Recently LinkedIn published a guide on how to get hired in 2018. They published a list of Top 10 College Majors and Top 10 Transferrable Skills for getting hired in 2018. In this post, we will break down the complete process in three parts – the college majors, the top transferable skills, and standing out in the job market. Personally, I believe that the skill set matters more than the college major. So, I will stress more on the top skills to get hired in 2018.
How to Get Hired in 2018 – 2019
Excerpt, Review & Analysis of the LinkedIn Guide
Step 1: Pursue the Majors with Broad Range of Career Opportunities
According to LinkedIn, the Top Majors for Most Varied Job Opportunities are:
- Business Administration & Management
- Marketing
- Psychology
- Communication
- Economics
- Political Science
- Finance
- History
- Biology
- Sociology
Recommended Post: Career Benefits of Multi-City Study Abroad Programs
Step 2: Developing the Most Important Transferable Skills to Get Hired in 2018
1. Customer Service
Every job has a customer service component. Whether it’s behind a customer service kiosk or managing internal employee issues, every role requires you to provide some sort of satisfactory service to internal or external customers.
Effective communication, problem-solving, and listening skills are vital to delivering excellent customer services and are transferable abilities regardless of what career path.
When most business publications talk about customer service skills, things like “being a people person” tends to take the spotlight.
It’s not that this trait is outright wrong, but it’s so vague and generic that it’s hardly a help to anyone looking to get involved in support positions within a company, and it certainly doesn’t help out entrepreneurs/founders who are looking for the right set of skills when hiring the all-important folks who will be taking care of their customers. Learn about the 16 customer service skills that every employee needs.
Online Courses to Develop & Refine Customer Services Skills (95% discount available on Udemy courses)
Soft Skill Fundamental of Customer Service
How to Build a Customer Service Strategy
Customer Service – Customer Relationship Management
Customer Insights: New Product Development (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign)
Customer Analytics (University of Pennsylvania)
2. Research
While you’re developing hard skills, many managers will rely on new graduates for research. Learning how to find useful information and presenting it succinctly is the first step to eventually managing a project.
Being able to provide in-depth information and advice on a given topic is an important skill to have as a graduate job seeker. Many jobs involve researching deeper into your field, finding out information or looking for gaps in the market. Being able to organize your time effectively, find good sources and writing reports are excellent skills to have.
Doing research in the world of work is all about stepping back from your day-to-day work and looking at ways you can improve.
Research skills can be anything from looking at competitors and seeing what they do well in producing a written report on how your department could work better.
Some examples of research skills that you may include:
- Report writing
- Analysing lots of information from different sources
- Finding information on the internet
- Critical thinking
3. Public Speaking
It’s hard to build a personal brand and succeed in the workplace if you can’t convey your ideas to others. If you want to fast-track your career, then focus on developing presentation skills and get comfortable speaking in front of others.
Even if you don’t need to make regular presentations in front of a group, there are plenty of situations where good public speaking skills can help you advance your career and create opportunities.
Suggested Online Courses (95% Discount Available on Udemy Courses)
The Complete Presentation and Public Speaking Course
Public Speaking and Presentations Pro (Not for Beginners)
Data Analysis and Presentation Skills (PwC)
4. Social Media Proficiency
Social media proficiency is like knowing a second language. Don’t make mistake – social media proficiency is more than being on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms.
It doesn’t matter which industry you work in (retail or healthcare), platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram have become some of the most effective ways to build a brand and interact with customers.
In addition to knowing how to operate multiple platforms, take a look at hard skills like social media listening, writing skills, and content creation to help boost your social media competency.
Expand your social media skill set by learning more about analytics, reading up on content marketing, and familiarizing yourself with management & automation tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, and Zoho.
Here are few best-selling online courses from Udemy (95% Discount Going On)
Social Media Marketing Strategy Masterclass
Social Media Management Bootcamp 2018
5. Event Planning
Event planning requires great management, leadership, organization, time management, persuasion, and teamwork skills. Planning a work event is one of the earliest opportunities new graduates have at showcasing abilities such as organization, multitasking, and problem-solving skills.
Whether it is team meetings, interviews, or internship initiatives, taking on event planning is a quick way to demonstrate your versatility and ability to take something through from concept to fruition.
Relevant Course: Event Planning, Marketing & Management
6. Leadership
This is one skill that most have a hard time conveying. If you break down leadership, you’ll notice that you’ve had plenty of opportunities to practice. Campus leadership experience counts — consider where you took a leadership role in a student organization or a group project.
Leadership skills are the strengths and abilities individuals demonstrate that help the oversee processes, guide initiatives and steer their employees toward the achievement of goals. Any employer likes employees who take initiatives, self-motivated, and lead by examples.
Top Online Courses on Leadership (Coursera)
Strategic Leadership and Management
Leadership and Emotional Intelligence
Psychology at Work
Leadership, Teamwork & Negotiation
7. Microsoft Office (MS Excel)
Irrespective of the industry and job profile, the working knowledge of MS Office is a must these days. In fact, according to The Muse, MS Office is considered too basic to list on your CV. Hence, it’s time you brush up your MS-Office skills ASAP. More often than not, you will spend 80% of your time on MS Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Word.
Among all the MS Office Tools, Excel is by far the most critical one. Excel is way beyond than just data entry. You can use it for a wide range of statistical analysis. So, buckle up and learn those advanced Excel skills.
Best Curated Online Courses on MS Excel (95% Discount Available)
MS Excel – Beginner to Advanced
Microsoft Excel – Advanced Formulas & Functions
MS Excel – Data Analysis with Excel Pivot Tables
Microsoft Excel – Data Visualization, Excel Charts & Graphs
Step 3: Online Presence and Personal Branding to Stand Out in the Job Market
Building an online personal brand for yourself is something more imperative than you may think. The majority of the students and even working professionals do not pay that much attention to online personal branding. But, in today’s competitive job market, a strong online brand differentiates between a successful and mediocre employee.
Personal branding is all about creating a reputation — aka, a brand — that represents the sum total of your career and professional persona. It’s about who you are, what it is that you do, how you work, and where you are headed. Establishing a personal brand is very important and will help you advance down your career path.
It’s important that you’re aware of what prospective employers will find online about you because your digital footprint is a huge part of your personal brand. You can use this to your advantage, though, by developing your own personal brand and making sure that internet searches of your name leave employers with a positive impression of you.
A personal brand not only tells your story, but it also sets the stage for career growth and will advance you towards your future career success. A personal brand goes beyond the basic resume to deliver a more complete picture of who you are professional.
There are several ways of creating a strong & effective online personal brand. In this post, I will talk about the basic step – a killer LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn is a very popular site with tremendous domain authority. So, if you have a properly optimized LinkedIn profile, chances are higher that your LinkedIn profile will come on the top.
Even if you have profiles on several online platforms or your personal website, the LinkedIn profile is supposed to outweigh others. Have a look at mine.
5 Reasons Students Should Be on LinkedIn
1. LinkedIn Helps You Establish an Online Presence
Accept it; you need to be online in order to connect with potential employers. While the best way to do this is to create a personal website, LinkedIn is an easy way to establish an internet presence that people can see when they search for your name in Google or want to connect with you after a networking event (more on how to use LinkedIn for networking below).
2. LinkedIn Supplements (or Even Replaces) Your Resume
While many employers will still want a PDF copy of your resume, plenty are also happy to use your LinkedIn profile in place of one. And even if they do want a more traditional resume, employers will likely still review your LinkedIn profile to get a broader picture of your experience, professionalism, and skills.
3. You Can Use LinkedIn to Apply for Jobs
Some employers now go a step further than asking for your LinkedIn profile in place of a resume and actually let (or require) you to use LinkedIn to apply for the job. Because of this reality, you need to ensure you have a quality LinkedIn profile ready to go before you need it to apply for a job.
4. LinkedIn Lets You Research Prospective Employers
Employers may be using LinkedIn to learn more about you, but you can also turn the tables and use LinkedIn to research companies or people you want to work for. Some companies are better at updating their LinkedIn pages than their official website, and you can also use LinkedIn to learn more about the people who will be interviewing/hiring you.
5. LinkedIn Helps You Connect with a Wider Network
Finally, you should be on LinkedIn in order to connect with the vast network of people. Be it alumni from your college, a potential mentor or employer – LinkedIn is one of the best platforms to connect with people.
Do you need help with online personal branding? Feel free to reach out to us. You might also like the following articles:
How to Stand Out in the Current Job Market
4 Scientifically Proven Life Hacks & Tips to Beat Stress and Achieve Career Success in Your 20s
Key References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
Featured Image Credit: LinkedIn