21st-century Skills - Skills you need to work on for a successful career
As we have seen in the past, a different Revolution like the Industrial and Green Revolutions brings a lot of growth opportunities and prosperity for people who are eager to learn new skills and adapt to the changes each revolution brings with them, In the 21st century we are in technology revolution over the last couple of years technology is improving rapidly, the rate of progress year by year speeds up and increases the number of job opportunities. Mastering some fundamental skills is essential in order to cope with this fastest-growing technology. Demonstrating to recruiters, that you are proficient with certain soft and hard skills can help you earn promotions, raises, and new jobs.
In today’s competitive world, it’s important to master some skills to ace the desired job. Every person has their own special set of skills. When it comes to finding the right job for yourself, you need to match your acquired skills with the skills required for that particular job title. In this article, we will explore the skills you need to work on for a successful career.
Types of Skills
As we know there are two types of skills which are soft skills and hard skills. To be successful in any role, you need a combination of relevant hard skills and soft skills. Although people gain and develop these skills in different ways, you can learn and develop both hard and soft skills prior to applying for jobs.
Soft skills:
Soft Skills are the skills that occur to an individual naturally. This mainly involves personal habits and traits that shape you as an individual. Some others include leadership, dependability, effective teamwork, and active listening. You can highlight the unique soft skills they possess to set them apart from other candidates.
Hard skills:
Hard Skills are the technical capabilities of an individual. Hard skills are usually gained through training, schooling, and certifications. Hard skills are the abilities highlighted on an employee’s resume or cover letter for a recruiter or hiring manager to notice. Some of the hard skills include Computer skills, Microsoft Office skills, Analytical skills, and Marketing skills.
Essential skills for your career growth
Learning, Media and Information Literacy, and Life skills are the three main abilities for your career success and overall job satisfaction.
Learning:
Every new skill you learn and everything you try only makes you better day by day. Willingness to learn new things is crucial and this is what a hiring manager or a recruiter is looking for. Experts suggest for senior positions 34% of companies perceive being a fast learner as the top required skill, and the number rises to 52% for junior roles. This includes skills like
- Problem-solving,
- Creative thinking
- Communicating ideas
- Learning from mistakes
- Decision-making
- Analytical thinking
- Interpreting information
Media and Information literacy:
Assessing and analyzing information is the skill of not only gathering information on a certain topic but also analyzing the quality of that information. Media and Information literacy is a combination of abilities that includes knowledge, critical thinking, and the use of digital tools. . This includes skills like -
-Accessing information
-Evaluating information
-Interpreting media messages
-Using digital technologies
Life skills:
Life skills are the skills that help you deal effectively with daily obstacles in your everyday life. Self-confidence is the most important life skill which itself allows an individual to conquer positive effects and recall random facts at the right time. This includes skills like-
-Self-awareness
-Empathy
-Assertiveness
-Equanimity
-Decision-making
-Resilience
-Ability to cope with problems
-Negotiation skills
Action Plan
Now, The question arises of how can we develop these skills in order to succeed. So we present you an action plan which helps you in your career advancement.
Start with core skills:
It is the most crucial part which involves having complete knowledge about the skill you’re learning. Always focus on learning and experience to draw the attention of the recruiters and encourage them to add your values to the company. As you become more comfortable practicing one of the skills, start working on another and continue to grow your skillset.
Select one skill at a time:
You can’t work on everything at the same time. Identify what you need to learn. This can help you work on areas that need improvement. Select one skill at a time that you can master. It is crucial to maintain the balance of both your hard and soft skills because both of them are equally important.
Training:
Look out for courses and technical platforms that can help you with your technical abilities. Today there is n number of platforms that help you excel, learn and provide certifications. Some online platforms providing free and paid courses are Udemy, Coursera, Edx, and Youtube.
Opportunities:
Aside from helping you with training and education, actively networking and participating in discussions and workshops can show your commitment to the industry, desire to stay on top of the latest trends, and interest in improving related skills. It also helps broaden your perspective.
Practice:
As we know, skills can be refined with practice, whether in the form of formal education, employer-sponsored development, or just simple focused repetition in your everyday life. You can read research papers and ask your seniors for help and guidance.
Feedback:
Feedback is the most important aspect that can help you identify your errors. Never be afraid of criticism. Always take it in a positive way and work on your weaknesses. Take the time every day to reflect on the progress you’re making.
Conclusion
In this article, we have discussed all the soft and hard skills that a person should keep on inculcating in life. Human beings have the capability to learn something new every day. Keep yourself open to learning something new, This is the best gift we can give to ourselves to overcome our insecurities.
Now, this action plan alone nourishes your skills like self-awareness. If you’re highly self-aware, you can objectively evaluate yourself, manage your emotions, align your behavior with your values, and understand correctly how others perceive you.
At last, you should mention all skills you have learned in your resume clearly using awesome resume templates. Instaresume provides you with free recruiter-tested templates where you can choose templates where your skills are highlighted clearly.
