Skills You Need to be an Indispensable Employee

6 years ago | Posted in: Business, Education, Jobs | 2201 Views

Job security is no doubt a top concern for every employee in today’s competitive job market. Employers are careful to employ, retain and reward employees who have the skills needed to help their firms navigate through the ever-competitive market environment. You can make yourself indispensable to your employer by developing key skills which you know that your employer needs to be successful in his or her line of business. In the words of Charles Darwin, only the fit will ultimately survive in the competitive job market.

Here are the top five skills you need to develop to remain relevant in your current job position:

Excel and be the best at your area of expertise

For you to remain useful to your employer, you need to build upon the skills that earned you the job in the first place. For instance, if you were employed over a decade ago as a marketer, you need to appreciate the fact that the marketing field has since evolved and newer and better marketing channels and platforms have come into the market. You cannot hold on to the old marketing techniques you learnt in college all those years ago. Most of these techniques have since become redundant or re not as effective as they used to be. You should instead look at the digital marketing trends and acquire the skills needed to operate in a digital marketing world.

Work with the customer in mind

Regardless of the department where you work, you should always think of the customer and design an experience that will be beneficial to the customers. Operating this way will position you in a place where you can predict the needs of the customers and suggest these to your boss who will in turn reward you by placing you on the unwritten list of indispensable employees.

Invest in continuous learning

As an employee, you cannot afford to be stagnant in your area of expertise. You need to maintain a sharp focus and always look for ways you can rise up that corporate ladder. One of the ways through which you can prepare yourself for additional responsibilities in the marketplace is by investing in continuous learning. Your employer will not promote you to a higher office unless you prove that you are overqualified for your current position. You can achieve this by going back to school or registering for an online course. There are many self-paced courses offered online which can help you rise in your job placement with your employer.

Be the talent needed to fill a talent gap

This point is related to the point on continuous learning but it goes beyond gaining certifications to being specific and strategic in your pursuit for talent management. Considering that the business environment is changing at an accelerated speed, talent gaps will definitely arise. Why not identify or predict future trends in your job and work towards being the employee who will fill that gap? Whenever there is a talent gap in an organization, the HR usually looks within through internal advertising before placing an external job advert. Developing talents such as social media management, digital marketing, video marketing and omnichannel marketing will raise your value to your employer who will not only reward you by placing you on the unwritten list of indispensable employees but also promote you to a higher job position.

Be reliable and dependable

Well, it might be argued that all employees possess these two skills but possession of the skills and application of these skills are two different things. Build yourself up to be the go-to employee who your boss can turn to when he or she needs to be done knowing that you will do it to perfection and without a murmur. You can also volunteer to work in teams that need volunteers to work on projects for your employer. By so doing, you will become both a likable and indispensable employee.

If you have been wondering how you can work towards becoming indispensable to your employer, now you know what you need to do. Start developing these skills today.

 

by: Sia Hasan

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