Forty-three percent of hiring managers said they spend one minute or less looking at a resume when first reviewing applications; 14 percent spend less than 30 seconds. Make sure you are highlighting specific accomplishments, quantifying results whenever possible, to showcase how you put your skills into action and benefitted previous employers – CareerBuilder.com.
One of the challenges of an economy in turmoil is finding the next job. As firms shed jobs or slow hiring, looking for the next position can seem like a fruitless pursuit. If only you could read minds! Like someone with telepathy, or the very least a mentalist.
Unfortunately, no such capabilities are widely available to the job seeker. Fortunately there is something else that is actually much better – data. CareerBuilder.com in the middle of Summer this year, well before the economic crisis we are now sliding into, conducted its regular survey of hiring managers. While some of the findings were quite remarkable: like the number of people who lie in interviews, (my favorite being the person who submitted samples of work that the interviewer actually did – nice one!); there was a body of evidence that pointed to a long understood set of skills that most business need to survive. And, wouldn’t you know it, the set of skills at the top of the list of most desired attributes were…
Problem Solving & Decision Making skills
Which at 50% makes these skills desired over an above “oral and written communication” by 6% and even above “leadership” by 20%. Why is this the case?
One of the key drivers for any business is doing more of the right things, with less and less resources. Less time, money, people. To that end, it means that the people who are in the business have to be able to rapidly prioritize problems, identify their root cause, make decisions about what to do to correct it, and manage the associated systems risk and potential. Critical thinking skills are not only desired, they are a fundamental skill necessary for a business’s long-term strategic and operational success.
Tags: Decisions, interview, Jobs, preparation, Problems, resume, search, skills, thinking
October 9, 2008 at 11:53 am |
Reminds me of an Australian government survey which asked employers what they were looking for in college graduates. High on the list: “Independent and critical thinking.” “This skill is of great
importance to employers and seems to be the skill that most sets apart
successful from unsuccessful applicants; in other words, employers value
this skill and can find it but it is rare.”