subject: The Three Things All Employers Really Want But Never Really Tell You! [print this page] The Three Things All Employers Really Want But Never Really Tell You!
Employers all over the country are recruiting for bright, energetic individuals with specific skills and talents. They've got jobs to fill and important work to do. Organizations have become more and more sophisticated in their selection process and applicants frequently find themselves facing multiple interviews. During these interviews, few of these employers actually explain that those hard core job skills they are recruiting for are only part of a much bigger picture of what they really want in an employee. If you are one of those talented individuals who lands a job, don't make the mistake of thinking that employers only want what they tell you they want.
Renown business professor and management expert, *Robert L. Katz, in his 1974 article for the Harvard Business Review identified three basic skills essential to effective management, namely technical, human and conceptual. Katz provides a clear and comprehensive analysis of what each of these skills consists of at the management level and clearly explains the practical application of those skills at that level. At their most basic level the three skills are defined as:
1. Technical: the ability to use process or technique, knowledge and proficiency.
2. Conceptual: the ability to understand abstract relationships, develop ideas and solve
problems creatively.
3. Human: the ability to interact effectively with people.
Now, if you are thinking at this point that none of this applies to you, that would be wrong. These same skills are required for any job regardless of your duty statement, regardless of the size of the company, and regardless of your salary. They are applicable because when you strip away the beautiful management-type language, they translate into three basic questions? Can you do the job the company needs done? Can you think? And can you get along with people? That makes it pretty simple, doesn't it? Now, let's look at each of these areas separately and see what they actually mean?
1. Can you do the job? This means do you have the knowledge to perform the tasks and responsibilities that the employer needs to have done? The application and interview process typically focuses on this area and employers tend to hire the candidates who best demonstrate the ability to do what the organization needs to have done. This is where your education, experience, and ability to articulate your qualifications come in. Clearly, if you do not have the required education or have not had the necessary experience you won't get the job. Additionally, even if you have the required education and experience to actually do the job, if you cannot communicate that in a way that makes sense to the interviewer and sets you apart from other candidates, you still won't get the job. We're not going to spend a lot of time on this area because this is the one area where employers are most clear in their communication with job candidates. Outside of blatant nepotism or other such parody of the hiring process, I can't think of any circumstance where an employer does not have a clear idea of what job needs to be done and matches the job with the technical skills of the candidate.
2. Can you think? Now you might be thinking that this sounds kind of silly. Everybody can think, right? Sadly, no. What I mean here is, not the random and automatic process that generates thousands of thoughts each day, but rather, the much more sophisticated and analytical process that enables us to think critically, creatively, and appropriately about the situations we encounter at work. What I also mean here is not just the act of thinking critically, creatively, and appropriately, but the ability to transform those thoughts into deeds and actions. Most employers don't tell you this, but while your technical skills may get you the job, it's your ability to think that will help you keep it.
Let's look at this a little more closely and think about the practical application in the normal work environment. Your conceptual skills, i.e. your ability to think play a major part in your workday regardless of your job. You may not believe this especially if your job appears to be repetitive or mundane. However, regardless of how repetitive or mundane, you make hundreds of decisions each workday regarding how you will do that job. Let's look at some examples.
Let's say your first job is waiting tables. The duty statement looks simple enough. Greet customers, take their orders, deliver their orders back to the kitchen, and deliver the food to the customers. At the end of the meal you present them with the bill. Those are your basic duties. Sounds simple enough, right? But as anyone who has ever waited tables can tell you, you have to be able to think if you are going to succeed at the job. You have to be able to keep track of who came in first, judge what kind of mood they might be in, remember what the specials are for the day, take their order down correctly, ensure it is prepared appropriately, add up the bill correctly and, anticipate anything else they might need to make their experience pleasant. This is just a sampling of the things you have to think about for every single customer. No one is going to be sticking with you every minute of every day to tell you what to do. You have to think and take the right action.
Let's take another example. Many secretarial duty statements focus on the technical aspects of the job like the ability to answer telephones, meet clients, file documents, type documents, and basically do whatever the boss tells them to do. Now, you may well be able to type like a demon, sound like a dream on the phone, present yourself attractively for meeting clients, set up a filing system, and follow orders to the letter. But, if you can't think, you will never make it. You have to be able to anticipate what your boss needs whether or not you have a directive, judge when to interrupt her in meetings, know how to prioritize your work, understand what things are confidential, and be adept at entertaining an impatient client when your boss is running late and you have no idea where she is. Again, ask any secretary how important it is that he or she is able to think and analyze effectively each day, and you will understand that the technical skills of the job are just the beginning.
Along with the ability to think critically and analytically, is the ability to think objectively. Employers don't tell you this because they usually just don't think about it, but they really don't want employees who are blind to reality or loyal beyond reason. We will talk more extensively about loyalty later on in this book and how important it is to your success as an employee, but when it comes to prioritizing those qualities employers really want, the ability to think critically, analytically and objectively comes out way ahead.
We often believe that if we work hard enough, long enough and are loyal to our employers we are bound to succeed. Unfortunately, organizations can be full of employees who are hardworking, ethical and extremely loyal. Those organizations still fail miserably if their employees can't think. I once had a manager who reported to me who, to this day, remains one of the hardest workers I have ever encountered. This manager was good, kind, ethical and loyal. Unfortunately, he could not think clearly, logically, and objectively. His actions were often governed by his emotions. For years I counseled him on making connections between concepts, applying logic and principles, and being able to grasp "the big picture". No matter how many times we talked, he never got it. I agonized over feeling like I was constantly beating him up. But the sad truth was: He was just not going to ever get it. Finally, he moved on and, despite those years of extreme difficulty, we were able to stay friends. I could not imagine ever hiring him back despite all his wonderful qualities, and in truth, would have a difficult time recommending him to another employer.
3. Can you get along with people? The third critical ability that employers often do not tell you about in the hiring process is what is known as the "human" ability, or rather, your ability to get along with people. You may think you've got this one nailed, but this is an area that challenges even the most congenial and easy-going personalities. In a work situation, you must be able to work effectively with a wide variety of people and personality types. This means you first need to be able to identify, understand, and set aside your biases about people. If you tell yourself you have no biases, you are either not being honest or are tremendously nave. Everyone has biases. The challenge is identifying them and dealing with them so they don't pop up at the most inopportune moment and derail your career. Letting your biases rule your interaction with people is absolute poison in a work environment.
Getting along well with people also means you need to be able to communicate effectively with colleagues at any level. Communicating effectively simply means communicating in a way that makes your peers and colleagues feel good about their interaction with you. It doesn't mean they have to agree with you. It doesn't even mean they have to like you. It just means you deal with them in a way that makes them feel respected and understood. We will be talking more about handling disagreements in a later chapter, but for now, just remember that employers expect you to play well with others. Your failure to do so means problems for them and therefore, problems for you.
Your ability to relate positively to others doesn't stop with your peers and colleagues. It extends to your supervisor, your customers or clients, and members of the public with whom you come in contact. In this job or in future jobs you will have an opportunity to relate to any or all of these. You may think that only a goofball would not realize how important it is to deal effectively with your supervisor, but I have seen many situations where employees failed to take even the most basic actions to ensure that their relationship with their supervisor stays positive and productive. In Chapter 7, we discuss in detail some of the various types of supervisors you might run into, and how best to work with them.
If your new job entails any sort of public contact, your employer will expect you to become adept at dealing with all manner of customers, clients, or other members of the public. This can be a real challenge because it leaves no room for bias, bad moods, bad hair days, or any of the other annoyances that might affect how you interact with people. I once had a secretary who thought that everyone was entitled to share her bad mood, and she frequently had one. Every morning she would come in and people would find themselves sticking their toes in and testing the psychological waters before they tried to have a conversation with her. I have to admit I wasn't aware of this as soon as I should have been because she knew enough not to behave that way with me. However, once I started getting complaints from clients and other members of the public, she and I came to a reckoning and the problem was resolved. I explained that regardless of what she was feeling on any given day, she represented the entire organization, and I expected her to treat everyone she came in contact with like she genuinely liked and cared about them. She told me later that she simply had not thought about it from the client's perspective because she was always too wrapped up in her own issues. Her attitude totally changed from that day on. If you have a job dealing with the public, employers will expect you to always conduct yourself as if you genuinely care about everyone you deal with regardless of their behavior towards you.
Another skill employers all want and frequently forget to tell you about is the ability to talk. Again, like thinking, you may feel that you have this one nailed as well. Well, granted you may be able to talk, but can your employer trust you to speak clearly and concisely? Do you speak in a manner that people with varying levels of understanding and education can understand you? Is your tone and language always appropriate to the circumstance? And even more importantly, do you know when to talk and when to listen? All of these are skills that must be developed in order to hone your human skills and be successful in your new job.
Final words:
So, there you have it. If you have already begun that new job, you are probably feeling pretty comfortable that you have the technical abilities to do what your employer hired you for. That's a great start. However, you now know that that is only a start. In order to really excel in that new job, you have to master skills way beyond those listed in your duty statement. You have to train yourself to use your head and think critically. You also have to learn to get along with all those people with whom you come in contact at work so that you maximize your effectiveness and solidify your worth to your employer. Master those skills, while you use the technical skills you were hired for, and success is certainly in your future.
*Robert Katz, "Skills of an Effective Administrator," Harvard Business Review, September-October 1974. (magazine)
