How To Improve Your Skills To Increase Your Chances of Getting Hired

The job market has seen so much competition in the past few years that standing out among candidates is more important now than it ever has been. While pursuing your passion and starting your own business is great, a lot of people will likely need jobs to make a living or even to get themselves started in their career. But to get a job, the right skills will usually be required.

It’s one of the most important areas of focus in employability; having the right skill set for a specific job or a category of jobs. Employers will frequently focus on the skills you posses to assess how hireable you are. One of the greatest things you can do to improve your resume and portfolio as an applicant is having skills that make you a more viable candidate. The problem is many people may not have these skills and don’t know how to develop and strengthen them. Here are 7 ways to improve your skills to increase your chances of getting hired:

1. Keep learning

One of the incorrect ideas many people develop as they grow older and leave the schooling system is learning is no longer necessary. After all, why bother learning if you’ve already spent years doing it in grade school, college, university, or whatever else? While graduating from the educational system is an accomplishment to be proud of, learning should not stop even after this achievement.

The skills taught in school are seldom enough for the real workforce. Most times people will need to learn more while gaining real work experience. This is one reason why it is important to keep educating yourself whether to make you better at a job you already have or to develop what you need for one you want.

A lot of employers may look for knowledge that you don’t have even if you’ve gone through the schooling system successfully. For example, a marketing job may require knowledge of a marketing software that an applicant has never used or was never taught. For this reason, it can also be beneficial for getting a job if you constantly stay updated on trends in your field, stay knowledgeable in them and expand your knowledge within and outside of your field. No amount of knowledge is too much.

2. Get a degree or certificate

Life is a great teacher, sure, but sometimes having a degree or certificate that tangibly proves that you have achieved educational requirements can also be a major plus. A lot of employers out there look for educational experience. It may even give you an advantage when competing against other more experienced applicants as degrees and certificates are often viewed as equivalent to real work experience.

It is really no secret that having a degree could make a candidate more competitive in the job market. However, it may be easier said than done. Getting a degree isn’t always easy, often requiring a lot of hard work and academic effort. In some countries it is also costly to pursue an education. Finding the right field can also be a challenge. If you plan on pursuing a degree and you have not yet committed to a field, you may need help selecting which field to go into.

The best advice here is to try to find something you are good at but also make a living off of. One of these may need to compromise the other. For example, someone might love to play golf but there are few ways they can pursue an educational pathway related to it and turn it into a career. Many of us will likely not become professional golfers nor will we become golf announcers or analysts. Try searching up a list of in-demand fields, look into available jobs and research knowledge that is highly sought after in the job market. This can also help shape your decision.

3. Gain real experience

Real work experience can teach valuable skills which can then be used to elevate our hiring potential. For example, getting experience with a customer relationship management (CRM) platform (which are becoming increasingly popular) might be appealing to employers because they use the same or a similar CRM. But it isn’t just about the skills developed in real work experience, it is also just the fact that it is on a resume that could elevate hiring potential. Yes, for many recruiters there is a such thing as being overqualified, but having the right amount of experience will often make a candidate more hireable than one with little or no experience.

Gaining experience seems like a tall order. You need experience to get many jobs, so how can you get experience in the first place? Well this is a little challenging but there are tips here. Try finding a job that requires little to no experience. Sometimes a job may ask for only a few months or a few years of experience. You may be able to get away with applying for and getting hired to these positions. Now, if a job asks for 10 years experience as a CEO and you apply with no experience, you most likely will not be getting that job. 6 months, 1 or 2 years –small numbers like that are more acceptable although there is still no guarantee.  If you have a job, try to keep it unless it is unsafe or you absolutely cannot stand it anymore.

If work experience just seems too unattainable for you, try volunteering. Volunteering is a great way to get experience that resembles real work without all the same challenges that come with actually getting hired. You can also look or outright ask for internships. Sometimes these are available, but you also may be able to ask an organization if you can get an internship with them. Try even if it’s temporary or unpaid. At least you’d build experience rather than not.

4. Become an expert communicator

Communication skills are highly sought after in the job market. A significant number of available jobs out there request some level of competence in communication (verbal or written). The first test of this is often a resume, cover letter or application questions, which can be used as a way for some companies to assess communication skills. Even interviews can be an opportunity for companies to test communication.

It is important to build communication skills if this is an area you feel needs improvement. Building interpersonal skills by talking to people or at least seeing other people talk to each other is a good start. If you aren’t too keen on social interaction, try watching television interviews to absorb interpersonal strategies. It is also important to convey ambition and passion when applying to jobs/during interviews. Try not to go overboard with this so as to avoid coming off as fake or sarcastic. Tamed excitement is really the key here. Watch people with charismatic and well-liked personalities communicate and try to emulate some of their mannerisms.

5. Gain expert proficiency in a certain area

It is important to diversify the skill background you have so you can demonstrate your versatility when applying to jobs. It can be attractive to a lot of companies if an applicant can contribute in multiple areas or across multiple departments. With that in mind, though, it is also important to have a main selling feature. Diversify your skills but try to have a focus area.

This really depends on many things like what you have studied/are willing to study, what interests you and what is in demand. Try going online and researching into what fields are in high demand. For example, content writing is now in high demand despite not being very relevant years ago. It would be a good choice to learn the ins and outs of this area and putting “content writing professional” on your resume. Maybe you can learn programming. Or maybe web design. The list goes on. Regardless what skill area you think is best, try to focus your attention on fine-tuning and/or developing your knowledge in that field.

6. If you have a job, try to keep it

There is no shortage of pressure out there for people to quit their jobs and get started on their own businesses. While this is great and should be your ultimate goal, putting all your reliance on a business succeeding is a gamble. Many jobs offer more security than self-employment. You should avoid quitting your job unless you are confident in your business or you have another job to go to. Having a job can help develop your skills and being in a role for a longer period of time looks better on a resume than a short-term job or bouncing between jobs. There are exceptions to this rule; i.e. if you are a contract worker or a student working a summer job. Typically, though, longer tenures tend to look better on a resume.

Now I would like to add a condition to this argument. If you absolutely can’t stand your job you should consider quitting even if you have to downgrade to a lower paying job. But I would recommend doing this only if you are sure you’ve assessed your situation logically. It’d be hard for me to tell you whether quitting your job is a good choice or not because this necessitates taking many factors into consideration. Ultimately, you are more suited to judge your own situation.

7. Improve critical thinking

Whether in the workforce or in the market for a job, critical thinking is one of the most handy skills to have. Company leaders and people who rapidly ascend the corporate ladder tend to be better critical thinkers overall. It isn’t a useful skill in every job but it is so sought after that improving it will make a better candidate for many openings. A lot of times when applying to jobs the ability to demonstrate advanced critical thinking skills is noticed and given favorability.

You can improve critical thinking by practicing it. Try envisioning difficult situations and thinking of ways out of them. Read online about challenges faced by corporations and businesses and learn how they are solved. Become an expert at verbally communicating your solutions and prepare yourself to answer tough questions with poise. Critical thinking very well could make the difference between getting hired and not.