Top 15 workplace competencies that employers want

What do employers want?

This is a question that often arises in the minds of job-seekers. There have been multiple approaches that have been available to answer this question.

But a simpler way to understand the requirements of employers is to expand the question from just one to a few.

So, it is not just this one: What do employers want? It also requires asking: Who are employers looking for – as in the people they are looking to recruit? And what kind of skillsets must those people possess?

Understanding workplace competencies

When these questions are explored together, we arrive at a concept called Workplace Competencies.

A competency is a specific set of skills that a person is required to have, to be able to complete a specific job. Each job will entail the completion of specific tasks over a while. A competency, therefore, indicates the level of proficiency that the individual employee has in delivering on their role, in their job, consistently.

Workplace competencies comprise two types of skill sets. One is called behavioral competency. And the other is called technical or functional competency.

A behavioral competency is the ability to do a job or task well. It is not about completing a task but how well the task was completed and delivered. Effective communication, the ability to collaborate on the team, time management, decision-making, and problem-solving are some examples of behavioral competencies.

A functional competency is a technical skill. This is the technical expertise or knowledge required to get a job done. Which is, that the job cannot be completed and delivered without this expertise. Examples of functional competencies are knowing accounting principles and practices, computer languages, mobile application development, and such specialized, knowledge-based, experience-based skills.

Employers often are looking for people with a good combination of both behavioral and functional competencies.

Here’s a list of the top workplace competencies that employers are looking for:

Communication: Is the employee extroverted? Can the employee communicate effectively through writing and speaking? Basically, given the ways companies work these days – in a highly connected global work environment – candidates with very good communication skills are most sought after by employers. This competency requirement also highlights the need for employees to be good listeners, readers, and articulators of their ideas and learnings.

Collaboration: Although the pandemic buttonholed people in their homes, the importance of teamwork has never been more pronounced at the workplace as it is now. Employers insist on only recruiting team players. Having collaborative skills means that candidates must be willing to co-share and co-own the team’s goal, they must be proactive and they must be ready to stand up and take on newer responsibilities on the team seamlessly.

Leadership: Employers are continuously looking for people with leadership skills. This means that employees who are good at problem-solving, decision-making, taking ownership, and resolving conflicts are highly preferred. This is a competency that cannot often be taught. Most people who possess strong leadership skills have always had them and their experiences over the years have helped them develop and polish these skills.

Service-mindedness: Companies need to sell more to earn more. And when companies sell, they need to service their customers, more customers each year, in fact, to keep growing. This means that companies are looking for people who could be excellent in sales and customer service. This requires a competency called service-mindedness. Employees having this skill set will be naturally inclined to take up challenges in sales and customer service roles and deliver well in them.

Problem-solving: As much as technology has simplified the world of business, newer problems that arrive every now and then, make business leadership challenging. Employers want people who can define what the problem is, break down its complexity, and solve it. Simply, they want problem solvers, not problem escalators.

Quality champion: Can an employee demonstrate great attention to detail? Can an employee ensure process compliance? Can an employee have the wisdom and courage to flag off poor quality in the product or service? These are the kind of qualities that managers in a workplace expect from their employees.

Quick learning: Businesses today move at a rapid pace. Newcomers are expected to hit the ground running. So all the learning has to happen on the job. Hands on. Employees who can adapt to this scorching pace quickly and who can learn from doing so are in high demand.

Teachability: A valuable resource on a team is not just someone who learns fast, but also can share and patiently orient the others on the team to the new learning. Such employees are good teachers. Their teachability is an asset on the team. Always.

Culture role model: Companies want people who are not just technically sound but attitudinally the right fit. They want people who can align with the organization’s vision and values. They want people who can be role models for the company’s culture.

Business planner: Any employee who has business planning skills, who is well-versed in what’s happening in the market and who understands broad industry trends is preferred. This is a competency, which when nurtured and developed over the years, can lead employees to occupy CXO positions.

Technology adapter: Can the employee quickly adapt to new, emerging technology? Seamlessly? This is one competency that employers are forever short of on their teams. This is why candidates with this skill are in high demand.

Traveler: The employee’s willingness to travel on work, to grow the company’s business, is highly valued by employers. Traveling also makes the employee get better and better with their behavioral competencies. So it is a win-win situation for both employer and employee.

Ethical: An employee’s integrity is very valuable to employers. They want employees that they can trust implicitly. Consistent ethical behavior also grows an employee’s career prospects in the company.

Long-distance player:  Without doubt, employers prefer people who are looking to grow with the company. Which means, when an employee demonstrates the willingness to be a long-distance player, this work competency helps the employee grow fast too.

Brand ambassador: When an employee becomes a spokesperson for the company and its brand(s), the credibility of the company increases manifold. Employers want their employees to develop this competency quickly and showcase it in all their interaction with the business world.

Conclusion

Each of these 15 workplace competencies is a mix of both behavioral and functional competencies. Some of these can be developed only through experience on the job. The more of these workplace competencies that an employee possesses, the more their chances of growth.