Re-imagining Skills in Today’s Changing Economy

TIPS Young Professionals Network had its latest event, Session on Skill Sets and Goals, on Wednesday, June 22nd. The session was led by two incredible speakers: CEO of E-Learning Mind, Andrew Fayad, and Learning and Employee Experience Manager at LinkedIn, Nawal Fakhoury. The group consisting of peers across industries discussed how the perception of what constitutes a skill changed over time and encouraged each other to think more critically about their strengths and goals.

Below is a snapshot of our main takeaways from the event:

Companies and jobs within companies are in a constant state of change and young professionals are expected naturally to adjust to these changes and take on responsibilities that their initial job descriptions may not have required. The growth of better and more efficient practices creates an exciting opportunity for personal and professional development in conjunction with the industries and functional roles the individuals are a part of but it also impacts the expectation of the employers.

Today, recruiting teams look for and prioritize the existence of softer skills more so than before with the realization that the harder skills are often trainable. People at the early stages of their careers are thus encouraged to reflect heavily on the skill sets below and create their own brand and value propositions.

1. Learning: Adaptability, comfort with the unknown, resourcefulness, agility
2. Personal Skills: Emotional intelligence, empathy, teamwork, self-confidence
3. Creativity: Innovation, big picture thinking, design thinking, problem solving
4. Influence/Leadership: Facilitation, collaboration, team-building, crisis management change management
5. Communication: Public speaking, body language/presence, storytelling, writing

Self-reflection and self-awareness serve as the stepping stones towards pursuing roles in environments and work cultures that speak to one’s strengths and provide growth opportunities where the individual feels less confident.

In a group session where the participants shared their short and long term skill development goals and then provided recommendations to each other, the feedback revealed that young professionals:

1. Acknowledged the importance of developing their softer skills (public speaking, being a better influencer etc.)
2. Were great at identifying the areas they need development in
3. Prioritized

• job/industry specific skills in the short term
• big picture personal skills that were in line with the brand they wanted to create for the long run.

4. Successfully provided recommendations to their peers once they were able to take a step back and be more objective.

*Crowdsourcing 2.0