16 May

There is more to career success than having the right qualifications or many years of experience. It is essential to have the right set of personal skills to get ahead. To be truly successful in one's career, every professional needs to build a set of personal and cognitive skills. These skills are intrinsic to your personality and may to different degrees need refinement and upgradation.

As automation and AI take over many roles and global factors realign the nature of work, there is a massive disruption happening in the job market.

In this situation, professionals have to review their skills and capabilities to stay relevant and successful. In this blog post, we examine 4 key skills that can help you succeed in your career.

Interpersonal Skills

Unless you are living alone on an island, like Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway, you cannot do without people-related skills or interpersonal skills. Working and collaborating in groups is essential in any work situation, even if you work remotely. Studies have shown that most employers place significant value on these skills.

We use interpersonal skills to interact with others in a productive way. In particular, showing empathy and genuine consideration through good listening and effective speaking. You should also be able to manage your emotions and maintain a calm demeanour that exudes confidence and control. While some people are naturally gifted with this skill, others have to learn and practise it. With proper guidance and training, everyone can build the optimum level of interpersonal skills needed to be successful.

Communication Skills

The ability to communicate effectively is an essential component of all work and professional activities. Being able to communicate verbally and in writing, with precision and accuracy, is an invaluable skill that can make or break careers. From verbal skills in business development or job interviews, managing meetings or motivating large groups, in technical issues requiring correct vocabulary or writing with empathy in soft situations, communication skills are everywhere in your work life.

Some key communication skills to focus on are:

Written Skills: Being able to write well is a basic requirement in a professional and competitive workplace. Across roles and seniority, you need to produce reports, craft presentations, and draft sensitive communications. Good vocabulary, simple and effective language, and accurate, proofed text are the fundamental aspects of this skill set.

Verbal Skills: Being able to speak confidently and clearly is important for everything from interviews to client meetings. There are two types of speaking situations — one, where you address a group of people. The other involves conversations with one or more people simultaneously. Fluency, vocabulary, tone, and pronunciation are some aspects to consider while developing speaking skills of all kinds. But to build conversational skills it is equally important to be a good or active listener. This ensures you can communicate with empathy and not sound like a one-sided person. Speaking is a skill that requires constant practice and improvement. To be clear and effective, good speakers practise before important situations.

Nonverbal communication skills: Using words are not the only way to communicate. While in group situations, one’s body language plays an important role as does the tone and pitch of your voice. This can communicate a variety of emotions and also reveal a lot about your personality to your listeners. It is important to merge body language properly with verbal communication as the situation demands. Be aware of how you’re coming across nonverbally and make sure it’s in alignment with the message you’re trying to put out.

Also read: The secret to career, money and happiness: Financial planning

Problem-solving and critical-thinking skills

Problem-solving and critical thinking are the most important assets for an ambitious professional. Studies have placed problem-solving and critical thinking in the topmost tier of employability-related skills. Patience, objective assessment, lack of bias, thinking from multiple perspectives and independent thinking are essential traits that make for good professionals. Involving people with better skills and keeping aside ego helps ensure that the best solution is quickly delivered. In this era when the fear of AI taking over jobs is rife, critical thinking, along with problem-solving skills, will help keep professionals' future ready. This skill focuses on breaking down a problem or issue into logical groups, interpreting the situation, analysing all the pros and cons, and sources of information, and then take an informed decision that provides an acceptable solution in a time-bound manner.

Adaptability skills

Change is the only constant in life and work. The ability to be flexible, learn and adapt to the changing situation can help you stay ahead of the curve. The most important trait for conquering change is to be a lifelong learner. This keeps you updated and ready to tackle new developments. Eliminating biases, demonstrating positivity, and being open to new ideas will add to the learning trait. To be adaptive is to be ready to face both the predictable and unpredictable demands and conditions of a changing work environment.

To be adaptive, professionals can look to build these 4 traits:

• Concern about the future to prepare for emerging and unknown factors
• Curiosity about the developing and existing situation and one's own condition
• Confidence to make the right decisions
• Control over ones actions and career to find success.

Qualifications and effort only take you so far. The skills mentioned above are necessary for any professional looking to take their career to the next level. By taking the time to develop these skills, professionals can gain a competitive edge and increase their chances of succeeding in today's ever-changing business world. With the right attitude and strong set of abilities, you too can thrive as a professional!

Also read: What is a future-ready career?