Top 5 Skills Employers Look for in 2024 by Staff Shop
“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” — Milton Berle
When you’re looking for a job, you often think about your past experience when building out your resume, but that’s just one aspect that employers look for when hiring. There are many other skills you can bring to the table to help you excel in practically any role. Be sure to highlight these on your resume and in an interview.
Unfortunately, not everyone feels confident when it comes to identifying their soft skills, especially when they are applying for jobs in a different industry. A survey found that 57% of those polled said they couldn’t identify their transferable skills with a high degree of confidence.
Identifying Your Soft Skills
While technical skills are ever changing, soft skills are steady. This is why today’s job market demands more soft skills than ever before. Soft skills include things such as communication, leadership and problem-solving.
In an article for Forbes, Director of Product Management at LinkedIn, Rohan Rajiv had this to say about the shift in demand:
“Foundational soft skills have become even more important given the rise of remote and autonomous work, and are growing in importance across industries, levels and work environments. In fact, these soft skills were featured in 78% of jobs posted globally over the last three months.”
This was in 2022, but things are still shifting this way in 2024.
Top 5 Skills Employers Look for in 2024
Staff Shop did some research and asked our internal team to narrow down the Top 5. As a staffing agency, we are always on the hunt for what our clients are looking for in a candidate.
- Communication – This might seem like a given, but it’s such an important skill, you need to highlight it. Most jobs require you to be a clear communicator. This doesn’t just mean writing emails. It’s how you speak and convey information, as well. Direct, playful and effective are examples we practice at Staff Shop.
- Customer service – this is the ultimate transferable skill. This is how many candidates can transition to new and exciting industries. So many jobs are customer facing, so being good at customer service is a must. Relationships are critical to success.
- Problem solving – Things happen in all industries that require solutions. It’s important that you can think on your feet and problem solve, especially under pressure
- Confidence – Confident people make great leaders. Believing in yourself and your abilities is so important. Be humble and fearless about sharing your ideas and talents.
- Project management – Have you ever taken on a project and owned it from start to finish? Project management skills are invaluable to most companies and in your home life.
Honing Your Soft Skills
If you feel like you’re lacking in one or more of the above skills, that’s okay – you can learn. Consider taking some LinkedIn Learning courses online. There are courses available, such as “Interpersonal Communication” that can help you develop these critical skills to make you even more attractive to potential employers.
Lots of job seekers think they need to go back to school to train for a whole new career, but in most cases, you simply need to show that you have the right attitude and soft skills to adapt to a new role, and you can be trained on the rest. Many of today’s workers need to pivot to new industries and enjoy it. Developing your soft skills is a great way to break into jobs that you never thought possible.
Join Us or Hire Us
Staff Shop offers full service staffing solutions for a multitude of industries, and from junior to senior level roles within any department of an organization. If you’re looking for a change, join us and we will get you started on a new career path. Employers – gain fully vetted, talented and hard-working people through our comprehensive hiring process.
Contact us today!