The notion of working for the same company for 40 years and then getting a gold watch and pension is a thing of the past. According to a 2019 Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) survey of baby boomers, the average number of jobs taken in a working lifetime is 12.
In order to remain relevant in today’s highly competitive job market, you will need to continuously update your skills as you move from job to job. There are 9 top skills that you need to learn in order to stay ahead of your competitors. Over the next three weeks, I will outline three key skills each week that will help you to stay ahead of the field and be on top of your game. The first top three skills are:
TOP SKILL 1 - BECOME AN EFFECTIVE TEAM PLAYER
Today’s leaders need to be able to work together, complement each other and function as a team. Disciplines such as sales, marketing, design, finance and IT are increasingly being brought together and placed onto cross-functional teams to build products and solutions faster. The performance management systems of top organisations are being changed so that success is no longer measured by an individual employee’s performance but how they improve the results of the team. A teamwork environment promotes an atmosphere that fosters friendship and loyalty. These close-knit relationships motivate employees in parallel and align them to work harder, cooperate and be supportive of one another. This keeps employees connected and engaged and improves business performance.
TOP SKILL 2 - A LOVE OF CONTINUOUS LEARNING
In the past, jobs were static with fixed skills requirements and the way to progress was to climb the career ladder. This is changing. Careers are becoming portfolios of projects and experiences. In future, employees will have to continually reinvent themselves and move from role to role in order to be successful. For example, software engineers must continuously redevelop their skills as technology changes. Professionals in marketing, manufacturing, law, accounting and finance report similar demands.
Only through learning about things first-hand do we really learn understand for ourselves what suits us or not. When you take time out to discover what you love, updating your skills on a regular basis will become effortless for you as you will love what you are doing and want to learn as much as you can.
TOP SKILL 3 - DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF CULTURAL DIVERSITY
Companies are making increasing use of remote working and teams spread across the globe. Many top jobs require you to work with people overseas and from different backgrounds. The person you are working with closely may not even live in the same country, let alone the same town. It is vital in order to get ahead, you develop an appreciation of other cultures to develop key interpersonal skills that are crucial for the future world of work.
Apparently only 38% of Britons speak at least one foreign language, 18% speak two and only 6% of the population speak three or more. Speaking many languages helps you to stand out in a competitive job market and could help you to communicate effectively with your foreign team workers. If you don’t have a second language, then perhaps you should consider learning one?
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