Applying for jobs
Applying for jobs: What skills do employers want?More in this section
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There has been a lot of research about what employers are looking for in potential employees and typically it results in lists of skills, abilities and work behavior like this: teamwork; problem solving; communication; time management; the more time an individual is without work the less an employer will
IT skills; numeracy; customer awareness.
These skills and abilities are 'generic', which means they are likely to be necessary in most types of employment. The way in which generic skills are demonstrated depends on the requirements of the particular job - so for example, while lots of jobs need communication skills, jobs involving selling, teaching, explaining or advocating are likely to need communication skills at a higher level than most.
Where skills and abilities are essential in order to fulfil the requirements of the job, they are called 'specific' skills or abilities. Specific skills might include, using equipment, having theoretical knowledge/degree subject experience or know-how.
What employers want is likely to be determined by business/organisational needs. Taking the example of communication skill further, a firm of lawyers will be seeking good general communication skills in all staff, sophisticated oracy and advocacy skills among those training to be barristers, and strong interviewing skills among solicitors.
Therefore, even generic skills (abilities, behaviours and knowledge) are all context-specific, so it's important to think carefully about the specific workplace that these skills will be needed.
Generic skills that employers look for include: creativity; initiative; enterprise. How you demonstrate these is again dependent on the workplace setting and the type of job. For example, the term
Print all pages in this section
Perfect your CV
Rise to the top of the job pile with a professionally written CV and a free CV review from The CV Centre.
There has been a lot of research about what employers are looking for in potential employees and typically it results in lists of skills, abilities and work behavior like this: teamwork; problem solving; communication; time management; the more time an individual is without work the less an employer will
IT skills; numeracy; customer awareness.
These skills and abilities are 'generic', which means they are likely to be necessary in most types of employment. The way in which generic skills are demonstrated depends on the requirements of the particular job - so for example, while lots of jobs need communication skills, jobs involving selling, teaching, explaining or advocating are likely to need communication skills at a higher level than most.
Where skills and abilities are essential in order to fulfil the requirements of the job, they are called 'specific' skills or abilities. Specific skills might include, using equipment, having theoretical knowledge/degree subject experience or know-how.
What employers want is likely to be determined by business/organisational needs. Taking the example of communication skill further, a firm of lawyers will be seeking good general communication skills in all staff, sophisticated oracy and advocacy skills among those training to be barristers, and strong interviewing skills among solicitors.
Therefore, even generic skills (abilities, behaviours and knowledge) are all context-specific, so it's important to think carefully about the specific workplace that these skills will be needed.
Generic skills that employers look for include: creativity; initiative; enterprise. How you demonstrate these is again dependent on the workplace setting and the type of job. For example, the term