Especially in case of entry level jobs, candidates lag behind in terms of work experience. So, how do you sell yourself if you have no work experience? Highlighting your skills, hard, soft or technical skills is the key to outstand in front of others. While every employer looks for different skills for different jobs, there are certain universal skills that are required to enter the job market.
To identify what skills are important to work in Nepalese job market, merojob interviewed HR professionals from various sectors and has come up with a list of important skills. “Attitude & behavior, cultural fit and skills matching the job description is something we look for while hiring candidates”, says Mr. Prakash Dhakal, HR Consultant at Brain Digit IT Solutions. He also added that the preparedness of the candidate is for the interview is equally important.
This draws attention towards the fact that preparation before attending a job interview is equally important in the job search process. Candidates need to prepare on interview question, body language, dressing etiquette, etc before attending an interview. Similarly, candidates need to research on the working culture of the company in order to identify if they can fit in or not.
Attitude being one of the most important aspect, the way you deal with the interviewer, answer the questions, etc needs to be taken care of. “If we talk of qualifications, in order to work in IT industry, it is very important that the candidates equip themselves with latest changes and developments”, says Mr. Dhakal.
“Learning attitude, honesty and working experience is what we seek in a candidate while hiring them”, says Ms. Sita Chhettri, HR Manager at Sarvottam Cement. Demonstrating the ability to learn can be a plus point if you are a fresher and do not have much working experience. Also, honesty & ethics is something most of the HR managers seek for in their prospective employers.
Similarly, things are different in case of development sector like I/NGOs. “While hiring, we look for candidates with good report writing & computer skills”, says Ms. Ashmi Duwadi, Program Officer at DEPROSC Nepal. In our field, people need to work in teams for projects and this calls for a need to hire someone who can work well with teams, she added. Apart from this, attitude and intention of a candidate is equally important.
One of the major disappointing factors that HR professionals face is encountering with candidates who are not really prepared for the interview. “Many times, we face candidates who come totally unprepared for the interview, and we need to counsel them regarding interview preparation tips”, says Ms. Samita Gupta, Personnel Manager at Met Life Insurance. Along with degree from prestigious universities, they also look for factors such as punctuality, body language, and dressing etiquette etc. “Jobseekers today need to understand that they need to prepare themselves before attending any job interview” she added.
Among numerous skills sought by HR professionals these are some of the skills that are required to perform any job. Working on enhancing these skills will definitely increase your chances of getting hired.
