Stop Being Overlooked at Work | 7 Skills

(I've been in a black and white mood as of late)

The workplace in today's world certainly has a high amount of turnover. What can we do to survive, stay relevant, and succeed in achieving our goals? According to the World Economic Forum, there are seven skills every young person needs in order to stay ahead in the tumultuous global workplace:

1, Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving

Companies need to be able to continuously improve products, processes, and services to compete in the market. To do this, they need workers with the skills to think outside of the box, making sure to ask the right questions (or the wrong ones) to get to the bottom of a solution.

2. Collaboration and Leading by Influence

Given the interconnected nature of the business world, leadership skills and the ability to enforce change and work together as a team has become more and more important every day. There are a multitude of collaboration softwares out there to be used, it's high-time we start using them to their full effect.

3. Agility and Adaptability

The ability to pick up new skills quickly is vital for success. Become a sponge, learn what you can at every opportunity. This is also called "learnability" which is a very marketable skill. Knowing what you know can also help you side-step problem thrown your way or effortlessly transition to new and more challenging projects.

4. Initiative

It's been said over and over and over and over again... there is absolutely no harm in trying. People and business often suffer from a tendency to be risk-averse. It is always better to try ten things and succeed in seven of them than to try two things and succeed in all of them. Always. Move. Forward.

5. Communication

Interviewers' most common complaints about prospects are fuzzy thinking and inability to articulate their thoughts clearly and concisely. This isn't so much about using grammar, punctuation, or spelling, but how to get the responses, ideas, and question over in a respectable manner. If you have great ideas but can't properly communicate them, then you've lost already.

6. Analyzing

Many employees have to deal with an immense amount of information on a daily basis. Having the skill to sift through all of it and pull out what is relevant is a challenge. Practicing this is easy, however, just have to keep trying.

7. Curiosity

Ask questions. Think. Ask Questions again. Why are we doing this this way? Could this be done faster? What is this and why do we need it? The answers to any of these will put you in a position to propel you ahead in your career and your company will almost certainly thank you for it.

These seven skills should make you known at your workplace and help put on the correct path. Not in the workplace yet? Hone these and make yourself ready for the global shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy.