . How relatable and how acceptable you are in your society has a direct link with personal and professional success.
HOW DO WE DEVELOP IT?
The world is becoming increasingly diverse and includes people of many religions, languages, economic groups, and other cultural groups.People are also getting increasingly sensitive to many issues trivial or otherwise. These factors can become barriers to communication that prevents you from talking to and building relationships with people.
- A guided approach will help you understand various cultures and subcultures.
- A planned curriculum will help you learn how to tactfully handle different social situations, and effectively modify your communication.
- Social Relatability skills are best learnt if they are integrated in your daily activities like reading about various cultures, understanding history and customs of various regions, listening to people tell their stories and most importantly examining your biases about people from other cultures.
Skill # 3 : Communicating Persuasively
Persuasive communication is the art of convincing others and to effectively change the minds and behavior of those with whom you disagree.
WHY ARE COMPANIES LOOKING FOR PERSUASIVE COMMUNICATORS?
Persuasive Communication is part of 90% of high impact communication we do in our professional life. They are of utmost important since only through persuasion can you sell ideas, product or services.Employers seek employees who are able to synthesize ideas ,and convincingly and effectively convey it.
HOW DO WE DEVELOP IT?
Persuasion is a skill that can be learnt and that can be mastered only if put to use.
To persuasively communicate , you will need to use the right tools and techniques that will help you understand audience, know what they want, build arguments that will strengthen the case, use tactics that can emotionally and logically appeal to the audience. These strategies will dramatically boost your ability to influence.
Skill # 4 : Learnability
WHAT IS LEARNABILITY?
Learnability is becoming a key determinant for hiring. Corporates are moving towards a learning centered work culture where they want employees to
- Direct their own learning,
- Learn fast and
- Learn in depth in order to apply their learning on the job front.
HOW DO WE DEVELOP IT?
Self-learning involves deciding on a goal, a plan to study and knowing the right resources to access. You may have the inclination to learn more but there may be many roadblocks to be effective at it
– Language Gap : Language gap affect learn ability levels. If understanding ability is low, it will definitely have an impact on how fast or how effective the learning process is.
– Challenge in asking right questions and knowing what resources to refer to
– Challenges in creating an action plan – Setting a goal, Making a plan , evaluating the outcomes – all these may seem a daunting task
The program is designed to address these challenges
- Improving listening ,reading and comprehension skills by way of exposure to rich and complex content, by reading and analyzing complex thoughts on various topics will give you a firm grasp on the language.
- Improving your reading and comprehension skills will reduce unnecessary reading time and enable you to read in a more focused and selective manner. You will also be able to increase your levels of understanding.
- Activities such as validating a written piece, understanding a text and arriving at a conclusion will help build an agile mind which is much needed for improving your learnability skill.
- Being able to formulate, set, and make progress toward goals is complex. A mentor will help recognize and manage any challenges that you face.
Skill # 5 : Individuality
Individuality is what makes you – YOU. These are the elements that form are an integral part of you –
- Your opinion and beliefs
- Your upbringing
- Your preferences,
- Your Strength and Weakness
- Your Talents
- Your Achievements
- Your emotions
WHY ARE COMPANIES LOOKING FOR HIGHLY INDIVIDUALISTIC PERFORMERS?
Companies are looking for employees who are ambitious, high achievers, have a drive to improve , and who focus on growth and performance.
HOW DO WE DEVELOP IT?
Understanding your individuality may be one of the biggest challenges. How do we define a person who has high individuality?
- Aware of strengths and weakness beyond what is mentioned in your resume
- Will Clearly know his/her standing
- Will have an opinion which he/she believes in
- Has high self esteem and self confidence
With proper guidance and concerted effort between the mentor and student, finding your individuality and expressing it is a skill that can be developed & nurtured.
Skill # 6 : Work Ethics
A work ethic is a set of moral principles , values that you believe in and practice as a part of your life’s philosophy . When it comes to work, your ethics also encompass your overall attitude about work
WHY ARE COMPANIES LOOKING FOR EMPLOYEES WITH HIGH WORK ETHICS ?
Honesty, Integrity, Accountability – these are some very important traits that employers look for in an employees. Employees with high work ethic come with a positive attitude, A positive attitude within a workplace will help boost employee morale and productivity. On the contrary, a sense of negativity around an office can often suspend momentum and compromise with the entire work culture.
HOW DO WE DEVELOP IT?
Developing work ethics can be a challenging . You can set your own standard of excellence, take on a lot of projects and work endlessly. But does it mean you have good work ethics?
The key to developing good work ethics and values is – By seeking feedback. Why do you think feedback mechanism is important to developing a strong work ethic?
Poor Work ethics is something that happens subconsciously. It is easy to get into the rut of not being responsible for things around you, being undisciplined or respecting yours or others time.
The solution is to involve yourself in a project that has a Strong Feedback mechanism.
Take a task which will make you pause and think about the repercussion of your action or lack of action.
A formal feedback structure is essential because it helps you
- cultivate self -discipline,
- practice punctuality ,
- prompt you to be professional.
Working under strict timelines will help you prioritize and manage your time wisely.
Actively participate in projects that are not just limited to your school or college . For instance , if you Organizing a cultural event in your society, you are answerable to the many people around you and that will automatically instill a sense of accountability in you.
These Core Skills can be developed and honed on an on-going basis through personalized training sessions , insightful reading and observation.. It takes conscious effort, ongoing practice, and a long term commitment to self-development.
