Are you thinking of making a career change in 2021? A new year is a great time to start thinking about your goals and priorities for yourself and your future.
If you’re thinking of doing something different, maybe pursuing a new path, here are some skills you might want to acquire or brush up before re-entering the job market.
Critical thinking skills.
When a problem comes up, can you take a few minutes, think about it from all angles and sides, and develop a reasonable, logical solution? That’s critical thinking. The ability to deconstruct something bigger into more manageable parts is a valuable skill as it helps solve problems, sometimes even before they present themselves. It means not getting lost in the weeds but being able to see how the big picture fits together and why. It also means knowing which questions to ask and when and discern a real answer from someone who isn’t being truthful.
Flexibility and adaptability.
This goes hand-in-hand with critical thinking. Someone flexible can adjust their day and their priorities to address the new situation. Adaptability is moving from job to job, task to task, without bringing the whole team to a halt. It understands that things change and rolling with it for the greater good. If you were trained to do a job one way, and someday you’re told to try something different, someone who’s adaptable will give the new method a good, honest try.
Creativity.
This might bring to mind art classes in school, but creativity is a great tool in the workplace. Creativity helps solve problems by ignoring the idea that there’s only one way to do something; it’s sitting back and trying something new to find what works. This is not just something important to artists, musicians, and writers; creativity is much broader than that and incorporates the ability to take parts and components and build something new from it, with or without instructions. Five people given the same raw materials might develop five very different projects — that’s creativity!
Emotional intelligence.
If you’re the type of friend who gets phone calls when someone has a bad day or the one people lean on to make a tough decision, you’re already showing a high emotional intelligence level. This is the ability to read people and knows when to push forward or when to hold back. You know when to offer advice and when to listen. Recognizing other people’s personality traits, strengths, and weaknesses and making decisions that allow everyone to thrive regardless of their differences is a critical need in most working environments, and it’s what hiring managers look for in good candidates. Couple this with good communication skills, and it’s a valuable pairing that can make a big difference at work.
Tech savviness.
Regardless of the kind of job you’re looking to get, being familiar and comfortable with various technology and technical tools is incredibly important. This could be office management software or the latest construction tools — being able to learn and quickly adopt new technology will help any career. Willingness to learn is key; refusing or hesitating to add to your knowledge base will hold you back as you go through your working life.
If you’re looking to add new skills or brush up on what you already know, there are plenty of online tools at your disposal, many of them free! Do a quick online search for the skill you want to improve, and you’re bound to find tutorials, videos, articles, you name it, all available online in a few clicks.
Start Your Job Search
If you need a little help in getting your job search off the ground, contact Debbie’s Staffing. We work with some of the industry’s top names, and we’re ready to help you find your new job. Call us today, and let’s get started!
