Most Demanded Personal And Professional Skills

Knowing the most demanded personal and professional skills can help put you ahead of the competition.

Looking for a job can be stressful, especially when you have no idea what companies expect from you. One thing is certain, the more different hard and soft skills you have, the better chance you have at being noticed by your dream company.

But what do you do if you don’t know what type of skills the company is expecting you to have? Worry no more! We are going to tell you what are most demanded personal and professional skills.

Here is the list of most demanded hard and soft skills. Take a look at what you already know and what are the things you should spend your free time learning. If you want more tips on the job search process, Europe Language Jobs is running a 30 day free, online event to help people improve their CVs, interview skills and giving even more advice on the essential skills.

Professional/Hard skills

Starting off with hard (professional) skills and what that means. Hard or professional skills are specific, teachable abilities that can be defined and measured, such as maths, reading or the ability to use software programs. Most demanded professional skills are:

Coding

This is becoming the most in-demand skill across all industries. Aside from just companies in the technology sector, there is an increasing number of businesses relying on coders.

Excel

Microsoft Excel is one of the most important programmes because of the key role it plays in all sectors. It is the most used spreadsheet program in business, classwork and even personal data organisation.

Web Development

The foundations to making a website is web development. Web development can range from the simplest, static, single page of plain text to the most complex, web-based internet applications.

Writing

This is an essential job skill. It is the primary basis upon which one’s work, learning, and intellect will be judged—in college, in the workplace and in your community. Writing is one of the foundations of communication and thinking skills. Good writing makes our thinking and learning visible and permanent.

Project Management

Learning this skill is important because it ensures proper expectations are set around what can be delivered… Effective project managers should be able to negotiate reasonable and achievable deadlines and milestones across stakeholders, teams, and management.

Digital Marketing

What has to be one of the most modern of the most demanded personal and professional skills. One of the reasons why digital marketing is taking over traditional marketing channels is the ability to interact with targeted audiences in real time. Interacting and providing your customers with instant engagement can give you an insight of what your targeted audiences want.

Personal/Soft skills

Soft (personal) skills are defined as less tangible and harder to quantify. They include skills such as team work, listening and engaging in small talk. The most demanded personal skills are:

Communication

Communication skills do not only include speaking a language – they involve listening, presentation and writing skills. The ability to explain difficult technical concepts to people is a very valuable skill to have.

Organization

Planning and effectively organizing projects and tasks for yourself and others is an essential skill to have. Careless organization wastes your colleagues’ time and your employers’ money, so having  skills in the organization department will always come in handy.

Punctuality

No one likes to wait – being able to arrive and carry out tasks on time is extremely important. We’ve all heard some variation of “5 minutes early is on time. On time is late. Late is unacceptable.” Where do you fall on the punctuality scale?

Critical thinking

The ability to use imagination, reasoning, past experience, research, and available resources to  understand and then resolve issues is highly sought after by employers. You can demonstrate this skill in an interview by referring to an example of when your company encountered difficulties and you were able to effectively resolve it via your critical thinking skills.

Adaptability

In today’s tech-driven and rapidly evolving business environment, the ability to harness new technologies and adjust to changing business landscapes is essential.

Creativity

Creativity is needed in any company – new ideas and concepts in an increasingly competitive global marketplace are becoming more and more important.

Skills Demanded in 2030

Bonus! If you are still a student or are not planning to work any time soon, here are what skills will be most demanded in the future. You have a lot of time to learn and advance them! Most demanded skills in 2030 are:

• Learning Strategies
• Psychology
• Instructing
• Social Perspective
• Education and Training
• Coordination
• Originality
• Fluency Of Ideas

Did you notice how many demanded skills are going to change from today until 2030? You are never done learning in your career. There is always something to improve on, so take a look at our list and choose one thing you want to work on!

If you need more job search advice, join our online event 30 Days To Get A Job: The Challenge for daily tips and trick on CVs, interviews and networking. It’s completely free!