Top Skills and Values Employers Seek

1. Strong Work Ethic Are you motivated and dedicated to getting the job done, no matter what?

2. Positive Attitude Are you optimistic and upbeat?

3. Good Communication Skills Are you both verbally articulate and a good listener?

4. Time Management Abilities Do you know how to prioritize tasks and work on a number of different projects at once?

5. Problem-Solving Skills Are you resourceful and able to creatively solve problems that will inevitably arise?

6. Acting as a Team Player Will you work well in groups and teams?

7. Self-Confidence Do you truly believe you can do the job?

9. Flexibility/Adaptability Are you able to adapt to new situations and challenges?

10. Working Well Under Pressure Can you handle the stress that accompanies deadlines and crises?

11. Leadership/Management Skills

12. Honesty/Integrity/Morality

13. Dependability/Reliability/Responsibility

14. Willingness to Learn

15. Computer/Technical Literacy

16. Multicultural Sensitivity/Awareness 

17. Respecting the rules

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The competencies or transferable skills that are particularly popular with graduate recruiters include:

• communication - ability to communicate orally, in writing, or via electronic means, in a manner appropriate to the audience;
• teamwork - being a constructive team member, contributing practically to the success of the team;
• leadership - being able to motivate and encourage others, whilst taking the lead;
• initiative - ability to see opportunities and to set and achieve goals;
• problem solving - thinking things through in a logical way in order to determine key issues, often also including creative thinking;
• flexibility/adaptability - ability to handle change and adapt to new situations;
• self-awareness - knowing your strengths and skills and having the confidence to put these across;
• commitment/motivation - having energy and enthusiasm in pursuing projects;
• interpersonal skills - ability to relate well to others and to establish good working relationships;
• numeracy - competence and understanding of numerical data, statistics and graphs.