Top 6 useful skills to get a job

Let’s imagine that at your workplace you have the opportunity to apply for a vacancy that you have long wanted, and although your experience in the subject is quite limited, you are sure that with your innate abilities, you can contribute a lot to this new position.

Of course, you have given the right approach to the situation because, although there is currently a lot of competition academically speaking and people are increasingly better prepared (at least on paper), acquiring and strengthening new verifiable skills will be what will help you differentiate yourself and stand out from the crowd.

Definition

Skill is defined as the talent (either inherited naturally or acquired through experience) that we have to do certain things. These are the abilities we are born with, or that we acquire throughout our lives, to carry out different tasks or jobs.

We learn new talents as we carry out different activities, whether at work or through practical study, and these skills will help us increase both self-confidence and that feeling of security and independence that will bring us closer to personal and professional success.

Types of skills

Of the skills that you can exploit on your path to personal development, there are 2 types that we will explain below:

Technical skills

These are skills that are necessary to perform a particular job and are easy to measure or quantify. These skills are usually developed either at school or university and also through courses, training, internships, etc.

Skills in graphic design, accounting, or legal matters could be included in this class.

These types of skills are not transferable. For example, if a lawyer decides to start working in advertising, his legal skills will not help him become a better publicist.

Soft or interpersonal skills

However, skills of this type are transferable and can be applied to almost any type of job and everyday situations. They are also increasingly considered to be decisive factors in personnel selection processes.

As the name suggests, interpersonal skills are usually those that have to do with the way we interact and relate to other people, benefiting our personal development.

These skills are associated with personality, leadership ability, and a positive attitude, but they are also subjective, so it is not possible to measure them.

Among these types of talents would be, for example, the ability to work in a team, since in practically all the jobs we do and in most of the situations we find ourselves in, we will have to be able to interact with other people to achieve the same goal or objective.

This is why developing our soft skills is so important, including the fact that if we do not work on their development, we will most likely not be able to execute our technical skills with the same precision and effectiveness.

Hybrid skills

The combination of our technical skills and our interpersonal skills is currently known as Hybrid Skills.

For example: if there is a vacancy for an administrative assistant in a company, the position suggests that the candidate must have administrative skills to do their job well.

But if the company applying for the position is small, they may need that assistant to also be in charge of managing the company’s social media and providing customer service through them.

So, the company will require that people who apply for the position have (in addition to the obvious interpersonal customer service skills), technical skills in managing social networks.

Nowadays, most companies require people with hybrid skills. Therefore, those candidates who acquire and develop more skills (both technical and soft skills) will have a much greater advantage and opportunities to make a successful career.

Essential soft skills

6 soft (and transferable) skills are essential for our personal and professional development, and we describe each of them below:

Positive attitude and self-confidence

Throughout life, we ​​may be presented with many challenges, and maintaining a positive attitude and mentality in any situation is key to being able to move forward.

By maintaining a positive attitude, we will be able to give our best in everything we do and this is very important, both for any type of work we do and (of course) for our personal life.

Self-confident people feel safe because they know they are capable of facing and resolving any situation, in any field.

Self-management

If you have already gone through a process of self-knowledge, you will be able to handle yourself in the right way because you understand all your strengths and weaknesses. You know what you are capable of and you also know which are the issues in which you need help.

When you have control over what you do and say, and you also know how to organize yourself, everything you set out to do will be much easier.

Good communication

Being skilled in the way we communicate also gives us the ability to listen and accurately interpret what others need from us.

Furthermore, this ability allows us to organize our thoughts in such a way that we can communicate our needs clearly and effectively, adapting the message to different audiences (whether verbally or in writing).

Teamwork

As we have already said, working as a team is essential, no matter if we have our own company, if we work for others, or if we dedicate ourselves to taking care of the home and family.

There will always be situations in which we will have to work as a team to achieve a common goal, and therefore it is necessary that we feel trust and empathy towards others.

Only if we develop the ability to maintain good relationships with other people, fulfill our commitments, and also learn to delegate functions, will we be able to achieve good teamwork.

Willingness to learn

The desire we have to learn and improve shows how interested we are in what we do. If we know that there is something we need to work on to develop or improve, and we show that we are willing to make the effort to achieve it, that lets others know that we want to grow and evolve with them and/or the company.

Adaptability

We live in times of many changes and the ability to adapt to them is no longer an option, but rather an obligation.

If we fail to develop adaptability to new situations, people, cities, bosses, etc., we will never be able to move forward and, consequently, we will live full of anxiety and stress.

The sooner you develop the ability to adapt, the easier your life will become, so embrace the changes, ask for help when needed, and move on.

How to identify your skills?

You probably already have many of them, both hard and soft. Some you will have acquired through study (or extracurricular activities) and others you have acquired through your experience and relationships with others.

You need to analyze what they are and what each one means, and then think about whether you have ever applied them at some point in your life. To do this, you can use the list at the end of this article as a reference.

If, for example, you have been able to reconcile two friends who were in the middle of a dispute, you probably have the skill of conflict resolution. On the other hand, if you always hand in your work complete and on time, you probably have the skill of being a good manager, and so on.

Look over your resume and think about all the things you have studied and the activities you have taken part in, and you will most likely discover that you have many talents.

How to acquire new skills?

It is always possible to acquire new skills and not only can you learn new ones, but you can also improve the ones you already have. But all of this requires perseverance, determination, and a lot of practice.

For example, if you want to develop a technical skill that will help you with your current job or the new one you want to get, you could request mentoring from someone with proven knowledge in that specific skill.

Many companies also offer courses or seminars to their employees (usually free) and you could sign up and participate in them.

If you want to improve your teamwork skills, a great opportunity to do so could be by volunteering to develop group projects.

If you don’t have a job yet, but you’ve already graduated with a specific degree, or if you already know what you’d like to do in life, you could apply for an internship at a company you like. This way, you’ll not only develop your technical skills, but you could also have the option of continuing to work for them if you maintain a good performance.

Another way to acquire these types of skills is by taking courses (either online or in person) or of course, studying a related career.

To develop sports skills, you could practice the sport of your choice with your friends, join a club or team, hire a personal trainer, etc.

All of this can be applied to any type of skill you want to develop. For example, if you know you’ll soon be moving abroad alone, you might want to help your family with household chores and develop the skills necessary to facilitate your early independence.

Examples of interpersonal and technical skills

Examples of interpersonal skills

• Time management
• Sense of humor
• Flexibility
• Stake
• Investigation
• Initiative
• Perseverance
• Creativity
• Managing emotions
• Organization
• Reading comprehension
• Concentration
• Adaptability
• Common sense
• Patience
• Responsibility

Examples of technical skills

• Basic mechanics
• Basic carpentry
• Budget Management
• Kitchen
• Paternity
• First aid
• Wall painting
• Washing and ironing
• Home cleaning
• Gardening
• Basic Plumbing

Other technical skills for your professional development

• Agenda scheduling
• Marketing
• Accounting
• Data analysis
• Web page creation and management
• Writing
• Speak other languages
• Knowledge of Excel
• Graphic design
• Social media management
• Sales