By Brad W. Minton
Brad W. Minton is a Postsecondary Success Navigator with Wayne RESA and is also a Certified Career Counselor, Resume Writer & Podcast Host with his own business Mint To Be Career LLC.
Three Key Employability Skills For 2024 And Beyond
The job market of the future will require hard/technical skills acquired through postsecondary education or training. It’s not surprising that over 70% of all jobs in 2030 will require education beyond high school so while it’s imperative to upskill, it’s equally important to remember that transferable employability skills are just as essential to success. Once called “soft skills” many employers now deem these to be “critical skills”, because they are prerequisites to employability. Here are the three most coveted in the next year:
Communication
Young adults can expect to be communicating with diverse individuals in the workplace in terms of position, personality, and generation. From moment to moment they may be needing to communicate needs or process solutions with teammates, supervisors, or individuals from other departments. Additionally, the modality of communication can change from written to verbal on a consistent basis.
Effective communication means being able to express your ideas or concepts clearly and concisely depending on the audience so that it’s not misinterpreted and that it helps to achieve the goals of your position. Additionally, it means being mindful of your non-verbal communication. Factors such as having eye contact, sitting upright in meetings, and positive facial expressions can all help build rapport and enhance relationships. These abilities help young adults not only get hired but stay employed.
Adaptability
The only thing that’s predictable about the workplace of today and tomorrow is that it’s unpredictable. The lightning-speed advancement of technology has forced industries to evolve based on changing consumer needs. Those changes are sure to continue in the years to come, which is why adaptability is now one of the top skills employers are looking for in job candidates.
Over the course of the last few years, many companies have moved to hybrid working models, leveraged video conferencing, all while working and collaborating online. The integration of AI platforms and tools has allowed for more efficiency in many areas of work. It is for all these reasons that young adults need to keep a growth mindset, embrace change and always stay receptive to new ways of completing tasks even through the learning curves.
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
The last few years have presented an abundance of new challenges for companies. The last thing an employer or hiring manager wants is an employee who freezes in challenging situations. Instead, they want to know that their employees can think logically and creatively to develop solutions to the problems or obstacles that arise from day to day. They also would expect that their employees can come up with new ideas while addressing existing problems. And the more creative, the better; that kind of thinking leads to innovation and improvements within the company.
For recent graduates and those entering into the workforce, it’s imperative to always be assessing current challenges and creating ways to tackle them from multiple angles. Additionally, young adults need to constantly highlight the examples of their problem-solving skills and list situations where they had to use that creativity in the face of adversity by coming up with innovative solutions. Having a track record of proven problem solving provides the validation to employers that you’re ready for the challenges that come with the position.
