Employability Skills

Part A

When we think about employee skills, there is a broad range of attributes that come to mind—communication skills, reliability, time management, leadership qualities, attention to detail, technical/computer skills, organization—just to name a few. The Conference Board of Canada’s Employability Skills brochure outlines the three skillset categories that can be applied in and out of the workplace across a variety of activities. Using the items in this brochure as a guide, a prospective employee can amplify their employability be learning about and practicing skills in the following areas:

           Fundamental Skills

           Personal Management Skills

           Teamwork Skills

Fundamental skills are the basic skills needed to build upon further development. Employers are seeking employees with a broad range of technical and soft skills in order to cross-train and maximize their human resource potential. Such things as communication, problem solving, managing information and working with numbers are skills we pick up from childhood, through our educational experiences, and into our working lives. Many of them we acquire organically throughout our life, while others are sought out through formal training. Of these fundamental employability skills, effective communication is most significant and prevalent, favoured by employers due to its contribution to effective interpersonal relationships, which are the cornerstone of any successful organization. This includes written, oral, and visual communication, active listening, uti­lizing a multitude of methods such as e-mail, memo, report writing, graphs and charts, and engaging in relevant research and fact-checking through a critical lens in order to obtain reliable and unbiased information.

Personal management skills such as punctuality, reliability, adaptability and responsibility are behaviours and attitudes individuals must learn and constantly build upon in order to be competitive in the workforce. Employability skills such as these, along with other soft skills such as being friendly and non-confrontational, diffusing a heated situation, and being committed and dedicated to a task or performance are all traits of valuable human resources. Being adaptable to change and having a positive, can-do attitude helps you interact in meaningful ways with others, gain the admiration and respect of your colleagues, and avoid escalation of a conflict when tensions arise.

Interconnected to the previous two broad skillsets, teamwork skills contribute to the success of an organization by improving the quality of decision making, allowing for faster response times, increasing productivity, improving employee morale and minimizing resistance to change. These advantages can only be obtained, however, if the group is cohesive, communicative and collaborative. If one cannot work well with others, it can be very difficult to accomplish tasks, and can create and perpetuate an uncomfortable, unhealthy or hostile environment which lowers job satisfaction and productivity. Working with others in a respectful, empowering, and open-minded manner, and participating in hands-on group projects strengthens your interpersonal relationships and therefore the cohesiveness and capabilities of the group.

Being competent in these skills has contributed to my personal success in my professional life, as well as extending beyond the workplace into my relationships with others and my success as a functioning adult. The skills across the various broad categories are malleable and interconnected, working together to contribute to the whole picture of each individual employee. In my previous profession as sous chef in a bustling downtown resto-lounge, the ability to articulate direction clearly and succinctly, in a high-pressure, fast-paced environment was a core job competency. Much of my role involved giving specific verbal direction to multiple team members in a certain sequence while facilitating the flow of product from order to finish. I needed to be cool and collected, direct and assertive, and knowledgeable, fast thinking and continually problem-solving as I executed my tasks. It was incredibly important for me to be able to predict stations that would need extra assistance by assessing the tasks assigned to them, the space and manpower available, and delegating tasks minute-to-minute to the team in a way that was most efficient, productive and clear. I had to be able to read the non-verbal cues from my co-workers to quickly detect if they were handling things or if they were distressed and needed assistance, so being empathetic and tuned into their emotional state was important. If something went wrong, I had to figure out an immediate, satisfactory and effective solution that minimized wait times, margin of error and potential for conflict while always striving to maximize the quality of the product. The interdependent relationship fostered between cooks in a kitchen can make or break the function and flow of service. Not only do you have to be level-headed and tactful in your approach in the weeds (a culinary term used to describe being in the midst of a busy service period) but also forming trust and bonds during your prep-time, social time and downtime. It is through this comradery that you can achieve the highest level of team spirit, which in turn fostered the cohesiveness and flow of the team to be able to perform with excellence. That breaks down to several simple points about team membership that are crucial: reliability, punctuality and attitude. If you are habitually absent or late, putting extra unnecessary pressure and stress on your team, or you cannot stay positive when things get tough, you should re-examine what it means to be a team player. ­

Part B

Strong oral communication skills, as previously mentioned in Part A, have been a core competency in my profession across the various roles I have occupied. It is essential in effectively navigating the various dynamics of your workplace to speak clearly, articulately, professionally and concisely, using inclusive, bias-free language, correct names/titles/pronouns, and avoiding negative remarks or confrontational tones. In the kitchen, the team lead is referred to as Chef, and you must ask the Chef “Chef, May I?” before you speak because such interruptions cause disturbances to the cognitive processing the Chef is performing to complete tasks. These skills are valued and will project you as a competent employee.

The non-verbal communication that is occurring simultaneously should also be strategic and practiced. While maintaining a comfortable, relaxed, but professional image, utilize hand gestures, body language, facial expressions and space to convey your message in a richer way. Non-verbal language can be effectively used to enhance communication between the sender and receiver(s). Making eye contact, using appropriate body language, tone and gestures, and being attentive and focused on the receiver allows the sender to enhance the communication process. Listening fully to the speaker with the intent to learn, and not only to reply, will allow you to be a more present, effective and skillful communicator. Making mental notes (but not too many as to distract), providing feedback cues like nodding and affirmative phrases, and summarizing what the speaker says back to them are all tactics used to improve communication. Doing your research and practicing these skills in advance will help prepare you for the real thing.

Continual learning is an important piece of personal management that ties into communication skills. Learning ab­out the social norms, communication styles and preferences of people with cultural backgrounds and languages different than your own will help you confidently navigate diverse interactions. Being open-minded and genuinely curious about beliefs and lifestyles outside of your own allows you to be more receptive of what you can learn from these differences and less likely to discriminate or stereotype a person due to discomfort with their “otherness.” My last team was made up of a diverse group—we had 4 employees from Tunisia, several employees with invisible disabilities, a senior, several students and some others. Becoming familiar with the Arabic/French culture of Tunisia, the social norms of my Muslim co-workers, their holidays and belief systems, and showing a genuine interest in their lives helped me to build a huge appreciation for those individuals and love for their culture. We would exchange recipes, talk about past experiences while we did our physical labour, and show support to each other during our own holidays and celebrations. When I put in the work to open up and treat these employees with the same friendliness and dedication as the local employees, friendships formed that enhanced our group cohesiveness. When you build a team of people who genuinely care for one another on a personal level, the individuals gain a sense of intrinsic moral responsibility to the group and to each member. When this type of connection is shared, absenteeism falls, turnover falls, productivity increases, and job satisfaction increases. And in my own experience, when you do open up to people outside of your own culture, political belief system, religion, or physical abilities, you uncover invaluable and precious connections with people who are so loyal and dedicated to the team because you treated them with compassion and support that is reciprocated tenfold.

Conclusions

In conclusion, it is important to recognize, analyze, build upon and grow the diverse array of skillsets needed in order to be competitively employable. Fundamental skills such as communication, information management, and problem solving provide the basis for our growth. Personal management skills such as adaptability, responsibility and reliability that we are constantly building upon set us up for success in the workforce. Teamwork skills enable us to work effectively and cooperatively with others. Via all of these skills oral communication, including non-verbal communication and listening, is the channel in which we can express and exhibit these skills.