When looking for a new career opportunity, a very crucial aspect in becoming a valuable asset to future employers is possessing the right skillset. Where soft skills are mostly linked to your character traits, hard skills are a lot easier to obtain. Mapping out the ones you already have can be a useful way to discover where there’s still room for improvement – especially when you’re considering a career change. In this article, Josie will show you how.
Let’s start by clarifying the difference between soft and hard skills first. Soft skills are often also known as ‘people skills’ and they’re mostly based on a person’s characteristics, such as problem-solving, time management, and the ability to work in a team. These skills tell you a lot about a person’s way of work, and they tend to be quite abstract and non-technical. Hard skills however, are a lot more job-specific and easier to point out, with examples such as writing, computer, and management skills. These types of skills are measurable and will tell you a lot about a person’s specific knowledge needed for a job. Eventually, both skills are equally important, but solely being a hard worker and a pleasant colleague won’t get you far. You’ll need expertise and unique knowledge to stand out from the crowd and to actually land interviews. Surely, you have already acquired the necessary hard skills during your education, but it doesn’t end there: you’re never too old for self-improvement.
Acquiring new skills
To fully prepare for that career switch you’ve been considering, we advise you to discover what hard skills are already there first. Luckily, Josie is there to guide you, as it allows you to map out your current hard skills super easily. All you have to do is upload your current profile, after which you will receive pointers on how to highlight important skills you may already possess without even realizing it. If you’re after a drastic career change, they will draw a list of all the hard skills that are most in command for your desired position, to get a crystal-clear overview of what skills you could be working on to become even more qualified. The best way to obtain new hard skills is through apprenticeships, training courses or certification programs. Once you figured out what skill you want to develop, you can go to the courses page of Josie where you’ll find a wide variety of professional courses offered by Udemy, an online course provider that works together with renowned universities from all across the globe.
Impress recruiters worldwide
Once you finished one of the many Udemy courses, you can proudly add these newly hard-earned skills to your skill list. On Josie you can simply select the acquired skill and once you’re fully prepared to start your quest for a new career, you can generate a state-of-the-art resume with all the skills straight from their platform. Not only will this save loads of time, but it also ensures you of a CV that will guarantee to attract recruiters from far and wide. Another way to make a grand entrance is to give examples of how you put your hard skills to the test during previous jobs and to mention you recently obtained new skills by following courses. The latter will show you’re dedicated and your willingness to learn, which in turn is valuable soft skill recruiters and future employers particularly like. Once you finally landed that interview, it’s up to you. Don’t forget to mention your hard skills one last time during your interview, and try to think of examples from the past when you hat to rely on your hard skills to emphasize, you’re a one-of-a-kind asset and impress everyone around the table and land that new position in no-time.