To follow on from a recent blog on soft skills (Softly, Softly does it), if you’re in any doubt as to their importance in the workplace, look no further than the graphic here: What it shows so brilliantly (sadly, it’s not one of mine) is how employers’ needs have changed and what it is vital that job applicants can bring to the party.
If you’re wondering why this has come about – don’t take my word for it but let’s say that the global mega-trends (Demographics, Geography & Technology) have played a blinder. Thanks to technological advances businesses can work around the clock using input from a global employee base. AI has made it easy to screen from many ‘000s of applicants drawn from a global talent-pool. There’s a different way of doing things, there’s a different mind-set needed in the workplace, and the workplace itself – if it exists in ‘office’ form at all – has changed for ever.
If employees must evolve in order to arrive in the workplace equipped with the necessary tools, they’ve not been helped by a national curriculum that has been slow to keep up with the pace of change. Schools aren’t to blame, for their main aim is to enable you to pass your exams. It’s not their fault that the examination boards have been asking the wrong questions.
So – what to do? Even if you happen to have an innate talent for all the skills that you’re going to need (draw from a long list of Leadership, Time-management, Communication, Problem-solving, Teamwork, Emotional Intelligence, Resilience etc, etc…) you are going to: a) have to know how to demonstrate that you truly do have these talents, and b) recognise the moment in the interview process when you’re being screened for them.
The good news is that this is all doable. Work Savvy can’t do much about your academic results but it can help with everything else, and enable you to prove how well you’ve evolved.