5 skills top recruiters will seek in a professional post COVID-19

In today’s volatile world, where business operations are changing rapidly, the power of soft skills has emerged as one of the few constants. The current COVID-19 catastrophe has altered the way recruiters are selecting the right candidate

What do employers want?

Employers want candidates to demonstrate that they can adapt to changing environments and are accepting of novel ideas.

When we talk about the skills that recruiters seek while hiring, all prospective employers explicitly mention agility and a positive attitude in the candidate as requisites. A candidate having an optimistic outlook towards his work and a willingness to learn new ways to accomplish targets and goals is a key competency.

It is, therefore, indispensable for all the candidates to upskill themselves for the future. These pressing times call for more flexibility, excellent communication skills combined with high emotional intelligence and an optimistic approach.

Here are the 5 most essential soft skills, which can pave the path for everlasting success:

1. Adaptability

Several attributes of your personality can help deal with certain situations at work. The more you can acclimatize to changing conditions, the better employee you would become. Recruiters want candidates who can thrive in a culture of change and can continuously upgrade themselves in the way they work and think.

Adaptability leads to more productivity. Recruiters value candidates who showcase adaptability as a key element of their personality and professional outlook. They want people who can respond to change and new ways of working positively; who are passionate and confident to rise to the challenge of dealing with the unknown and prove that they can cope with the new and the unanticipated.

The ability to handle change with ease frees up the time one might spend stressing out when a new challenge presents itself. It makes you resourceful and a person with self-efficacy, who can turn adversity into opportunity.

2. Emotional Intelligence (EI)

A person’s capability to be conscious of his/her emotions and be able to control and express them as well as being familiar with the emotions of others defines their Emotional Intelligence (EI). You display high EI if you have empathy, integrity and can work well with others. Merely putting yourself into someone’s shoes is not EI but to act upon and understand others makes you emotionally intelligent.

Robotics, as of now, cannot compete with humans on EI. The future workplace is going to demand new ways of thinking, and human creativity and EI will lead the way. The imminent scenario would demand inventiveness to recognize the benefits of all the new things for the future — new products, ways of working and technologies.

3. Creativity

We have witnessed the role of creativity during this pandemic. Many enterprises have shifted to deliver their services in the healthcare domain. Mercedes F1 has started to gear up to produce state-of-the-art breathing aids.

Creativity has always been the first choice for recruiters when it comes to attributes. Experimenting, learning to unlearn and thinking beyond the obvious help in developing the creativity quotient in you. Organizations would require employees who can design, redesign and challenge the status quo and invent new verticals and ways of doing things.

4. Excellent Communication Skills

It refers to the one-on-one verbal language skills, writing skills, presentation skills, and in general the ability to express feelings, thoughts, opinions and suggestions clearly and professionally. A candidate with excellent communication skills has always been a coveted choice of all the recruiters.

Enhancing your communication skills can influence your career and take it to the next level of excellence. Your ability to communicate impacts efficiency, effectiveness and trustworthiness between you and your employer. It distinguishes you from others. It creates a brand YOU.

5. Learning Agility

Recruiters today rely more on your learning agility than intelligence. To flourish in today’s multifaceted business arena, we need to be agile, adaptable and open to new ways of doing things. In the current scenario, the business environment has become more dynamic and volatile than ever before. Business navigators can no longer bank upon the strategies that have worked in the past or even those that are working today.

A workforce with high learning agility can learn from unfamiliar experiences and then implement those lessons to prosper in the next new situation. It starts with exploring something new, something beyond imagination. It helps people to know what to do when conventional solutions do not work. It is unleashing your true potential to get the desired results. It is all about facing challenges with novel strategies.

So, gear up, take the plunge, inculcate all the desired skills and make a mark for yourself by converting adversities into opportunities. Success will surely be yours.

(The writer is Assistant Director, EDGE Career Services, UPES)