While fears of recession and layoffs make headlines, recent graduates could find themselves stumbling into an insecure job market.
A recent survey of 1,000 US college graduates between the ages of 18 and 54 the last 12 months showed that many are worried about their “professional maturity”.
According to the survey, nearly half of graduates said they didn’t apply for entry-level jobs because they felt underqualified.
And that’s an even greater challenge for those new to the workforce.
“One of the challenges young workers may face is a lack of experience when they enter the workforce,” said Pooja Chhabria, careers expert and Asia Pacific editorial director at LinkedIn.
Hard skills can help you get a recruiter’s attention, but soft skills can help you get the job.
Puja Chhabria
Career Expert, LinkedIn
While Gen Z workers — who range in age from 18 to 24 — may worry about their lack of experience, some industries are hiring “aggressively,” according to LinkedIn.
For example, as of October 2022, job postings on the platform have been growing year over year for sectors such as government administration, which has seen 52% growth in Australia and a whopping 88% growth in Singapore.
Retail vacancies rose 114% in Australia and 49% in India, while logistics and supply chain vacancies rose 41% in Singapore.
These jobs may come from different industries, but they have one thing in common — an emphasis on soft skills, which Chhabria says are valued across multiple sectors and jobs.
How to get noticed
Organizations have shifted from a “traditional experience-based” hiring approach to a competency-based approach, Chhabria said.
That’s because of the “rapid pace of change and disruption” that industries are going through, and skill-based hiring helps employers hire talent that fits the evolving needs of businesses, she added.
“87% of recruiters believe skills are critical when screening candidates. A competency-based approach also creates a much broader talent pool, and diversity of talent is necessary to remain competitive in today’s marketplace.”
“In Asia-Pacific, data from LinkedIn shows that a skills-based approach to hiring increases the overall Gen Z talent pool by 10.8x in Australia, 14.1x in India and 7x in Singapore will,” she said.
While hard skills remain critical to securing a job, soft skills can help candidates stand out from the crowd.
“Hard skills can help you get a recruiter’s attention, but soft skills can help you get the job,” Chhabria added.
“Hard skills are the technical skills required for your job. For example, if you’re applying to be a sales professional, you need to have knowledge of sales processes and how to use a CRM platform,” she said.
“[But] You’ll also need soft skills like presentation skills to make a great sales pitch to your customers, or communication skills so you can confidently communicate with your team and the customer.”
According to LinkedIn, these are the top five soft skills young workers should focus on in the new year:
- Communication: Being able to communicate your ideas, views and opinions concisely so that people can understand what you are sharing.
- Time Management: With the advent of remote work, time management has become even more important to build trust with your employer and demonstrate the value you add to the team.
- Critical Thinking: Ability to understand and approach a situation based on all available facts and information.
- Problem Solving: Finding solutions and finding new ways to solve problems.
- Interpersonal Skills: In a post-pandemic workplace, the ability to build relationships and collaborate with teams globally is an important skill.
Taking on new tasks or projects can improve your problem-solving skills and provide opportunities to learn how to better deal with stress, criticism, and conflict.
Puja Chhabria
Career Expert, LinkedIn