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Skills and the Job Market: ESSENTIAL SKILLS NEEDED IN TODAY’S JOB MARKET

The Conference Board of Canada has produced a pamphlet that defines three major Employability Skills that are needed for today’s dynamic world of work. These are: Fundamental Skills, Teamwork Skills and Personal Management Skills.

FUNDAMENTAL SKILLS are skills that are needed as a base for further development.
You will be better prepared to progress in the world of work when you can:
• communicate
• manage information
• use numbers
• think and solve problems

PERSONAL MANAGEMENT SKILLS are personal skills, attitudes and behaviors that drive one’s potential for growth. You will be able to offer yourself greater possibilities for achievement when you can:
• demonstrate positive attitudes & behaviors
• be responsible
• be adaptable
• learn continuously
• work safely

TEAMWORK SKILLS are skills and attributes needed to contribute productively.
You will be better prepared to add value to the outcomes of a task, project or team when you can:
• work with others
• participate in projects and tasks

(For further details check out this site: http://www.conferenceboard.ca/education). These pamphlets are also available in our office.

10 EMPLOYERS MOST WANTED SKILLS
1. TAKE INITIATIVE
2. CONNECT WITH OTHERS
3. COMMUNICATE
4. SOLVE PROBLEMS
5. GIVE 110 PERCENT
6. THRIVE ON A TEAM
7. RADIATE POSITIVE ENERGY
8. ENJOY LEARNING
9. MANAGE INFORMATION
10. UNDERSTAND NUMBERS

A closer look at these ten most wanted skills by employers reveals that these fit within the Fundamental, Personal Management and Teamwork skills listed by the Conference Board of Canada as listed above.

Transferable Skills

What are transferable skills? We hear of this so often but what does it mean? Transferable skills are a set of skills that people can transfer from one job to another.

Examples of transferable skills follows:
• a willingness and eagerness to learn
• good verbal and written communication skills
• team work
• commitment
• dedication and enthusiasm
• problem solving and analytical ability
• organizational skills
• adaptability and flexibility
• information technology skills
• reliability and honesty

These skills travel with people everywhere they go. Sometimes certain skills are stronger in some people and not so strong in others. It is your job to know what skills you have, what ones are stronger than others and know how these fit with future job prospects.

Hard and Soft Skills
We often hear of hard and soft skills. Lately, employers are equally interested in hiring those that have strong soft skills as well as hard skills.

HARD SKILLS are those skills that are have been gained by education, learned through work experience and training. For example the following would fall into the hard skills category:
  • proficient in MS Office Suite
  • ability to program in XML, Java, HTML, Linux
  • keyboarding at 90 wpm
  • ability to assemble and weld various pieces of metal accordingly
SOFT SKILLS are those skills relating to people. These might include:
  • leadership
  • ability to get along with others
  • organizational skills
  • communication skills
  • innovative
  • self-starter
  • enthusiastic

Soft skills are skills that penetrate the workplace. They create the environment that everyone works in. Working in an environment where soft skills are utilized positively, in conjunction with hard skills, will promote a positive work experience, thus resulting in high quality work with a high productivity level; just what an employer needs!

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Did You Know?
There were 18,000 more people working in retail and wholesale trade in January, bringing gains since August 2004 to 46,000 (+1.8%).