Job Skills Job-Seekers Need for Career Success

Job Skills, Skill Sets, Job-Seekers Need for Career Success

Printer-Friendly Version

Compiled by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.

Be sure to read our main career/job skills article, How to Capitalize on the Looming Skills Shortage.

What skills do experts believe are most important for workers to possess in this century? This compilation from a variety of sources, while not exhaustive, provides a snapshot of in-demand skills (and in some cases, values and personal characteristics) that can equip individuals with a competitive edge. You will notice significant repetition in the experts' opinions; skills mentioned by multiple authorities clearly are the most important to bring to the table.

Integrity
Energy
Communication
Confidence
Adaptability
Chemistry (fit with organizational culture)
Results
Teamwork
Confidence in leading
Interest

Source:

_____________

Motivation
Flexibility
Independence
Dedication
Professionalism
Customer orientation
Creativity
Organizational skills
Interpersonal skills with teams, customers, and management
Negotiation
Conflict resolution
Ability to encourage employees to express opinions and develop collaborative relationships
Emotional intelligence

Source:

_____________

Intelligence, ability to learn quickly
Ability to make good decisions quickly
Analytical, inquiring, logical
Ability to work well under pressure and willingness to work hard
Competitiveness, enjoyment of challenge
Ability to apply oneself to a variety of tasks simultaneously
Thorough, organized, efficient
Good time-management skills
Resourceful, determined, and persistent
Imaginative, creative
Objective and flexible
Cooperative and helpful
Good listening skills
Sensitive to different perspectives
Ability to make other people "feel interesting"

Source:

_____________

Talking to one's boss
Surviving a poorly run meeting
Running a meeting
Figuring out anything independently
Negotiating
Having a conversation
Explaining something in 30 seconds
Writing a one-page report
Writing a five-sentence e-mail
Getting along with co-workers
Using PowerPoint
Leaving a voicemail

Source:

_____________

Core subjects

English reading/language arts
Mathematics
Science
Foreign languages
Civics/government
Economics
Arts
History
Geography

21st century content

Global awareness
Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy
Civic literacy
Health and wellness awareness

Information and communications technology (ICT) literacy
Learning and thinking skills

Critical-thinking and problem-solving skills
Communication skills
Creativity and innovation skills
Collaboration skills
Contextual learning skills
Information and media literacy skills

Life skills

Leadership
Personal responsibility
Ethics
People skills
Accountability
Self-direction
Adaptability
Social responsibility
Personal productivity

Source:

_____________

Ability to function in a variety of environments and roles
Teaching skills: Conceptualizing, explaining
Counseling, interviewing skills
Public speaking
Computer and information-management skills
Ability to support a position or viewpoint with argumentation and logic
Ability to conceive and design complex studies and projects
Ability to implement and manage all phases of complex research projects and to follow them through to completion
Knowledge of the scientific method to organize and test ideas
Ability to organize and analyze data, to understand statistics, and to generalize from data
Ability to combine, integrate information from disparate sources
Ability to evaluate critically
Ability to investigate, using many different research methodologies
Ability to solve problems
Ability to work with the committee process
Ability to do advocacy work
Ability to acknowledge many differing views of reality
Ability to suspend judgment, to work with ambiguity
Ability to make the best of "informed hunches" (intuition)

Source:

_____________

Interpersonal effectiveness
Customer service
Systems thinking
Flexibility/adaptability
Creative thinking
Organizational stewardship
Personal mastery
Technical competency

Source:

_____________

Goal-setting skills
Time management skills
Knowledge-management skills
Team-player skills
Professional image skills

Source:

_____________

Oral and written communication
Computer literacy
Interpersonal/social
Critical thinking
Leadership
Teamwork

Source:

Business Communication Quarterly,

_____________

Technical/professional/job-specific skills
Leadership/management skills
Computer skills
Interpersonal and teamwork skills
Problem-solving skills
Communications skills
Basic skills, such as literacy and numeracy

Source:

Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key college, career, and job-search terms by going to our Job-Seeker's Glossary of Job-Hunting Terms.

Katharine Hansen, PhD, QuintCareers.com Creative Director

Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., creative director and associate publisher of Quintessential Careers, is an educator, author, and blogger who provides content for Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and blogs about storytelling in the job search at A Storied Career. Katharine, who earned her PhD in organizational behavior from Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, OH, is author of Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates and A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market (both published by Ten Speed Press), as well as Top Notch Executive Resumes (Career Press); and with Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters, Write Your Way to a Higher GPA (Ten Speed), and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Study Skills (Alpha). Visit her personal Website or reach her by e-mail at kathy(at)quintcareers.com.

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.

Find a New Job

What:
Where:
jobs by

Job-Hunting Tools:

Career Tools:

Career Categories:

Job Skills, Skill Sets, Job-Seekers Need for Career Success

Printer-Friendly Version

Be sure to read our main career/job skills article, How to Capitalize on the Looming Skills Shortage.

Maximize your career and job-search knowledge and skills! Take advantage of The Quintessential Careers Content Index, which enables site visitors to locate articles, tutorials, quizzes, and worksheets in 35 career, college, job-search topic areas.