Regardless of which field or industry your career pertains to, a certain set of skills will always help you at work. These skills work in one’s favour across the board and can be divided broadly into three categories- Technical/ Infrastructural, Professional and, Interpersonal. They can be explained as follows-

1. Technical/ Infrastructural- This category of skills is fairly industry specific. This relates to your skills when dealing with technology and infrastructures in your industry. The technology and hence the skill, would differ from industry to industry. Technical deftness in the film industry would look different in comparison to technical deftness, in say, the mining industry. Still, technical deftness in one’s industry is an important skill.

2. Professional skills- This category of skills refer to your general behaviour and way of carrying yourself. This includes skills that relate to your general demeanour in professional settings and other similar skills- body language, public speaking and oration, etc.

3. Interpersonal- This category of skills consists of your ability to efficiently interact and communicate with other people. This helps in aspects like networking and communication, plays a huge part in professional skills as well, and helps one across industries.

Speaking in a narrower sense, following is a list of skills that will come in handy irrespective of which industry your career deals with-

1. Team work- The ability to work in a team is an important virtue. All industries, in one way or another, require for people to be able to work together efficiently. Being able to collaborate with people who work in similar fields and/ or positions, helps people grown, and hence, succeed in their career paths.

2. Computer skills- In this digital age, considering that the impact, influence and prevalence of technology, it is important that one learns to use them to their advantage. Computers are not going anywhere, anytime soon. So, it becomes an obstacle if one can’t use computers efficiently. Hence, educating yourself, about at least basic computer use, is important.

3. Time management- It is important that one learns to manage their time well, in order to succeed. Those who know to manage their time well, get more done in the same number of hours, boosting productivity, and thus, overall performance. It involves knowing how to prioritize tasks and streamline them, compartmentalize, and if needed, delegate and divide one’s tasks among others. This gives one an advantage over their peers and competitors. Drawing up schedules, making to-do lists and timetables, and sticking to them are ways in which one can improve one’s creativity. It also involves identifying slumps in one’s productivity (here, times of the day when you are least productive- for example, after meals) and finding ways to minimize this time.

4. Confidence- Confidence is an important virtue even outside of the workplace, let alone across industries. A sense of confidence in oneself, helps others have a certain amount of faith and confidence in you, boosting relations with people that could potential help one’s career growth.

5. Creativity- It is imperative to be able to think out of the box. When you stand out of a crowd in terms of your ideas and their execution, you get places. People are appreciated for their ability to think creatively and approach tasks in an unconventional way, or a way that other people wouldn’t have thought of.

6. Critical Thinking- The ability to think about your problems critically, in a bigger picture sense, and look past the obvious answers to your questions, is valued in the workplace. Those who have critical thinking skills, can hence sift through all information available and only focus on those facts that are relevant to the problem, thus, solving it.

7. Listening skills- While it is considered important sometimes to speak up, be upfront and bold about your thoughts and ideas, and just generally make your presence known, it is also very important to be able to listen. Not just hear what people have to say, but also give their ideas their due attention and consideration. This helps avoid incidents of miscommunication and also reduces conflicts in the workplace.

8. Networking- Networking is the ability to make contacts and connect with people in your industry and other related industries. Not just that, but also sort of cementing those contacts, in that to kind of build a concrete relationship that would make space for give and take of favours in the future is a helpful trait as these contacts help in the future when you need to get things done.

9. Leadership skills- Leadership positions are given to those who exhibit leadership skills. Thus, it is important that one must have them, or work towards them. Leadership skills consist of skills like- reliability, problem solving, listening skills, introspection, fairness, good communication, etc.

10. Resourcefulness- When people are able to make the most of the resources available to them- be it monetary, infrastructural or even human resources takes people a long way in their career. People don’t always have all the resources they need available at their beck and call, so, it becomes a great skill to be able to do what you want, or need to, even if you don’t have all the resources available.

11. Soft skills- Soft skills mostly include interpersonal skills. They pertain mostly to one’s integrity and persona inside the workplace and outside, and your equations with people. Some examples of soft skills are-

● Compromise- when making decisions in the workplace, one will not always get their way. Thus, it becomes a good virtue to have, to be able to compromise and meet those with opposing views, halfway through.

● Negotiation- While it is important, like I highlighted in my previous point, to be able to compromise and be okay with it, it is also important to be able to, to some extent, push for your ideas. Compromise goes both ways, mostly, so one must be able to voice their ideas and fight for them, so to speak

● Adaptability and flexibility- Adaptability and flexibility are skills that pertain to one’s ability to survive, and potentially thrive in situations that require them to grow and change. Growth in terms of mindset, skills and abilities, ideas, or even just in terms of one’s personal development.

● Positivity, dependability, etc.

These skills, especially when used together, will help you sort of achieve your full potential at work and grow in your career space, making you successful.