One of the easiest ways to make headway in a career search is to enable yourself with skills. This is not a new idea by any means, but it is one of the most important. Fresh graduates often complain that employers ask for experience. This is mostly the case with a majority of young graduates who are not able to crack the interview in placement openings. To be honest, yes, employers look for experience while selecting candidates, depending on the requirements of the position. But it is also a fact that it is not really experience that they look for in a fresh graduate, but the skill sets that they possess.
As a human resource mentor, whenever I meet young jobseekers for career guidance programmes, I often assess how mentally prepared they are in their approach to their job search and most importantly, how tuned they are with their skill sets. Barring a few, a vast majority don’t meet the expectations.
The following points will give you a good perspective about the required skill sets:
Core skills
Core skills pertain to the subject you’re majoring in. Mere theoretical knowledge will not suffice in this competitive world. Employers seek candidates who know their core subjects well, when put to work in a dynamic organisation.
Soft skills
Soft skills are those skills which will help translate your core skills into workable activity. You need to know how to make yourself industry-ready using proper communication. Soft skills will ‘make or break’ you during the interview. Many fail at this despite their educational accomplishments.
Value-addition skills
This is absolutely the final punch in terms of giving your best shot at the selection process. Value-addition skills include extra skills like basic computer skills, language skills and writing skills. These have the capability to elevate your position in any organisation.
