By: Shayna Rogoff, Account Associate for Visionese
In our society’s candidate-driven job market, the competition and the expectation of basic business skills are high. Here are four essential business skills to help you succeed in your career and set yourself apart when job hunting
Strong Professional Communication Skills
According to Bloomberg’s 2015 Job Skills Report, most employers are looking for candidates with strong communication abilities. Although communication skills are consistently emphasized throughout our lives, employers in the report found the skill relatively hard to come by. The ability to communicate effectively is not only extremely effective in the business world, it is an essential life skill. Whether you’re not so great at writing, you don’t feel like you’re very persuasive, or anything in between, challenge yourself to work on one thing at a time to improve your professional communication.
Leadership Abilities
You might assume that having strong leadership skills only becomes important once you start managing people. However, leadership abilities are important to your success even when you’re the most junior individual on the team. Every time a group of people comes together, they need to choose what to do, when, and how to do it. Understanding how to unify the group and make decisions quickly and without conflict will make you incredibly valuable. Sometimes, this may mean not getting your way.
An Understanding of Marketing
It doesn’t matter what profession or industry you belong to—at the end of the day, your success depends on the customer. That’s why it’s essential to understand why consumers make the decisions they do and how you can use this information to your company’s advantage. Marketing is the way in which a business communicates its value to potential customers. It is important that you understand and practice that type of communication in the business world. In order to excel and advance in your career, you should display a deep understanding of how to effectively market your company to stand out amongst its competitors.
An Understanding of Finance
An important part of any business organization is the money that comes in and the money that goes out. No matter your profession, understanding basic accounting is important to everyone. In order to know the language of business and understand our current economy, you need some general knowledge of finance. For example, before accepting a job you would want to have an understanding of the company’s financial health. Work-life aside, your personal finances will benefit, as you will know how to make the most out of your money. There are plenty of books and online resources to help you build an understanding, you can even follow some experts on twitter.
No matter what you do, growing in these four areas will help you build relationships, think strategically about your company, and be seen as a leader. All in all, that’s a recipe for getting ahead.
Happy Valley Comm 