You're Hired! Now What?

Congratulations! You got the job! It’s time to celebrate!

You obviously were diligent in your job search, you aced your interview and you are now embarking on a new journey on your career path. Your hard work has paid off. Now is not the time to discontinue your efforts; it’s time to channel your energy into excelling in and preserving your new position by using your employment maintenance skills.

What are employment maintenance skills? They are the qualities, abilities and behaviours you need to master in order to stay in a job over the long term.

According to employers, the five most commonly cited reasons why new employees didn't last were as follows:

• Inability to accept coaching or feedback
• Inability to understand others' emotions or manage their own
• Lack of motivation or the drive to succeed
• Attitude or personality was ill-suited to the job or work environment
• Technical or functional skills were inadequate for the job

Looking at this list it is amazing that, except for the last point which falls under the category of “hard” skills, the reasons for terminating employment are the lack of “soft” skills or “people” skills. These are the skills that have to do with how people relate to each other: communicating, listening, engaging in dialogue, giving and receiving feedback, cooperating as a team member, solving problems, maintaining a positive attitude and resolving conflict.

So what are employers looking for in their employees? They are looking for the following qualities:

·         Self-control - managing your own emotional state

·         Ability and desire to communicate well - organizing and presenting your thoughts clearly

·         Motivated - having a strong work ethic, possessing the ability and desire to learn

·         Accountability - being receptive to feedback, admitting mistakes and fixing them

·         Leadership - being a role model, taking initiative

·         Dependability - being punctual, sustaining regular attendance

·         Adaptability - accepting changes, being flexible in your behaviour

·         Ability to get along with others - having a positive attitude, avoiding workplace gossip, managing/resolving conflict

·         Occupational Skills - working toward continuous improvement/professional development

      Development of soft skills is a part of life-long learning. The process does not begin and end with your job; it becomes a philosophy of life. Working to advance these skills will definitely enhance your professional behavior.

Links for Developing Soft Skills

Free Tutorials

http://www.wikihow.com/Improve-Soft-SkillsFree Tutorial

http://www.academictutorials.com/tutorial-categories/soft-skills/

Learning Blogs

http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/01/all-in-a-days-work-developing-soft-skills-for-job-success/

http://www.positivityblog.com/index.php/2008/01/17/dale-carnegies-top-10-tips-for-improving-your-social-skills/

Suggested Reading

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

Emotional Intelligence 2.0 by Travis Bradberry, Jean Greaves and Patrick M. Lencioni

People who are unable to motivate themselves
must be content with mediocrity,
no matter how impressive their other talents.

-Andrew Carnegie

(Thanks to our guest blogger for their submission)