8 Transferable Skills Employers Should Feature In Job Descriptions

For any business to succeed, you must have a dedicated team with key skills to help propel everything and everyone forward. There are certain attributes employees need to have to fulfil their duties and responsibilities, work well with the team and ultimately, grow the business.

As an employer, you’ll want to know you’ve got the cream of the crop working for you. To help attract these types of employees, you will need to amplify your job spec so that certain skills are listed. Here are some common transferable skills that should feature in the job descriptions that you post.

Effective Communication

Communication is at the forefront of any business. Employees need to be able to speak up, engage and work well as part of a team. When conversing with staff, you want to know they’ve taken everything on board and know exactly what is expected of them. Make sure to house this skill in job descriptions. Hiring People can help you tailor job descriptions to the opening you have. They have sample job descriptions to check out, which explain this in more detail. Effective communication is what keeps the glue together in a company.

Time Management

Whatever role you’re advertising, you’ll want to find candidates who have excellent time management skills. After all, to keep clients happy, employees need to hit deadlines on time. If they don’t, this can cause real problems for your business and harm your reputation. Candidates who display time management skills should be moved to the front of the list.

If they can possess such skills, you can be confident you have a team who can work to deadlines and know how to prioritise their workload. Ensure this is clearly listed in your job description before advertising the role.

Problem-Solving

Regardless of how long you’ve been in business or how much you know about your field, problems can always arise out of nowhere. When one strikes, you’ll want the reassurance that you’ve got employees who can identify issues quickly and sort them out. Problem-solving skills are sought-after by all employers. Knowing your team can spot errors and fix them immediately will help keep projects on track.

Employees who can keep calm under pressure in these scenarios are essential too. This helps to keep everyone grounded and reduces the risk of further mistakes. Ensure you mention the need for a candidate to be able to solve problems in the job description.

Active Listening

Really listening to others is a soft skill that’s mandatory in every industry. Whether an employee is dealing with fellow employees, clients, or customers, knowing the person is being listened to is crucial. Active listening is all about recognising body language and non-verbal cues and listening to emphasise and understand the person you are conversing with. All employers should put this transferable skill in their job descriptions.

Dependability

Knowing you’ve got a team who you can rely on and depend on means everything in business. Staff with a strong work ethic who go above and beyond will only elevate your business. You need to look out for candidates who demonstrate a positive approach to work.

If a candidate expresses their wish to learn new skills and has the passion for taking their career further, you will know they are staff who you can trust and go to in emergencies. This should be listed throughout the posting.

Public Speaking

If you have a management opening position within your business, public speaking skills are a must-have for candidates. You will need to make this clear on the job description.

This is because they will be tasked with holding meetings and presentations for employees, customers, and clients. Candidates who have experience in public speaking will show they have confidence in their abilities; a perfect attribute for the role! This skill is useful in other ways too, like delivering updates to the team or selling products at an industry conference.

Leadership

Leading on from public speaking skills, you should look for candidates who have leadership experience. Mention this throughout your job description so that candidates can find the role and understand what is expected. Effective leadership involves taking charge and inspiring others to achieve specific goals within the company.

Employees with leadership skills will be able to manage groups effectively, delegate responsibility, and take great care and pride in planning and coordinating projects and tasks. Those with leadership skills will thrive in taking on new challenges, coaching others, and making important decisions.

Commercial Awareness

Employees who show an understanding of the marketplace in which you operate, as well as knowing what makes a company successful, will be key. In fact, commercial awareness is especially important for graduate vacancies.

Employers who seek out candidates with commercial awareness can expect a more tailored level of customer service. If the employee knows your major competitors and demonstrates a sound knowledge of your sector, they may just be the perfect person for the job.

To ensure you’ve got the best employees working in your business, they each need to learn and master all the transferable skills above. You should make sure to list these transferable skills throughout your job description so that everyone knows what’s expected.

Utilising these keywords will also help the ideal candidate find these postings online.