gradmalaysia How To Get Hired 2021

Page 22

LET'S GET YOU HIRED! PLANNING YOUR JOB SKILLS

Fantastic Skills and How to Acquire Them Before you even think about sending out that résumé of yours, we want you to be equipped with the right tools for the workplace. Check out gradmalaysia’s crash course on the skills you need to develop your career.

W

e all know how incredibly important having a particular set of skills are. Take a look at the requirements for any job and you will find that recruiters seek candidates with an impressive skill set. It may be “strong leadership skills”, “able to write and converse in Mandarin” or “up-to-date with current trends of the IT industry” – the list goes on. In this article, we take a look at the two types of skills necessary for advancing your career: hard skills and soft skills.

HARD SKILLS Hard skills are also known as technical skills. They are usually acquired through formal training, professional certifications or previous work experience. This means that these skills are teachable and can be measured.

LANGUAGE SKILLS

Language skills are measured through levels of proficiency, usually labelled as beginner, intermediate and advanced. While us Malaysians are taught Bahasa Melayu and English in schools – which asserts our claim as bilinguals – many possess other language capabilities as well. Having a multilingual background is sure to get you more visibility within a pool of candidates. Check out the language classes offered by your university or if you are willing to spend on one-on-one coaching, as there are many available tutors out there. Remember, learning a new language takes commitment and effort, so set aside time to actively practise using that language. Also, don’t forget to take language proficiency tests to see where your fluency stands!

JOB SKILLS

These are work-specific skills which you MUST have to excel in your chosen career. It varies from field to field e.g. IT skills (data analytics, software development, etc), graphic design skills (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, etc), finance skills (accounting, financial reporting etc) and many more. These skills are usually obtained through a university diploma or degree, which itself is a certification of the hard skills you have learnt within your course. However, they also can be gained by attending courses, workshops and even through on-the-job training.

20 |

Section 2.0.indd 20

HOW TO GET HIRED 2021

25/02/2021 11:29 PM


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.