5 ways to increase your employability
How is your employability? If you have not yet stopped to think about it, it is important to know that you should be concerned about it throughout your career.
Keeping your employability high is a challenge these days, due to rapid changes in companies and mergers and acquisitions.
1. Develop your digital skills
Technology should not be a threat if you are able to take advantage of the opportunities presented by the new digital world. Many senior professionals are getting involved in training programs focused on new digital skills: programming, data analysis, etc.
2. Activate your network and choose a mentor
Your employability equals the reputation you have with your peers, peers and competitors. Being known and respected by key stakeholders in your field is something you must achieve over time, and that is a task you should start building from day one of your career.
Using social networks wisely is also advisable. Just be careful not to sell yourself too much, because that ends up alienating people.
A key support for professional success and employability is having a good mentor, someone who knows you, can open doors and introduce you to the right people when needed. Having a mentor requires reciprocity on your part: just asking for favors doesn’t work in the long run.
3. Gravitas and presence
There is a lot of truth in the maxim “first impressions count”. It seems that many recruiters form a general impression of a candidate in the first 30 seconds of an interview. Gravitas is the self-confidence you must project to others in presentations and interviews, as well as in body language and appearance.
Gravitas is not equivalent to seriousness. You should be humorous and pleasant, but at the same time communicate inner strength, competence and ability to handle a situation.
Gravitas is a Latin term that names one of the virtues prized by ancient Roman society. It literally means weight, but it acquired the meaning of an ethical personality, of seriousness and attachment to honor and duty.
4. Continuing education
Updating knowledge and skills is essential in all professions. Going back to school every five years or so is a golden rule that applies to everyone, since a diploma from the past is no guarantee of keeping a job.
5. Cultivate a long-term vision and don’t take shortcuts
Integrity and professional honesty pay off in the long run. But more than that, they inspire confidence in others. On the other hand, an ethical mistake can leave a permanent mark on your resume.
