The ideal set of qualities and skills that an employee must have to delight an employer practically depends on the nature of business, objectives, and operating needs of the employer. It is an elusive set that varies from one company to another, with each set involving different job requirements and demanding the productive combination of hard and soft skills.
Hard Skills (HS) are specific, teachable abilities or demonstrable competencies functionally required by a job (e.g. knowledge of software development, financial analysis, typing, and driving). Soft Skills (SS) include personal qualities (e.g. motivation, sense of responsibility, integrity, and problem-solving) and interpersonal abilities (e.g. leadership, communication, listening, and team orientation).
So, what skills do you need to become the employer's choice?
I am delighted to share the success-proven skill set that continues to have universal application across companies and industries, and which I had productively used across my career life. This skill set is embodied in the formula: 100% Employer Approval Rating = 20% Hard Skills (HS) + 80% Soft Skills (SS). Let us discuss its specific elements.
1. Superior oral and written communications skills (SS).
When you applied for the job and presented yourself in your resume and cover letter, as well as in the interviews, you were immediately assessed by your employer based on your capacity to communicate. Had you failed to clearly get your message across, orally and in writing, you could not have gotten the job. It is best that you appreciate the all-time importance of this fundamental requirement in any job. Continue to improve on the skills through purposeful practice, enhancement, and perfection. Good communication skills breed and build rapport and trust with the employer, and with your co-workers, friends, and peers. Bear in mind that an employee who cannot articulate dampens the interest of the employer.
2. Solid knowledge of the job, other functions, and company processes. (HS)
You might have impressed your employer with your power to communicate and it was exactly the reason why you were hired. But, whether you were taken in as an entry-level employee, supervisor, manager, or a board-level executive, you are expected to be a master of what you do on the job. Exert extraordinary effort to know your job from A to Z, the functions of all other operating units, and the processes involved in the conduct of your employer's business. Demonstrate, internally and externally, that you know the nature and importance of your work. Once you failed to perform on the job at any given time, you run the risk of being an excess baggage worthy of your walking papers.
3. Motivated, self-driven, and responsibility-hungry workplace attitude (SS)
Most employers want to see a vibrant and exciting work environment, a workplace where everything moves in excitement toward the company's desired direction. Show your employer that you are passionate with what you are doing. Animate others by your examples. Consider that what is good for your employer is also good for you and your family, always see that alignment. Do not wait for instructions. Practice initiative, doing things within the ambit of your assignment without being told. Be resourceful, always consult or ask questions when you need to be clarified on any issue. If you do otherwise, exuding a lifeless or reactive behavior, it will simply catch the employer's ire.
4. Good IT / Computer and Internet literacy (HS)
You cannot comfortably work, grow, and deliver value to your employer if you know nothing about computer programs and Internet. It is mandatory that you be learned and updated about information technology. Your employer expects you to have strong computer literacy because it is essential to productivity and business efficiency. As a minimum requirement, you must have a working knowledge of MS Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Also, if you are not computer literate, it simply tells your employer that you have been professionally and technically left behind. If you are an applicant, in all likelihood, you will not be considered for the job. If you are an employee, you will be typecast for menial roles, if not totally severed from employment.
5. Demonstrable problem-solving and decision-making skills (SS)
Employers want employees who are inquisitive and analytical, people who think out of the box. Employers laud employees who can be left to work and decide with least supervision. You must therefore have the habit of assessing situations, analyzing problems, evaluating alternatives, making decisions, doing strategic appraisals to sense future problems, and knowing contingent actions. Never fall into the trap of making hasty or haphazard decisions just because you have gone through the same experience in the past. Be guided by the changing context of the business of your employer and practice flexibility to align your thoughts, words, and actions to impinging situations.
6. Collaborative, sharing, and team-oriented concept of work (SS)
If you are the solitary, loner type of employee, who is more comfortable working on your own because you believe you can do it alone, you are then entertaining an erroneous notion of contemporary work. Businesses have switched to new organizational models where "team islands" prevail and where continued employee collaboration and sharing happen. Nowadays, no one employee is above the team organization, with the most brilliant team member yielding to the team consensus. If your employer does not have team organizations, still, your exercise of collaborative and sharing discipline will help raise your internal ascendancy and potential capacity to realize your goal. This will delight your employer.
7. Customer-focused and quality-based business disposition (SS)
The business of your employer is predicated on being able to acquire and retain customers because of a superior value proposition that is founded on quality of products and services in the way the customer wants them. Learn to exercise a genuine love for the customer by being consistently mindful of their needs, wants, and expectations so that you remain attuned with the interest of your employer and the market it serves. When you are customer-focused, you are in a better position to help your employer build revenues and manage costs to achieve desired profitability.
8. Strong sense of leadership and accountability (SS)
Businesses prosper due to managerial and leadership content of organizations. Leaders are those who make things happen for the organization. Leaders need not be managers since they are everywhere in the organizational ladder, creating much greater impact than the managers. They are the courageous and strategic stewards of the business, open to change, predisposed to make quick and daring decisions, but always accountable for the consequences of their actions. Be one of the leaders in your organization. Take the challenge of your job and stand for what you believe is right, but always yielding and flexible to the onset of any superior thought. Remain answerable for the result of your action without making any frivolous excuse. Your guts and grits to advance the best interest of the organization will endear you to your employer.
9. Genuine receptiveness to change and new learning (SS)
When you practice leadership and accountability, you become open to change. You learn to shun status quo and appreciate the advantages that change can bring to your employer. You develop a predisposition to retool and upgrade, and for that matter, value new knowledge and continuous improvement. In the process of change, you broaden your thinking perspective and the horizon over which you execute actions to support the goals of your employer. In the end, you increase your professional value, increasing the quality of your work contribution in a differentiated manner that will not escape the attention and liking of your employer.
10. High-beam transparency, honesty, and loyalty (SS)
In the exercise of any engagement, there is no substitute for probity and transparency. They are paramount indicators of loyalty to your employer. When you are upright, it bespeaks of a character that tells the employer you are an employee who can be trusted, and someone who will not, in any manner, compromise the business interest of the company. No matter how excellent your qualities are with regard to the other nine categories, you put everything on the line if you manifest corrupt or obscene behavior or express profane language. While your other winning qualities can dramatize your utility as an employee, a spotless character is the clincher that can influence your employer to give you a 100% approval rating.
Whether you are job applicant or someone who has already landed a job, it is in the exercise of good judgment to consider the compelling value of the top 10 employee attributes we have presented. The attributes represent career imperatives proven to have produced outstanding results. Remember the formula. Learn, adopt, and practice the attributes. You will never regret having possessed them. They elevate people to fulfilling career accomplishments while enriching relationships with their employers.