The Employee Skills That Companies Are Crying Out For

Put yourself in the shoes of big and small companies across the country. If you were them, what skills would you say sets one employee apart from another? There are some skills that are becoming a rarer and rarer commodity because they are in demand by so many companies that they are draining the talent pool. Here are some of those skills that companies are crying out for in their new employees.

A Knowledge Of Social Media

There are still a lot of stuffed suits that think social media should be the primary focus of their marketing efforts. They think they should be on all channels and that they should be communicating with their target audience via social media networks, affiliate adverts and via social media influencers. Whether they are right or not is really of no consequence. The fact is that people with proven experience on social media are in great demand.

You need to be able to prove you have a skill for creating ripples within social media networks, and ideally, you should be able to prove you can do it in a short space of time. How you prove this is up to you, but if you can, then you may find it gives you an edge over the other people the company is looking to hire.

Know How To Create A Social Media Following

Being able to create ripples within social media networks and being able to run social media campaigns will give you that aforementioned edge over your competitors for a job. Another skill you may want to work on is creating a following on social media.

The people that are able to create a following are called influencers, and they are being courted by companies all over the world. Even slack-jawed fools such as Pewdiepie are being offered millions because at the moment he has over 30 million subscribers on YouTube (the most subscribers ever). If you have the skills needed to create a following on social media, then your new employer may embrace you like the son/daughter he never had.

Selling To People Face-to-face

It seems that face-to-face selling is becoming less and less popular, but what is more interesting is how there are far fewer people with the skills to sell face-to-face than ever before. For example, if the rate of face-to-face jobs were falling at a rate of 8%, the increasing rate of people that do not have face-to-face selling skills is going up at about 20%.

The sheer number of people that cannot sell face-to-face is now staggering, and yet there are still plenty of businesses, industries and companies that need face-to-face sellers. If you can get into somebody’s face and take him or her from no to yes, then you have a valuable skill that will help you get a job. Companies are crying out for good salespeople, especially those that can sell face-to-face.

Hacking And Internet Security Skills

Your future employer would love it if you could get into his or her competitors’ computers, steal their clients and bring down their computers, but the fact is that most employers would be afraid you would turn your skills on their computers.

If you have the skills needed to help protect an employer’s systems, websites, servers and computers, then your skills may be in demand. Just be careful how well you sell yourself because some companies are easily scared by too much hacking skill.

App Development

You may work as an independent contractor or may be itching to get a job with a new company. If you are able to create high quality apps for mobile devices and desktop computers, then you are far closer to getting your desired job than the person that cannot create apps.

Many companies are opting for staff members to create apps instead of having consultants or freelancers do it because the companies like to feel they have control over the app, its security and its updates.

Project Management

The trend towards individual projects and team projects within company departments is still going strong. You may enter a company and see departments working together, but with teams of different people managing different projects. Effective project managers that are able to meet their deadlines and get results are in high demand. This also includes being able to work on your own and follow through on the promises you make.

Tax Law And Accountancy

This skill may see a little unfair in terms of this list because it is an industry specific skill. If you are an accountant and have honed your accountancy skills, then start working towards learning more and more ways you can save your future employer more money. All company executives hate taxes and consider clever accounting to be a safe way to avoid taxes. Do not just be an accountant, be an accountant that can save a company money on their tax bill.

Multi-platform And Real-life Communication Skills

There are now jobs where you are expected to deal with people face-to-face, via video conferencing, social media networks, phone, email, text and project APIs. Show that you can do this effectively and show that you can easily jump from one to another with consummate ease and you make yourself a more appealing employees.

This skill is partly about what you can do and very much about what you cannot. An appealing employee is one that can jump from one platform to the next as if it were as natural as breathing in or out. What is not desirable is, for example, someone that is great video conferencing and then cannot touch-type a quick email. For example, it is a person that is great a SMS texting, but that mumbles and bumbles when talking on the phone. It is hard to prove that you can switch between one platform to another during your interview, but simply mentioning your skill is the first step to allowing you to prove it.