Employability Skills - Types

In my earlier blog, I had mentioned about employability skills and the need for it. Let us discuss the various employability skills.

Employability skills can be categorized into three skill sets:

(a) Basic Academic skills which includes reading, writing, science, maths, oral communication and listening skills.
(b) Higher-order thinking skills which includes learning, reasoning, creativity, decision making and problem solving, and
(c) Personal qualities which includes honesty, integrity, team spirit, adaptability & fexibility, good work attitude, social skills, cooperative, self motivation, self confidence and self control.

Basic Academic skills are essential at all levels of the job, but more so at mid and senior levels. At the entry-level jobs, basic academic skills are essential for high job performance. Ideally, employees at the entry level jobs should have the ability and desire to learn. They also need the ability to listen to and read instructions and then to carry out those instructions. These individuals should be able to respond appropriately both orally and in writing. Reading ability includes comprehending what has been read and using a variety of written materials, including graphs, charts, tables and displays. Entry level employees also need the ability to complete basic math computations accurately.

Higher-order thinking skills refer to the ability to think, reason, and make sound decisions, which is very crucial for employees. A person who can think critically, act logically, and evaluate situations to make decisions and solve problems, is a valuable asset to the company.

In addition to basic academic skills and higher order thinking skills, personal skills are also very important. It is difficult to utilize workers effectively who lack personal skills. Entry-level employees with good personal skills have confidence in themselves and deal with others honestly and openly, displaying respect for themselves, their co-workers, and their supervisors regardless of other people’s diversity and individual differences. They view themselves as a part of a team and are willing to work within the culture of the group. They have a positive attitude and take the initiative to learn new things to get the job done. Rather than blaming others when things go wrong, they are accountable for their actions. They also have the ability to set goals and priorities in their work and personal lives so that resources of time, money and other resources may be conserved and managed. These individuals practice good personal habits, come to work as scheduled, on time and dress appropriately, and are agreeable to change when necessary.

Employability Skills

• The two greatest concerns of employers today are finding good workers and training them. The difference between the skills needed on the job and those possessed by applicants, called the skills-gap, is of real concern to CEO’s and HR managers looking to hire competent employees. While employers would prefer to hire people who are trained and job ready, they are usually willing to provide the specialized, job-specific training necessary for those lacking such skills. However, certain skills, referred to as employability skills, are mostly found missing in most of the applicants, especially at the entry level. Employability skills are those basic skills necessary for getting, keeping, and doing well on a job. These are the skills, attitudes and actions that enable workers to get along with their fellow workers and supervisors and to make sound, critical decisions. Unlike occupational or technical skills, employability skills are generic in nature rather than job specific and cut across all industry types, business sizes, and job levels from the entry-level worker to the senior-most position.
  In a recent survey carried out, following were the Top 7 skills which the employers were looking in employees:
   Communication
   Team Working
   Integrity
   Planning & Organization
   Good writing
   Numeracy (good with nos.)
   Analysis & Decision making
  
  These skills are transferrable or teachable skills and the earlier the person is trained in the skills the better. Governments all over the world are siezed with the problem and are taking steps to ensure that these form a part of school curriculum rather than being taught at a later stage, as is being done now.

ATTITUDE

When my daughter was a small kid, I remember showing her a glass filled with water and asking her to describe it. She thought for a second and said “well, this is a glass half full of water”. “Good”, I said, “this shows that you are an optimistic person”. My daughter could have said that the glass was half empty and that is equally right. But that would have shown that she was pessimistic. So the way you look at situations in your life relates to your attitude.

The dictionary meaning of ‘attitude’ is “a state of mind or a feeling; disposition”. Attitude plays a vital role in one’s life. It affects the quality and direction of our thoughts with which we approach a situation. It can therefore make a lot of difference to the quality of life of the person. A person with a positive attitude is likely to reach greater heights in his career or profession. The people with a positive attitude see things in an altogether different perspective. They are people with a never-say-die spirit. Whatever the circumstances may be, they stay calm and cool and go about solving the problems with confidence. Motivational speaker, Zig Ziglar’s quote on attitude is relevant in today’s scenario: “It’s your attitude, not your aptitude that will determine your altitude.”

How does Attitude Influence the Corporate World?
There is an awakening in the corporate world of the importance of a positive mental attitude. Customers are lost, friction and conflicts occur, stress increases, employees report sick, performance at work gets affected, productivity goes down – all due to a negative mental attitude. There is an increasing awareness on part of the top management and HR to ensure that while hiring, attitude of the employee also needs to be properly assessed and only employees having a positive attitude should be hired. I have noticed that an employee with a positive attitude disseminates the same to his colleagues and thus helps in improving the work environment of the company.

To summarize, there are two key attributes that an individual possesses — the skills he requires to perform and his attitude towards work. While skills can be developed over a period of time with hard work, it is critical to develop a positive attitude towards work, which includes learning from failures, helping others, working under stress and with people from diverse cultures.