9 Skills Employers Look For In Recent Grads
Publié le 14 June 2023
Successfully step into the job market after graduation by emphasizing on 9 skills employers look for in recent grads.
You’ve completed school and collected your degree or diploma. Now it’s time to take all the knowledge and skills you’ve worked hard to develop during your time in school and start your professional career. Knowing the skills employers look for in recent grads will let you showcase them every chance you get with hiring managers and recruiters, especially with your resume and cover letter.
Alt text: Data on creativity in the workplace. Source.
#1 Creativity
In the era of change and innovation, creativity is essential. CEOs say creativity is the #1 factor for future success.
Employers do not want employees who want to do the same things that everyone else has been doing all these years. Quite the contrary, many employers are searching for candidates who will challenge and change the way things have always been done in order to move the organization forward.
Bring your creativity to the table, and you are more likely to find yourself a job where your skills will shine.
#2 Leadership
Being a leader means that you allow those around you to succeed. This does not necessarily mean that you must have management experience, which you certainly won’t as a recent grad, but showcasing your leadership abilities will make you stand out as a job candidate.
However, it does mean that you empower those around you to be their best selves and produce their best work. In other words, you should be everyone’s cheerleader to success.
For example, say that your team at work has several projects they need to complete. Instead of trying to show your management skills by ordering others around, you could organize the group duties as a team while checking in with all members and ensuring they are set up for success. Then, when the time comes to share the project, you can give each team member a moment to shine and show how their work contributed to the project’s success.
#3 Collaboration
Being able to work with others and get along well are key skills employers look for in new graduates. By learning early on how to collaborate with others, you will have an essential soft skill to bring to the table.
Collaboration may be as simple as getting your peer’s opinion on some of your work or asking others to come together and work on a project. Knowing that you can rely on others to achieve company goals will go a long way in preventing over-work and employee burnout, so it is one of the top skills hiring managers look for in potential candidates. Employers are also more likely to recognize an employee’s efforts if they are a team player.
#4 Communication
Communicating is more than being able to form a sentence or shoot a text. Effective communication involves working with other people and clearly stating your needs or thoughts.
While hiring managers are recruiting, they are also evaluating how well candidates communicate through email, by phone, and whether messages are being understood in the way they were intended.
Keep in mind that every moment you speak to a hiring manager, you are evaluated on the strength of your communication skills.
Alt text: Graphic showing top time wasting distractions at work. Source
Companies nowadays are particularly concerned with knowing if you can manage remote work well. Being able to communicate through multiple mediums like Slack, email, or a simple message is imperative so that no time is wasted on unnecessary meetings.
Remote companies can even use new tools like QR codes and pre-recorded video messages to communicate instructions with new employees. So, it goes without saying that being able to work with these new mediums of communication is an imperative skill.
#5 Time Management
Knowing how to organize and manage your time is one of the most important of the 9 skills employers look for in recent grads. One of the reasons behind this is that the average corporate employee spends 51% of every workday on low to no value tasks.
Things such as scrolling social media on phones, talking to coworkers, and making cups of coffee actually take up a significant part of employees’ workdays, which can impact productivity.
Thankfully, as a successful graduate, you have shown successful time management by turning in your college work and receiving a degree. The fact that you dedicated yourself for four-plus years to something speaks volumes in itself and is one of the hiring skills managers are really keeping their eyes open for.
#6 Writing
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers, 73.4% of employers want a candidate with strong written communication skills. In other words, if you can write well, you will find yourself on the top list of skills hiring managers look for from job applicants.
If you want to practice your writing skills and showcase them to hiring managers, you can try your hand at web hosting, and learn about SEO and ranking factors. Learn everything you can about writing the best article and creating impressive website content. By taking on this new venture and getting additional digital skills under your belt, you will be further capacitating yourself for upcoming job opportunities.
An easy way to show off your writing skills is to simply share the URL to the website you created with any hiring managers who reach out to you.
#7 Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence means that you can be aware of, control, and express your emotions while handling interpersonal relationships empathetically.
Workplaces can sometimes be a place filled with conflict. From coworkers who don’t see eye to eye, to peers who disagree with your strategy for reaching important goals, emotions may run high while opinions remain strong.
By empowering yourself with emotional intelligence, you will make sure that you know when the right times are to address issues and when you should give others time to process their emotions.
To picture emotional intelligence in action, imagine that tensions were running high at your place of work. You might not even know why people were snippety or upset, but you sensed something was happening. So, you decide to use your emotional intelligence and not react to an offhand comment your coworker made but disregard it and continue with your happy mood and good work.
By being empathetic to your coworker, you were able to avoid extra tension in the workplace. This is a hiring skill that every hiring manager wants to see.
#8 Analytical Skills
Being able to look at data and decipher what it means is a hard skill to find in today’s job market. If you can research and conduct data analysis, you will succeed in many areas within a data-driven company.
Analyzing data could involve anything from looking at how many responses a company received on their live chat to manipulating Excel data sheets to create graphs. Simply knowing how to maneuver information will set you apart from many candidates and showcase the analytical skills that hiring managers so desperately need.
Alt text: Graphic defining data analytics. Source
#9 Initiative
Initiative is essential in today’s workplace. As a recent grad, you should be comfortable noting needs and making suggestions for improvement. In addition, employers want employees who can resolve company issues through innovative solutions instead of only doing what they were told.
Instead of always waiting on someone else to come up with resolutions, learn how to identify the problem and brainstorm ways to resolve it. Even if your solution ends up not being the selected one, your initiative to resolve the issue is what matters most.
Final Thoughts
The 9 skills employers look for in recent grads are achievable with a little bit of work. Learning how to assess whether or not you possess these skills is essential to your success in the workplace as you start your career.
As you saw above, the skills hiring managers are searching for from graduate job candidates are not complex, nor do they require years of study. By learning empathy and understanding, along with the other skills listed above, you are certain to stand out to hiring managers looking for recent grads.
Build your resume with these skills and start your search for the perfect job today.
