Why you Need to Expand Your Skill Set
and how it can help you
Things have changed drastically with the invention of the internet; people’s habitats and how we interact with people have changed, and our skill sets have also changed. In today’s ever-changing world, we need to work to expand our skill set. We cannot just be single-minded in our careers or lives. We need to try and become more multifaceted.
Why You Need to Expand Your Skill Set
As I have already said, you need to expand your skill set more than ever in today’s society. Employers, as of right now, have changed their hiring processes. They want people who can do a variety of things rather than someone who is hyper-specialized.
Let’s say you’re trying to get a job in mechanical engineering, and the only skill you have is the ability to engineer. You will be a person who not only will get quickly phased out by new technological changes, but you will also find it incredibly hard to progress in the career of your choice.
For example, there are a few skills that you can acquire that will double your value as an entrepreneur or an employee.
Become an Effective Communicator
Whether you’re a software engineer, a salesman, an accountant, or a CEO, you need to be an effective communicator. You need to be able to express your opinions, articulate your ideas, and deal with various people.
I could do a whole article about how to improve your communication skills, but I’ll give you a few things you can do to improve your communication skills. For one, when you are communicating with people, you need to communicate with them in a way appropriate for them. Don’t communicate with a potential client the way you would with a co-worker you are friends with.
You should also try to learn to be more direct in your communication. Nothing is more off-putting for me in a conversation than one someone is incredibly long-winded and indirect in their conversation. Please, if you want to become an effective communicator, avoid this. Say what you mean and mean what you say, and you will be a much more effective communicator than a vast majority of other people.
The Art of Negotiation
Being an effective negotiator will serve you in almost any aspect imaginable in your life. When you want to get paid more, you will need this skill; when you want to find a way to split up the work properly, you will need to negotiate, and if you start your business and can’t negotiate, that business will not be around for very long.
There could be multiple articles and books written about this topic, but I will give you a few points to try and build on in your quest to become a better negotiator. When you negotiate, you need to be the person who creates an offer first. Because when you make the first offer, you are essentially setting the line in the negotiation. Then, after you make the first offer, they will be negotiating to pull you to their side and not the other way around. If you don’t make the first offer, you will have to negotiate from a disadvantaged position.
Another tip to work to implement is not to get yourself pushed around. Like in Shark Tank, when one of the Sharks tries to tell you that you must accept this deal right away or they will withdraw the offer. In negotiating, people will try to push you around and bully you. Don’t let them bully you; stand up for yourself. A lot of the time, people will gain a lot more respect for you if you’re able to stand up for yourself in hardball situations.
Be Easy to Teach
This skill will make you a much better person and employee. You need to be someone who can learn something quickly and adapt to whatever changes are happening in your industry. Every industry is changing at a record pace, and you will be fossilized if you cannot learn the new changes in that industry. If you’re not easy to teach, you will lower your value in any part of your life. Learning quickly is a skill that will never go out of style, depending on your job.
Being able to learn quickly and being incredibly teachable have certain things you can do. One of the easiest ways to be more teachable is to listen to people with less experience than you. People with less experience than you might still have tons of new information that was found recently. We need to know that even younger people can still have information to tell us. You can learn something from anyone.
Another way to become easier to teach is simply embracing whatever new changes can come from your field. Things inevitably will change with time, and you need to understand that you are setting yourself at a massive disadvantage by not adapting to these changes in the landscape. Don’t be the old man yelling in the clouds about things changing. Learn to take those changes in stride and keep moving. That’s how you remain teachable regardless of the circumstances. If you let yourself be taught, you will be teachable, as simple as that.
Conclusion
There are so many intangible skills you can build that can make you much more valuable than you would be without these skills. Keep expanding your skill set. You will never know where it will take you.
Another amazing article! great tips. 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼