Almost every employer looks for the top 3 qualities in their prospective employees. These are leadership, team work and innovation.
Leadership
Leadership is the ability to influence a team, with or without authority. Leaders are initiators. They can start paths that have never been chartered before. Leaders are brave and are willing to challenge the status quo. Its an employer’s dream to find talent that can start other streams of revenue. They want people that can influence others to stir the company to greater heights.
Tip for students
Do not just concentrate on your books only, join social clubs like Enactus and Junior Achievement. They afford you a chance to be a leader before you start job hunting. It gives you an edge above the rest of the students.
Team work
Another quality that employer look for is the ability of applicants to work in a team and collaborate with others. It requires good interpersonal skills to work with others. Its also requires the candidate to compromise. Teams consist of people that are different. Each one of them have their own beliefs and past experiences hence they tend to act differently from others and they need to be tolerated.
Innovation
Innovation refers to the act of building or improving current or new systems that can improve productivity or reduce the costs. Automation is an example of innovation. Most employers in South Africa are looking to reduce their costs of production or delivering a product. They continue to explore news ways they can boost productivity and keep their operating costs low in order to maximize profits.
A candidate that shows innovative qualities in an interview of on their CV improves their chance to be selected.