Sharpen Your Skills to Future-Proof Your Career

Challenges can turn into opportunities. Changes can lead to growth. As the COVID-19 pandemic transforms how we live and work, this could be your opportunity to enhance your professional development and further your career.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused, perhaps, the greatest global transformation in our lifetime, changing the way we live and work, and affecting economies and industries.

It is only natural to worry about job security and you are not alone. These may be uncertain times, but massive challenges are opportunities to make meaningful changes. The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many companies to operate in new ways, compelling employees to keep up with these changes.

Adaptability, creativity, and teamwork: these are some career skills that you possess as well. Called transferable skills, these are abilities and qualities that can be used across industries, allowing you to thrive wherever you work.

Transferable Skills: The Foundation of Your Professional Success

Developed through your education, employment, and training, these skills show your versatility and proficiency in the workplace and are highly valued by employers.

Here are some categories of transferable skills with a few examples. Think about which skills you have, and which ones you should improve on.

Organisational and execution skills

How well you achieve individual goals and objectives in the workplace relies heavily on how effectively and intelligently you plan, prepare, and take action.

• Planning. Do you have a clear, methodical plan that is aligned with the company's mission and strategy?
• Organising. Do the manpower and resources support your plan?
• Multi-tasking. In today's fast-paced business landscape, multitasking is the name of the game. To do so, you must be capable of organizing, establishing priorities, and managing your time well.
• Technological competence. Even if you are not working in the technology field, digital literacy will help you grow professionally. As we have seen in the past few months, technology is constantly changing the nature of work: Staying current with technology skills vital to your chosen career is crucial to your professional success.

(Also read: Transferable skills 101 (Part 1): Why they're Important & how they'll help you stand out)

Communication skills

Effective communication plays an important role in improving business performance, strengthening internal and external business relationships, facilitating innovation, executing plans, and nurturing customer relations.

• Listening. Do you listen to understand, as opposed to just waiting for your turn to speak? Can you properly interpret what is communicated to you?
• Verbal. Verbal communication should be clear and concise, informative and relevant, tactful and courteous.
• Writing. What you put down on paper from reports to articles, emails and sales materials creates a lasting impression of who you are. Make sure it is concise, complete, correct, and considers the perspective and interest of both sender and receiver.
• Face-to-face. During face-to-face communication, people not only hear what you are saying: they are also interpreting your tone and body language, demeanour and emotion. Effective face-to-face communication is crucial when boosting morale, gathering feedback, and addressing sensitive issues.
• Picking the right medium. Choosing the best medium for your audience and message is another important communication skill. Being able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different media and identifying the most appropriate one allows you to reach and affect your audience.

People skills

Being part of an organisation means having to work with different people and personalities. These skills help you politely interact with others, allowing you to develop productive relationships, build trust, minimize conflict, and nurture camaraderie. Follow these tips on how you can build healthy and lasting relationships at work.

• Co-operation. Are you able to work well with others who have completely different objectives, responsibilities, backgrounds, and areas of expertise? Are you capable of collaborating and contributing effectively to accomplish goals and projects?
• Empathy. When you try to see it from another person's perspective, you gain understanding and make room for relationships to grow. It gives you insight into people's motives, helping you predict behaviour and responses.
• Flexibility. Are you open to change, and quick to adapt?
• Cultural sensitivity and awareness. In our globalized world, it is important to be culturally aware and respectful.

Leadership qualities

Leadership skills require you to motivate others to complete a task, analyse a situation, and make key decisions. Effective leadership qualities are a combination of organisational, communication, and people skills.

• Prioritisation and delegation. As a leader, you should be able to decide what needs to be done first and assign tasks to those who are best equipped to accomplish them.
• Critical thinking. You must have a systematic, logical approach to identifying problems and coming up with the best solution.
• Mentoring and feedback. To be an effective and inspiring leader, you should support and encourage members of your team: Give them adequate support and assistance, and provide constructive feedback.

Thinking Long-Term: Retrain, Reskill, and Relearn

To preserve job security in the workforce of tomorrow, keep your career skills sharp and relevant by continuously learning about the employment landscape.

We've seen how COVID-19 has accelerated digital transformation. The question is, do you have the right skills to stay employed in a digital economy? If the answer is no, now is the time to retrain yourself. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), more than one billion jobs are likely to be transformed by technology in the next decade.

All this time at home is the perfect opportunity for online learning. Together with enhancing your transferable skills, think about the skill gaps in your current job and how you can fill them. Enhance your proficiency in social media and digital content. Try your hand in user experience, or UX making sure that digital channels such as apps and websites are intuitive and user-friendly. If you enjoy combing through data, you might consider web analytics.

Aim for versatility in your career skills, invest in your professional development and nurture your professional networks. Have a growth mindset: be agile, be adaptable, and embrace change.

JobStreet has launched a COVID-19Jobs and Resource Hub to offer guidance to both businesses and individuals through this crucial time.

By connecting candidates with over 48,000 employers in Singapore, Jobstreet puts into action its strong conviction: that #TogetherAhead, we rise above our challenges.