Employers tend to seek staff with commendable skills and character, which always sets a potential employee apart from others during recruitments. Being employable is not only based on your professionalism in your field, but deals more with your level of intelligence and how this intelligence is applied at different circumstances. Knowing how to be employable, will qualify you as a competent employee and also make you an idle candidate for the job.
Hence it’s necessary to understand basic essentials on how to be employable and how to acquire the skills of becoming employable. Being employable requires some personal characteristics, and goes way beyond reading books on employment. For an individual to become employable as well as a good employee, there are some important qualities that individual should possess, master and utilize efficiently at any give situation.
Be yourself; as the saying goes, no one does it better than you. Trying to be someone you’re not because you want to get a job is not a good idea and can get you into a lot of trouble on the long run. Show your potential employers who you are and what you’re made of; in order not to confuse them with double personalities.
State your true status academically and work experiences; an employee will always be held accountable for his/her words no matter how small or big. Once you can get your employer to believe your words, it will be very easy to win their trust as well as convince them that you’re the best candidate for the job. Being open and honest is an important value; it makes you speak confidently instead of stuttering or sounding unsure.
Develop yourself; always grab every opportunity to enhance your skills and develop yourself. The competition gets steeper as time goes by, hence the standards of employers rise periodically and this leaves employees with no choice than to develop themselves and be one of the best. Take professional classes important to your field and never turn a job down because you’re too lazy to do it. Grab every available opportunity to know more and become more experienced.
Listen before you talk; employers like employees who listen more and talk less.
The ability to pay attention is a habit that needs to be nurtured. A potential employee, who listens, will learn fast and eventually make the right utterances. Don’t feel you know too much and start talking more than you are asked to, talk less and listen more.
Positive Attitude; Whenever you step into a room filled with people, who could be your colleagues, employer, boss, business associates and the list goes on, endeavour to always have a positive attitude. Having a positive/good attitude with take you a long way in your personal and career life. When your employers notice the positive and fresh aura you bring to the room, they will be eager to experience more of your presence and work with you. You may have all the qualifications and skills in the world, but if you have a negative/bad attitude, the extent of which you’ll rise or be employable will be very limited. Remember, when you walk into an interview room; be humble, respectful, smile and be friendly.
Be the idle employee; employers have a spec when it comes to the type of staff they want. Before your interview or before you apply for a particular job; carryout a personal investigation on the company and look out for the quality, manner and character of staff working in that company. When you’ve successfully gotten all the information you need, start working towards being that type of employee. For example; if the company only recruits masters’ candidates, get your masters! Or if the staff dresses impeccably smart and you’re more of a down-dresser; you need to upgrade your wardrobe etc. Always try and engage in ways and activities to make your potential employers see you as a potential employee.
Creativity is key; though it’s okay for you to act in the generally accepted way during interviews, it never wrong to be creative with your response during interviews. Look out for new strategies and think out of the box, this is a good idea if you want to be employable. Employers love new ideas and creative minds, because change is constant thing in life and they need new ideas to keep up with change in this ever evolving world.
In addition don’t be too eager to follow protocols, try new methods and add some creativity in everything you do. Goodluck!
photo-credit; blackmensdossier.com
