Describe the main employability, personal and communication skills required when applying for a specific job role.

Knowledge of products and services:

Product and service knowledge is vital, especially if one intends to work in a customer service role. One will need to improve the chances of obtaining a job if one can demonstrate knowledge of the products or services that the business delivers.

Experience of specific industry:

If one has worked in an industry before, one should make this very clear to a prospective employer when applying for a job. Experience of a particular industrial sector is highly valued by employers, as employees can bring with them hints, tips and information that can be used in the new business. Sometimes changing employer in the same industry may mean that one new employer is able to find out more about their competitors by employing one.

Effectiveness in meeting personal and team targets:

Meeting targets is vital for business success. Individual employees must be able to meet targets too. If one can demonstrate that one can meet targets and deadlines, This is likely to make one stand out at interview. If one has worked to targets in previous jobs with targets that were either your own or given as part of a team, an employer will find one even more employable.

Personal Skills and communication skills:

• Patient and hard-working
• Team worker
• Interpersonal skills
• Co-operation
• Negotiation
• Interviewing skills

Patient and hard-working:

Patience is required in many jobs, especially if one is dealing with members of the public. Employees who can remain patient in very difficult situations and get the job done are highly valued by employers. Being patient with people is not always easy, and it is undoubtedly easier with some people than with others. Patience is an important skill for a business person. Rushed decisions are rarely the best ones; it is usually much better to consider options and potential consequences before making decisions. Someone who gets lots of work down is also valued, whereas employees who spend too much time talking, answering their mobile phones or surfing the internet during working hours will not make a good impression. It can be very difficult to avoid distractions at work, but it is important that any employee, including you, is able to avoid them and do the job that they have been employed to do.

Team worker:

Another important skill that is very important is to work as part of a team. Developing teams in business gives information about how to work effectively as part of a team. Team work means to build that strong bond among your team mates and work with them.

Interpersonal skills:

Interpersonal skills enable us to get on with other people, promote positive relationships in the workplace and so enable the job to be done better or more efficiently. Some people are naturally good at getting on with others and encouraging colleagues, but it is possible to learn good interpersonal skills. If you think your skills might be lacking in this area, it would be worth working on them- such abilities will make you more employable and will also enable you to do a better job at work. Some interpersonal skills are very simple: such as smiling. A cheerful smile can break down barriers and encourage someone to listen and talk to you, so remembering to smile is a good start to improving your interpersonal skills.

Co-operation:

Line managers expect employees to co-operate with their ideas and wishes. As an employee, you should work co-operatively with other colleagues wherever possible. This also means that if you are asked to do something at work, you get on with doing it in a positive and constructive way rather than moaning about it to other people.

Negotiation:

Another useful skill for an employee is the ability to negotiate effectively. Negotiating involves discussing a topic in order to produce some agreement or common ground. At the start of negotiations, the parties involved usually have quite different opinions on what should happen. The art of negotiation is I finding common ground that both parties can agree upon-making it a ‘win-win’ situation. Negotiation is the process of seeking agreement and can therefore be useful for resolving conflicts between members of staff, agreeing budget allocations and during interviews, especially for new staff members. Negotiation is also really important when agreeing targets for an individual or a team of people. This is because sometimes targets may be set very high and therefore need to be further developed between the line manager and employee.

Interviewing skills:

Interviewing skills can be useful in a number of contexts. Being able to interview customers or clients effectively to encourage sales or improve customer relationships will be useful to many organisations. In addition, it will be an asset to identify the best candidates effectively when interviewing potential new employee or to deal with appraisal situations for current members of staff.