#3 – Skill Up
Once you have a good idea of the type of skills that are required to land the type of job you’re looking for then you’ll have a better idea of what additional skills you’ll need to acquire.
There are basic life skills that will be required to a greater or lesser extent by all employers. The type of job will determine the focus of such skills but generally, these type of jobs will require the following skills:
The Three Rs: As it was once called, these are reading, writing and arithmetic. These will ideally be at least at a good high school level as they will enable you to learn information as you need it and also, communicate effectively with others, which leads us on to…
Communication skills: These include listening, speaking clearly and explaining sometimes complex ideas in an easy-to-understand way. Commication skills are particularly important in teaching, sales and customer service jobs.
I.T. skills: Virtually all roles now require some basic I.T. such as emailing, word processing, using spreadsheets and researching the web. If you want to work within the I.T. industry itself then you will need to make sure you have job specific skills, which could be computer networking, server management, electronic engineering, software / web programming, graphic design or video recording and editing. The good news is that many of these skills can largely be learned from home by investing in online courses. Example sites include Udemy, Lynda, Code Academy and Learnable.
Self-management: This covers important elements such as time keeping, organisation, people skills and managing your own potentially negative emotions. Good self-management helps you to stay professional, yet approachable and confident, yet humble. They are particularly important if you aspire to management or leadership roles.