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Hi, I’m Mary. I’m the CEO of an up-and-coming tech startup, Poodle Jumper. Our company provides on-demand care for pets, allowing pet owners to ensure their furry family members are taken care of when they aren’t able to be home. We partner with local services to provide transportation, exercise, feeding, and grooming.
We are an early-stage startup that launched two months ago. We have a small but dedicated team that is working to develop the tools our customers and service partners need. To be competitive with limited resources, we’ve prioritized hiring individuals with the right skills, but it may surprise you that they aren’t all technology-related. When evaluating our employee performance, we found that technical knowledge didn’t always add up to an effective employee. So, we leverage the skills of the 21st Century created by Strayer University and Capella University in partnership with top employers, business leaders, and recruiters. These skills are critical to performing your best—not just in IT, but across all industries.
As people become more and more connected, workplaces are spreading out with teams working in different parts of the world. Instead of staying at one company or even working in one field, people are more willing to change gears and enter entirely different professions. According to LinkedIn, the average millennial changes jobs four times before the age of 32 (Long, 4). These skills will help future-proof your career no matter what industry you work in.
| Skill | Description | Why It Matters for the Future of Work |
|---|---|---|
| Self & Social Awareness | Understanding your personal strengths and limitations; recognizing your thoughts, emotions, and intentions; being open to receiving feedback; and identifying how your behaviors impact others. | Self awareness can help you find the right career for you, know when it's time to leave your current job, and make you a stronger leader. (Swerdlow, 5). |
| Technology | Being able to confidently and effectively use technology to be productive, complete goals and tasks, and maintain a competitive advantage. | 78% of today's jobs require familiarity with technology, and digitally intensive jobs are growing faster and pay more than non-digital roles. (Southern New Hampshire University, 6). |
| Productivity | Strategizing, organizing, and effectively managing your time and priorities. | High performers can be up to 800 percent more productive than other workers, drastically cutting down the time and money needed to complete large tasks – something managers always value. (Keller, 7) |
| Initiative | Thinking independently, seeing what needs to be done, and taking action without being prompted. | Initiative has become more important in modern workplaces, as employers rely on people who have the courage to push their teams forward. (Mind Tools, 8) |
| Results Driven | Acting with a sense of urgency and focus to reach goals, without compromising integrity or quality. | As companies use more freelancers, they need those works to be results-driven so projects stay on track. (Do, 9). |
| Communication | Actively seeking and delivering information, clearly articulating ideas, effectively listening, and confidently connecting to various audiences, settings, and situations. | Communication is one of the top five skills that will be important in the future across all industries...and that employers currently find lacking. (Gilchrist, 10). |
| Relationship Building | Effectively working with others and establishing, cultivating, and leveraging networks over time. | 85% of all open job positions are filled through personal connections. (Adler, 11) |
| Problem Solving | Identifying and framing problems, exploring ideas, and creating effective, ethical, and evidence-based solutions. | Problem solving is important in every industry, and this skill gives an especially notable edge in management positions. (CareerBuilder, 12). |
| Innovation | Creatively thinking and coming up with new ideas and solutions to solve old problems. | 84% of business executives believe that innovation is important, but only 6% are satisfied with their company's performance in that area. (McKinsey & Company, 13) |
| Agility | Embracing change and effectively adapting when things around you are constantly in motion. | In one survey, 79% of executives said that the future of work will be based on specific projects instead of roles, meaning that having the agility to adapt quickly will be extremely important. (Lyons, 14) |
You may already feel confident with some of these skills. That’s great news! It’s normal to feel stronger in some skills than others. How you feel about a skill can change over time, depending on the project, task, or job you face.
Not every role needs the same performance for every skill, but a well-rounded skill set is critical for being an effective employee anywhere. Many people are surprised to learn that previous experience with a particular technology isn’t required for every IT position. At Poodle Jumper, we value a candidate’s mindset more than their experience because taking initiative, adapting to change, and having a problem-solving attitude is important for being a good team member. The majority of people in IT spend a good portion of their time in meetings and collaborating, so communication, relationship building, self, and social awareness are important for being successful. Technology evolves quickly, so it’s never too late to join the team and learn with us.
In this course you will find:
Source: This tutorial was authored by DEVMOUNTAIN and Sophia Learning. Please see our Terms of Use.
