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How To Improve Your Career Skills for a Better Job and Employability [2024]

Updated on 04 January, 2024

8.58K+ views
9 min read

How Acquiring Career Skills can Help You Progress in Career 

We live in a time when a person’s career skills are one of the most important factors that decide his/her future. There was a time when you were required to pass graduation only, which was regarded as a great achievement. But it is not the same anymore. For everyone, you need to acquire specific life skills such as personality, job, and employability skills, which help you climb the ladder of success. 

In the current situation, there is a high demand for skilled people for various jobs, and if you have the required skill set, it will prove beneficial to you. 

Skills are required by employers while recruiting for a job. The relevant skill sets make the employers see the candidates in a more positive light. The candidates having the skill sets stands a better chance of landing a job than those who do not possess the skills.

Apart from landing a job, candidates with the required skills get higher compensation than those without. Along with that, career progression becomes a much easier process for those with technical expertise in their industry.

Each industry demands its own set of skills. Career skills vary according to the industry. The professionals must be able to identify the required skill and accordingly upskill themselves. 

Young job seekers who have recently stepped into the market force sometimes would go through the doubt of “What is career skills?” Career skills are those sets of skills that are required in a certain industry. These career skills are a combination of both hard skills and soft skills.

If you do not have the required skills you feel necessary, you can always acquire them. The first step to developing expertise is to analyze and develop an interest in it.

Source 

Analyze and Develop Interest

Getting skilled is not an overnight task, but instead, a continuous process to better it with time. When you finally decide to gain something and be passionate, it would impact your jobemployability, or career skill. Then you can certainly acquire it as it is what you want.

 If you know what skill you want to be a master of, your journey will be 50% completed. If you are unsure, then analyzing yourself will provide you with the answer to it. One of the best ways to find it out is to consider some of your areas of interest. It can be something that you enjoy doing or something which sparked your interest while trying it out for the first time.

  1. Another great way to know about your skills is to go back into your memories and find out about a time when you were able to solve something in a matter of time, and that too with minimal effort. This proves that you are a genuine pro at work, and you need minimal effort to sharpen it.
  2. You also need to be an explorer to know your career skills. Trying out various activities will expand your arena and help you find out what job skills and employability skills you can develop.

Moreover, you can also identify the industry that interests you and read it carefully. Understand the market requirements for the industry of your choice and assess which skills you possess and which you do not.

If you are unsure about the required skills in the industry, then you can consider searching it online, reading the job description posted by the recruiters or you can carefully reading the profiles of the established personnel in the industry. This is how to improve career skills while going ahead in your career.

Source

How are Career Skills, Job Skills, and Employability Skills an excellent asset for you?

 Life skills and career skills are similar and dependent on one another. They are the skills that guide you in growing your career in the right direction and take you ahead. These skills are acquired by making the proper effort and gaining it through previous knowledge, experience, and expertise. Some of these skills include communication, adaptability, flexibility, curiosity, self-direction, interactiveness, productivity, responsibility, leadership, accountability, etc.

 Each of these skills is also a life skill, as they are something that should be acquired before working at a workplace. These skills are not only useful as an employee, but they make you a better person. 

Employability increases with enhanced skill sets. Employers look for candidates who can add value to the organisation, and the primary quality they look for is their skill sets. Also, the candidates with the skill sets stand a better chance of getting higher compensation as employers do not hesitate to acquire quality candidates. 

That is how you can improve your career. Career skills are also considered a prelude to a successful career. The skill sets help the professionals in bringing productivity into the team. The professionals with higher skill sets are responsible for handling more complex projects. Eventually, professionals with more projects and elaborated skills get considered for promotions or leadership positions.

Read: Job Oriented Short Term Courses

How can you develop career skills?

 If you find that some of these career skills are lacking in you, you can grow them by working on them by opting for some courses that monitor and help in developing them.

You can enrol in online or certification courses or acquire formal education if you do not have any or feel a lack of it.

But most importantly, you must always practice what you have learnt, which is how you will develop confidence in yourself that gets reflected during the interview or at the workplace.

Employability skills are the ones which help in getting you employed and are a noticeable part of you. They include many softs skills as their part. Excellent Communication, Motivation, Team Work, Resilience, Patience, Emotional Stability are some of them. Armed with these skills, you can ultimately excel in an organization before you start working. 

Soft skills are equally important; they are intangible but noticeable and appreciated. They can make building more profound and meaningful relationships at work more manageable. Professionals who have developed soft skills and can work effortlessly with others. They can collaborate and perform crucial tasks in difficult situations as well.

How can you develop employability skills?

If you feel that you do not have the necessary employability skills, you can get good at it by being a part of your team and trying to be patient with the tasks you do. Working on your emotional stability and maintaining is a great way to have positive thoughts that would prove helpful.

The main difference between job and employability skills is that the latter is necessary for any job you do, while job skills are specific job-related skills. This may include any technical skills depending on the work you do. For example, programmers need coding skills, Data Analysts need analysis skills, and a person dealing with Human Resources needs to have the whole idea of the working of the organization, rules and how to maintain them. These skills can be technical as well as non-technical.

Must Read: Professional Marketing Skills Required

How can you develop job skills?

These skills need to be taken care of before you join a place that demands them. If you are not up to the mark, you might get rejected as you do not fulfill the requirement. Thus, if you want to gain a job skill, learn it before applying. Many online courses help develop skills, which are in high demand nowadays. Opting for them would be beneficial.

Also Read: Top Online Courses with High Salary

Source

Conclusion

 With the advanced times, skills have become an inevitable requirement that makes people suitable for any work. These career skills, job skills, and employability skills signifacntly impact on a person’s workability and help an organization grow.

It is best to upskill yourself with the latest technologies. Check out upGrad’s top courses in Data ScienceMachine LearningDigital MarketingMBA from LBS & Full Stack Development.

You can also check out our limited-time free courses to utilize this lockdown to upgrade yourself.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. Is communication skill a necessary skill to possess?

The first thing that a potential employer looks at is how you communicate. Communication skills speak on your behalf. From the start of the interview until the very end, they catch your behaviour. They judge your communication through your telephonic conversation with them, how you present yourself before them, and how you describe your resume. Having a refined and polished ability to communicate will add an advantage to your candidature. Thus, having excellent communication skills will add a point to how much the interviewer approves of you.

2. Are there skills that help to increase employability?

Job seekers aren’t aware of the role of a degree in the hiring process. Most employers look for a degree to understand how qualified you are before hiring you. The only way to be a potential candidate is to carry the necessary skill set. The skills that contribute to expanding your scope of employability are leadership, reliability, learning and technology, oral and written communication skills, organisation and planning, self-management, critical thinking and problem-solving, teamwork and collaboration, and professionalism, and strong work ethic. These skills are also called interpersonal skills, and mastering them will add an advantage to your recruitment process.

3. What is the impact of your online presence in finding better opportunities?

95% of recruiters are using LinkedIn to find potential job candidates. Therefore, having an employer-friendly profile will be beneficial to you. Employers go through a candidate's profile to know how suitable they will be for the role they are hiring for. Hence, to begin with, make sure to maintain professionalism on your social media channels. Delete all posts, comments, images, etc. that might assist in narrowing down your chances for a selection. Alternatively, you can also set up a work account where everything you do will be professional. Keep your personal profile away, and put your professional one on display for recruiters and employers to find you. Also, interact with employers and peers frequently.

4. Which skill is best for the future?

Some of the best skills for the future are data management, analytical skills, emotional intelligence, critical thinking, problem-solving, etc.

5. How do you develop new skills?

To develop new skills, one must identify the areas they require development. Setting goals and a timeline should be the next step. Moreover, time should be invested in finding the resources to upskill. While going through the journey of upskilling, one must make sure that they are disciplined.

6. What career skills are desired by the future employer?

Skills desired by prospective employers differ according to the industry. But from the generic perspective, the skills required are analysis, data management, creativity, adaptability, good communication, collaboration, problem-solving, critical thinking, decision-making, etc.

7. Which career has more scope in future?

Careers that have more scope in future are software development, front and back-end development, law, Finance, Data Science, Marketing, Chartered Accountancy, Investment Banking, Therapy, etc.

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Google I/O 2016 – Day 1 | Recap

The most awaited Google I/O 2016 Conference was filled with announcements about improvements in current products and launch of some new products. In this article, we have summarized the biggest announcements from Day 1 of the conference. Google Allo Allo is Google’s new messaging app with resident chatbot. It has features like whisper/shout, expressive stickers, smart replies- which evolve with time and wide range of bot support especially the Google Assistant search bot. One of the most important features of Allo is that all its chats are encrypted but incognito mode offers end-to-end encryption and an option to send messages that self-destruct. Additionally, once you close a chat, the entire conversation is deleted forever. Google Duo Duo is Google’s mobile only companion app for Allo that helps in video calling. One of its special feature is ‘Knock Knock’ which lets users see the incoming video call feed before even answering the call. So, the receiving party can see who’s calling and where they are before they even pick up the call. Google Assistant Google takes search to the next level. Google Assistant supports “conversational understanding” to make search more natural and to better support voice searches. Google Home Home is built on the Chromecast standard, which lets it push media to other Cast-compatible speakers and screens, change temperature or lighting through Nest devices, and integrate with third party services. The entire experience is hands-free, powered entirely by voice. In fact, it doesn’t even have any buttons. Simple voice commands will control every aspect of the Home. Android N Android N comes with new features that include more control over notification size from different apps and a new picture-in-picture mode. Android N uses a new API called Vulkan that lets developers directly control a phone’s GPU for sharper 3D graphics. Android N will also download and install system updates automatically. The name of Android N has not yet been released. It is going to be selected through a crowdsourced contest. Google Daydream Google has a new VR platform built on top of Android N, and the new VR platform is called Google Daydream. It is an optimized virtual reality platform that aims to standardize the mobile-based VR experience. It also spans both software and hardware; Its biggest limitation is that it will be available only in new phones with special sensors and screen. Android Wear 2.0 Android Wear 2.0 can function independently of a smartphone. Apps no longer need a connected smartphone in order to function. Apps can function and even communicate without a phone, as long as the wearable device is connected to the internet via cellular or Wi-Fi. Users can also make data from any app show up on any watch face. Instant Apps One of the most interesting announcement was google Instant Apps. With Instant Apps, users can begin using an app instantly from right within the Google Play store without even having to download and install the app. As we can see, Google has made some big moves in the three hottest areas of tech – virtual reality, messaging, and smart assistants. However it would be interesting to see how these new products will compete with their competitors and how much of market share would they capture after their launch.
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by Dilip Guru

19 May'16
There’ll Be A Billion-Plus Job-Seekers By 2050, So Get Yourself Skilled NOW

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There’ll Be A Billion-Plus Job-Seekers By 2050, So Get Yourself Skilled NOW

This isn’t just a catchy headline meant to shock you, though that would be a justified reaction. If you are 25 years old, have graduated from a reputed institute in a traditional higher education discipline and are looking for a job, you may not be handed one on a platter any time soon. You may be cushioned within the famous Indian demographic that is supposed to yield a “dividend”, but unlike what you’ve been reading everywhere, this does not guarantee you employment. Between 1980 to 2010, 90% of world labour force growth occurred in developing countries and about 500 million new workers emerged in India and China alone (workers went from 260 million to 470 million in India, between this period). India, along with other developing counterparts, is all set to fuel 60% of the global growth in labour in the upcoming years. Keep in mind that enrolment in Indian higher education is only 24% right now. With India attaining almost universal elementary education and increased retention in secondary schools, the projected demand for higher education and jobs thereafter, will only escalate. By 2050, India will be home to more than a billion job seekers. This means providing jobs for over 12 million new entrants annually. There is also the challenge of finding jobs for the backlog, which reached 60 million by 2014. So isn’t this good news? India finally placed on the world map with a solid advantage where labour supply is concerned. Well, it may not all be good news. The new-age job-seeker must strive to acquire specific skill sets to be considered employable. Currently, only 43% of Indian youth are considered fully employable. Indian millennials are being touted as the future of jobs and the saviours of the working world. But this won’t hold true if in-demand skills are not imparted to the youth entering the workforce. The world of work is changing and industries are transforming. It’s a fact that we are moving towards a massive labour pool, but we are possibly riding a low-skill, low-wage cycle to get there. The country is on a trajectory that involves a surplus of millions of low-skill workers, whereas most nations, including India, will be increasingly demanding a high-skill workforce. Impacting Education: My Journey and UpGrad Most industries are replacing low-skill jobs with high-skill ones. Skills relating to upcoming technologies like cloud computing, social media, artificial intelligence, robotics, nanotechnology, etc, are gaining immense relevance. Unfortunately, our education system is not preparing students well enough to enter the workforce as high-skill workers or equipping them with skills in the mentioned emerging domains. Gone are the days when just holding a graduate degree was enough to get employers to clamour to hire you. Education is not enough. The new-age job-seeker must strive to acquire specific skill sets to be considered employable. Currently, only 43% of Indian youth are considered fully employable. Gone are the days when just holding a graduate degree was enough to get employers to clamour to hire you. Education is not enough. The positive connotation associated with our demographic shift has been taken for granted and assigned the term “dividend.” But if we don’t strategically harness this change, we could very easily be faced with a demographic disaster. We don’t want to be stuck in a situation where we have too many job-seekers with inadequate skills, and therefore not enough jobs for them. India is moving workers out of farm jobs at a very fast rate, and this will only add to the burden of providing jobs in other sectors. We need a wake-up call and more concerted efforts towards large-scale skill development and training. We may have a situation of too few high-skill workers and not enough jobs for medium- or low-skill workers. This needs to be rectified by adjusting the education and skilling system to ready ourselves for the jobs of tomorrow. UpGrad develops various programs such as Digital Marketing Certification Program, and Product Management Certification Program in collaboration with IIIT Bangalore, specially designed for working professionals looking to up-skill themselves.  Check out the free courses.
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by Mayank Kumar

20 Jun'16
Only 25% Of Indian Graduates Are Employable, And The Solution Is Obvious

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Only 25% Of Indian Graduates Are Employable, And The Solution Is Obvious

Co-authored by: Apoorva Shankar, Business Development Associate, UpGrad The world today has enhanced productivity requirements. Due to this, the demand for highly skilled labour is growing. China and India are set to drive this demand. Globally, the share of low-skill jobs is likely to decline from 74% of employment in 2010 to 62% by 2020. On the other hand, the shortage of highly skilled workers with a tertiary level of education is expected to reach 18 million by 2020, globally. But due to its demographic dividend, India will have a labour surplus of 47 million by 2020. However, this surplus may only be of low-skilled labour. And while the demand for highly skilled labour is increasing, the supply isn’t quite keeping up. The challenge, as well as opportunity, that India faces is how to train such a large reserve of labour and convert low skills to high skills. One solution that immediately comes to mind is providing higher education for all. But at present only 24% of those meant to be participating in higher education, are actually enrolled. Plus, traditional college or university pedagogy has been increasingly criticized for being outdated and irrelevant to the jobs market. If you attended school or college in India, you will have first-hand experience of the ills that plague the system. Some of the reasons for this are: Absence of a customized or personalized approach to education (necessary as different students have different needs and learning capabilities). Restricted resources due to not-for-profit nature of educational institutes and over-regulation. Lack of technology infrastructure. Poor teaching quality. Lack of skills-based learning. Low focus on research and development. Minimal partnerships with industry/foreign academia. Outdated curricula not reflecting requirements of a dynamic market environment. Skill-intensive industries are expected to contribute more than 90% of India’s GDP by 2030. The opportunity is staring at us in the face. Only about 25% of Indian graduates are considered employable by the organized sector. Further, 48% of Indian employers said they were having difficulty in filling jobs, in 2012. Despite employers expressing difficulty in finding employable candidates, in 2009-10 the unemployment rates in India were higher for those who were more educated (graduates had more difficulty finding jobs than secondary or primary level graduates). [b_color background=”#EDFF3D”] Also Read – Technology will surely kill some jobs, but not all of them [/b_color] So Indian education, in its current form, hasn’t proved to be enough training for the incoming workforce. The numbers also prove that just completing higher education in any field is not all it takes anymore. This pinch is being increasingly felt as the world of jobs is turning upside down; which is why we need skill training. Skill-intensive industries are expected to contribute more than 90% of India’s GDP by 2030. The opportunity is staring at us in the face. It’s not just about the potential but also the responsibility we are tasked with — restoring balance to the global supply of labour. The country needs to invest in skill development and training for a large chunk of its population. Exploiting sheer numbers is therefore one major reason to skill our workers. Secondly, the demand for advanced skill-sets in emerging areas is growing. Knowledge-intensive roles such as finance, business, etc, and those related to information technology and entrepreneurship are gaining momentum. The reality that these skills must be acquired will take root for more and more individuals, including drop-outs from the mainstream education system and those who have completed such education. Currently, the actual supply of these workers falls drastically short of matching growing demand. Hence, the gaps in domain knowledge are another reason to scale up the skilling. You are likely to be at a disadvantage, in terms of skill training and thereby employability, when compared to someone your age in China, USA, South Korea… In China about 47% of the workforce has received some kind of skill training, 52% in USA, 68% in UK, 75% in Germany, 80% in Japan and 96% in South Korea. Comparatively, only about 10% of the Indian workforce received such training in 2008. India is seventh in the category of countries facing maximum difficulty in filling jobs, i.e., 58% difficulty, where the global average is 38%. These figures reflect that just belonging to the young Indian demographic is not enough. You are likely to be at a disadvantage, in terms of skill training and thereby employability, when compared to someone your age in China, USA, South Korea etc. To address these imbalances, India needs unprecedented increase in both education and job creation. At this point, there is no guaranteed advantage for India in the contest for high-skill talent. It will be dependent on skilling. Considering the state of higher education and the skill upgrade required to be carried out in the future, the process will not just be about learning for professionals, but rather unlearning and re-learning.
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by Mayank Kumar

13 Jul'16
7 reasons to watch UpGrad Talks today

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7 reasons to watch UpGrad Talks today

There is really no secret sauce for success. Provided you have had the opportunity to view the exclusive online tete-e-tete sessions brought to you by UpGrad Talks. With an amazing roster of world-class speakers, some from the top 1000 companies of India such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Sky, Coca Cola, JP Morgan, JWT to start-up poster children such as RedBus, Snadeal, Ola & Zivame and many more, Upgrad Talks provides insights into their formulae for success. The talks also share deep learning from situations that didn’t work out and many valuable nuggets of honest, down-to-earth and practical advice from successful entrepreneurs, experts and industry leaders. While some lip service has been paid to new-age technologies and skill sets, and the evolution of industries because of these, a deeper understanding of what this signifies is missing. Upgrad Talks intends to fill this gap by bringing together thought-leaders from different walks of life and raising the level of discourse in this area, as they share their experiences. Here are the top reasons why you must visit talks.upgrad.com today and make it your daily source of insights and motivation: Get Inspired Inspiration can come from many different sources. You may get inspired when you see a problem that needs a solution, which you are able to ideate, or get inspired when you hear stories of adversity being overcome by sheer willpower. Rarely does the simple existence of wealth inspire us. It may motivate us to work harder, but inspiration stems from a deeper place that needs real stories. Upgrad Talks are stories from the folks who have lived these stories, first hand. Not only does hearing someone’s complete story of challenges, thought process and subsequent outcome inspire, it also gives birth to new ideas and provides impetus to grow in your own space.  Moreover, inspiration also stems from well-put statements such as, ‘attitude will sail you through,’ by Harit Nagpal, CEO of Tata Sky. A key benefit of listening to industry leaders is that it also inspires us to think. ‘What we think, we become,’ is a quote by Buddha that sums up this well. Go ahead, face challenges It does not matter if you are a startup or an established financial organization; challenges, big or small, exist in every level of most businesses. Challenges faced, strategized and overcome is the rite of passage for almost everyone. Not only do Upgrad Talks cover challenges faced by leading industry veterans, it also covers it from various stages of businesses along with discussion of the solutions that helped overcome them. Upgrad Talks speakers’ discuss challenges faced by businesses in different spaces, which makes these talks an interesting listen. Furthermore, is quite motivating to hear the candid conversations of business leaders. So what is the common thought on challenges in the Upgrad Talks? No challenge is too big. It also strengthens the belief that challenges help you grow and become stronger and develops a sense of confidence to take on the next big challenge. Learn from influencers People who can motivate are great influencers. To hear success stories at Upgrad Talks, which have been driven by deep-rooted passion as well as courage of conviction can be a great influence on most people. It is likely to help you push yourself to greater heights and also follow your dreams a bit more diligently. To quote Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl, ‘ there is a fine line between stubbornness and persistence.’ Upgrad Talks is likely to help you define the lines as an excellent selection of influencers talk also about the key soft skills required to make it a significant mark on the industry that you belong to. Mentoring As you listen to entrepreneurs, business leaders and experts on models that have worked, one can also start drawing parallels to one’s one business or profession. Mentoring of this kind is both subtle and effective as it helps you choose some key takeaways from the shared experiences that are most relevant to you. Follow the series to get premium access to the best mentors in the country as they talk about education, the emerging digital age and its impact on businesses, talent shortages and advice to youngsters. A bit of crystal gazing In the series of Upgrad Talks, one is likely to come across a vast amount of business knowledge which has been converted into digestible insights that can also help you choose the next steps in your career. Speakers’ at Upgrad Talks share their business mantras and what the future is likely to be.  This is crystal gazing of the finest variety and yet another reason to tune into the talks. A healthy dash of optimism One of the unique selling points of the Upgrad Talks is that they also brings out the combined optimism in business from key industry leaders. Apart from that one can learn what is next in the industry, and explore potential future opportunities in the workspace. The upbeat and positive nature of these talks makes them a must-listen. Easily available online Just in case you were wondering how far you would need to travel to listen to such a wide range of speakers, you can breath easy. Upgrad Talks are delivered online and you can listen to them at your own convenience. All you need to do is to long onto talks.upgrad.com and you can access high quality, pre-recorded sessions online. Upgrad is making content richer, bigger and better as it kicks off with 15+ talks delivered by entrepreneurs, experts & business leaders.  You definitely do not want to miss out on the educational transformation that UpGrad is fuelling in partnership with some of the greatest minds. Remember, one can never stop learning. So, if you always aspired to hear great advice and insights from the top Indian business leaders on how you can grow your business, choose a career goal or get inspired, do take a look at Upgrad Talks. They are truly the voices that impact. Join us today and be a part of it at talks.upgrad.com.
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by Omkar Pradhan

06 Aug'16