24 Jan 13 Job Skills You Need to Navigate the Modern Job Market
A new year and a new you! With the start of the new year, you might be considering what’s important for the job market this upcoming year. Whether you’re looking for a new job or looking to further your career in your current job, it’s all about staying up to date on necessary job skills.
The modern job market is already shaping up to be different than any other years. More than ever, companies expect you to adapt your skills to what is needed now. And what is needed now is far different than what was needed last year.
Covid-19 has thrown careers into a whirlwind. From working at home or within hybrid schedules to adjusting processes to include the new normal, things have changed. Some things that used to be important aren’t anymore, and we are realizing that specific skill sets are more of a necessity.
Here are thirteen job skills you need now.
Technology-Related Job Skills:
With the job market turning to primarily technology-based functions, the most important job skills have stemmed from technology. From understanding how to create websites and track data to the countless job-specific programs that have cropped up now, there’s no shortage of technology-related job skills to learn. Here are 3 major technology skills you should consider adding to your tool belt:
Data Literacy / Cybersecurity
With the world going online and jobs becoming something you can accomplish from home, being literate in data or cybersecurity has grown exponentially. Data runs the world right now. Not only does data help you understand certain outcomes or process successes, but it can also help companies gain more visibility, increase productivity, and streamline difficult processes.
On the same wavelength, cybersecurity has become one of the most important job skills for hiring managers. Jobs within the cybersecurity industry have been booming. This is a direct result of more jobs going online. Because of this, the more you know how to protect your data and your company’s data, the more likely you are to be chosen for a job.
Web Development
Much like job skills relating to data literacy and cybersecurity, web development has become vitally important in the job market. As more and more companies head online, the need for professionally designed and managed web-based software has largely increased.
Ideally, a web developer has the skills to handle both front-end and back-end development. They should also be able to take charge of correcting issues and implement better processes along the way. They are the backbone of major companies today by ensuring things run the way they need to and fix any hiccups as they come along. Things would not run as smoothly as they do on the internet today if not for web development job skills.
Technical Proficiencies
This should go without saying at this point, but being knowledgeable on technology as a whole is one of the most important job skills to have in the modern day job market. In fact, it will remain one of the most important job skills going forward.
From understanding how to use basic technology programs such as Microsoft Office (primarily Word, PowerPoint, and Excel), Google Drive (Docs, Slides, and Sheets), and the internet to being able to learn more complex, job-specific programs, it’s a necessity to understand how things work (especially on a basic level).
Companies would much rather hire someone with the job skills already in place than teach someone the basics of technology. Of course, this depends on the company, job, and program. Some programs are limited to a single company, so don’t worry if you are not fluent with it right away.
Find out which programs are necessary for those specific jobs before applying for a job or trying to move up the ranks in your current company. Most job descriptions say something along the lines of “Proficient in Microsoft Word, Google Teams…etc.” If you find any job skills this way that you might not have, it’s probably time to start learning them.
And once you have the basics, you will be unstoppable.
Job Skills in Modern-Day Marketing:
With all of the changes the job market is going through today, it only makes sense that marketing has evolved with it. Of course, marketing has always had an ever-changing presence. Like everything else, Covid-19 has changed the way we as consumers see and accept marketing. It has also adapted to our new normal of technology-based jobs.
This makes modern-day marketing one of the most valuable job skills to keep up with.
Social Media (Marketing)
We all like to joke about teenagers being obsessed with their phones, but have you ever taken a second to see the social media surrounding you?
Some of the more well-known social media include Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. There are so many more social media than you realize though. This includes YouTube, WhatsApp, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat, Spotify, Quora, Reddit, and too many others to list. Social media, as all things on the internet are, is fast-moving, changing around almost every corner. And they have to be or people lose interest.
As more social media appear and people take to utilizing social media profiles as a means of communication, companies have branched out to hire their own social media teams. Not only for people to run their social media pages, but for them to help create targeted social media marketing ads. Today, it’s more likely for people to see advertisements via social media than any other means.
Whether you agree with it or not, social media has become a powerhouse tool to use—both for daily life and work life. Adding job skills related to social media will only help you in the long run.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) / Copywriting
Going hand-in-hand with web development, search engine optimization (SEO) has become an irreplaceable skill for job seekers to have.
SEO and copywriting overlap industries, marketing, and nearly everything you see on the internet. That random tweet you see from some big company? The words are carefully chosen, written, and rewritten until they have the right placement. That advertisement you see next to your video on YouTube? Targeted SEO words are sprinkled in to get the most clicks. And that tiny, tiny font at the bottom of the newsletter email you keep getting every week? They are carefully constructed copywriting that most likely went through a dozen redrafts until it was perfect.
The bottom line is that SEO and copywriting, specifically in the digital world, is something companies rely on. Not only do these specific tactics help boost visibility but they can increase clients, create a more trustworthy aura, and shape the impressions you get of a company as a whole.
If you can nail copywriting and SEO as new job skills, then many opportunities will open up for you in this year.
Digital Marketing
The world is changing. It won’t ever stop changing, so our best course of action is to change alongside it. As more people head online to work, marketing needs to adjust for the digital age.
Digital marketing, as a whole, blankets an entire range of job skills that have become important in the modern-day job market. This includes social media, SEO, copywriting, data analysis, branding, content creation, etc. This list is never-ending.
If you can master digital marketing, then you’re mastering a whole bucket of other digital job skills that employers are looking for.
Job Skills in Regard to Teamwork:
At this point, it’s redundant to say that work life has evolved to include a digital era. We know it, you know it—everyone knows that our new normal at work might include more remote situations. These remote situations make connecting with coworkers a bit more challenging.
Jobs skills relating to teamwork and communicating via remote environments have leaped to the top of most important for hiring managers.
Project Management
Keeping things on track is already a hefty job to take on. But keeping things on track when your employees are across the country? That’s a whole new level of difficulty.
The ability to manage a project and employees has always been important to the job market. Though we can all complete our tasks for the most part, there can be situations where it’s better for someone else to keep track of everything. Whether that’s because you have too many tasks on your plate to keep track of or because you and your coworkers are working on multiple different projects at once. A project manager is there to ensure things are completed by deadlines and within budget.
When the world went online, it became even more important for project managers do this. Even if we don’t want to admit it, there is at least one or two projects that we pushed back because of our remote environment without proper scheduling.
Holding job skills within the project management field can help keep you and your coworkers on track.
Collaboration, Communication, AND Self-Motivation
The most important thing with teamwork is being able to work together and communicate fully. Whether this is through meetings, constant emails, or communication platforms for your company. Working remotely has made our communication lines quite interesting. Instead of holding a meeting in the same conference room, you end up joining a Zoom call with a different background for each meeting—some fun, some not.
To be able to flourish in the modern job market, you need to have the collaboration, communication, and self-motivation job skills to match. Being able to work with others has always been beneficial, but being able to communicate properly with someone across the country to complete one project is a skill that will be vitally important moving forward.
On the same wavelength, being able to push yourself to complete tasks is a necessity. We have to rely on our own motivation to finish things in remote working environments. While there might be a manager or C-level staff overseeing you completing your tasks, it’s still up to you to start and finish them. We would not survive if we didn’t have some level of self-motivation to keep us going.
Leadership / Management
Last, but not least, for teamwork-related job skills, leadership/management is always in demand. Seriously. This closely follows the idea of being self-motivated. If you can push yourself to get things done, why not help push others to do the same?
Being able to lead a team—big or small—is a skill that benefits more than one person. In fact, this specific job skill can help you just as much as it helps those you work with.
Further, leadership abilities are important outside of leader roles. It gives you confidence in working with others, completing difficult tasks, and solving problems.
Other Miscellaneous Job Skills to Refresh:
Besides the more specific job skills mentioned earlier, there are a few smaller ones that you shouldn’t forget about. These job skills can help make you stand out to employers and push you to new heights:
- Innovation
- Creativity / Out-of-the-Box Thinking
- Problem Solving
- Adaptability
Once you have learned these job skills, make sure you are showcasing them correctly throughout your job search. The Jonus Group can assist you with that. Whether you’re looking for a recruiter to help place you in a new position, a career coach to assist you with your resume or career outlook, or just for some advice on how to do these things yourself, we can help.
You can read through our blogs to get started by yourself or you can contact us on our Contact Page to be matched with a recruiter. Further, if you’re interested in getting your resume revamped, practicing your interviewing skills, or other career services, you can schedule a consultation to meet with a certified Career Coach. Here’s a link to our calendar.
Be the best you and expand your job skills.