Ten years ago, it was hard to imagine that marketers would be expected to have a thorough knowledge of digital technologies and the ability to work with them manually, from IT specialists – the ability to build relationships with people, in general, from everyone – the ability to speak clearly to the public and make concise and interesting presentations. But the world is changing – and the basic skills for professions are changing. Here we have a brief article on skills that are most valued in any profession.
Life story: Sergey is the most experienced specialist in the technical department. All the most difficult, “tricky” tasks are entrusted to him because no one knows better than him the complex program in which the department works. But he has hardly been promoted up the career ladder. The vacant position of department head at the company where he had worked for eight years was replaced by a young upstart who had joined only two years earlier. When Sergey directly asked the boss why, he replied that, of course, he appreciates Sergey very much, but the “upstart” builds relationships with people much better than him, knows how to explain complex technical things to the heads of other departments in simple language, and in the first year of work he proposed a solution that optimized the work of the entire department.
Sergey was offended. Instead, it would be worth listening to the boss and developing those skills that he named. If we imagine that in another five years, the technologies and the program with which Sergey’s company works will become obsolete and the company will switch to completely new ones, then Sergey’s unique experience, and he as a specialist, will lose value.
Narrow expertise and experience are no longer as valuable in the eyes of employers as they used to be, if they are not backed up by universal skills.
Also read : Most in demanded skills by companies
What are generic or soft skills?
Today, no matter what profession you have, it is not enough to master the necessary highly specialized knowledge once, perfect its application in practice in five years, and then simply build up your reputation. Everything around is rapidly changing: business processes are becoming more complex, the flow of information in any professional environment is growing, the usual approaches to work and communication between people during work are being replaced by new ones and everything that can be automated is being automated.
If earlier it was possible to work according to the same standards for decades, habitually performing the same functions within the framework of their position, now approaches to work can change dramatically more than once a year.
Employers now especially appreciate people who easily and without unnecessary signs adapt to any changes and quickly master new rules and technologies. Even more valuable are those who are able to notice new useful trends before others and offer to apply them in work, without waiting for such instruction to come from above.
In a situation where much specialized professional knowledge quickly becomes obsolete and is replaced by new ones, it is not the possession of this unique knowledge and experience that comes to the fore, but something else. What is this?
These are basic skills that are important for absolutely any field. In English, the term soft skills (“soft skills”) has settled for them, so in our country they are also most often called soft or flexible.
Any modern job function is a set of the most necessary soft skills for it, plus specialized knowledge (“hard” skills or hard skills). Increasingly, soft skills take precedence over specialized knowledge because the latter quickly become outdated and it is easier to teach them from scratch to a person with the right soft skills than to retrain a professional who does not have the right skills.
Soft skills are, for example, logical and critical thinking, creativity, the ability to build relationships with people, adaptability to change, and so on. Trite? Alas, few people have the necessary “banal” set to a sufficient extent.
Also read : How to talk up your soft skills when you apply for a job?
What soft skills employers value now and will value even more
According to the report of the World Economic Forum “The Future of Jobs” , by 2020, the ten most valuable “soft” skills for employers will look like this:
- Ability to solve complex problems;
- Critical thinking;
- Creativity;
- People management skills;
- Ability to successfully interact with people;
- Emotional intellect;
- Ability to draw conclusions and make decisions;
- Customer focus;
- Negotiation skills;
- Ability to learn new things quickly and easily.
We completed the study “Qualities and Skills of 21st Century Workers”, which also made it possible to identify the most promising “soft” skills:
| What modern working conditions require? | What soft skills do you need? |
| Be willing to constantly learn something new | Self-learning, knowledge of languages, cross-functionality |
| Be on “you” with machines and technologies | Technological literacy, programming skills |
| Ability to act in situations of uncertainty | Creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, ability to collaborate with others |
| Deal with the increasing complexity of the world | Stress resistance, maintaining their psychological and physical health |
| Freely navigate large flows of information | Be able to separate the main from the particular, the necessary from the unnecessary, analytical skills |
| Think rationally, holistically and systematically | Design thinking, design thinking, systems thinking |
| Know what machines can’t | Emotional intellect |
Our experts lists digital management as one of her main professional skills, that is, the ability to manage processes using gadgets and software. Also, according to her observations, the ability to analyze data and use data visualization tools to visualize the collected information and their ideas is valued.
In addition, they advise to develop emotional intelligence, creative thinking, which allows you to look for different solutions to the same problem (such thinking is called divergent thinking), and intercultural communication skills. The latter are necessary to successfully build professional relationships in teams with a diverse composition.
Flexible skills for specific professions
The above qualities are important for any modern profession. But each specific profession also has a certain set of flexible skills.
For marketers: the ability to analyze and interpret large amounts of data, act in multitasking mode, think systematically, possess managerial qualities and creativity, and have developed communication skills.
For HR specialists: the same skills as for marketers (because they need to be able to promote the image of the employer and “sell” vacancies to candidates), and on top of that – the art of networking, the ability to motivate people, and involve them in work processes.
For Analysts: accuracy, attentiveness, flexible thinking, ability to work with large amounts of data in a short time, presentation skills and the ability to visualize data, teamwork and adaptability.
For developers: systemic, rational thinking, flexible mind, accuracy, the desire for constant self-learning and the desire to share new knowledge with colleagues, the ability to work in a team and non-conflict, project thinking.
For process engineers: organizational skills and focus on results, skills in working with standards and regulations – which means accuracy and attentiveness, the ability to find and process the necessary information. Communication with customers, internal or external, requires communication skills and the ability to grasp the problem, even if the customer cannot formulate it in technical language.
How to know which soft skills you have developed and which need attention
If you trust the opinion of colleagues and are not afraid to hear the truth about yourself, which may be unexpected and not very pleasant for you, you can ask them how strong or, conversely, how weak you are in certain skills. Another way is to contact a career counselling specialist.
Another option is to get tested. Including detailed, serious career guidance tests are suitable for this. They are usually focused precisely on identifying the most highly developed “soft” skills, and based on this, they select the most appropriate professional area in which these abilities will be most useful.
For example, the results of the Career Guidance test not only provide a list of suitable professions, but also explain in some detail which qualities for the relevant professions you already have well developed, and which you still need to work on, and practical recommendations are given for their development.
Also read : 4 ways to talk up about your skills