Regardless of which position you are in or job, whether it is your first job or you’ve been working for a while, there are certain skills experts say you should have at any given point for your career to thrive.

These skills are particularly essential and can allow you to thrive in your career, whether you are young or old. It is never too late to acquire them. They help you to respond to new challenges in today’s working world.

 Today, the skills you acquired in school or your specialised area are no longer enough. You need to have different problem-solving abilities and soft skills, whether you are a doctor, lawyer or engineer.

These skills have become even more important in the post-pandemic world, with greater emphasis now being put on certain soft skills, which you might have not learned about in school.

Career experts say today a skill set of soft skills is becoming increasingly relevant due to the changing workplace and work demands, mainly because companies have cut down jobs. Having these skills gives you an opportunity to be competitive.

These are mainly interpersonal and psychosocial skills that bring about teamwork, creativity, collaboration and efficiency. Below are five soft skills that will make your career thrive.

Be creative

In today’s world of work, creativity is a key soft skill that employers are looking for. Thinking outside the box and adding thought to everything you do shows in your results will make your career blossom.

Back in the day, work rules seemed to be written in stone, sticking to what is in your KPIs and not bothering about everything else but this has changed. Employers easily notice when you add creativity to the team.

When the time to consider who to retain or let go comes, someone creative will be considered because they add value. Apply creativity in everything you do.

Be willing to learn

It is important to maintain a positive attitude towards learning new things. Maintaining a sense of curiosity particularly early in your professional journey is key.

Young professionals who exhibit a desire to learn new specialities can broaden their mind set and stoke passions and creativity.  When nurtured early on, this skill can do wonders in your career. It makes it easier for you to adjust to changing environments and your employer will notice the flexibility and ability to learn.

People with a curiosity to learn about new topics—as well as about new people—make an effort to listen and stay present in an exchange. It also makes them relevant in their work at any given time.

Build connections, networks

While building your work career, one key skill that will never disappoint is how you network and connect with people not just in your sector, but across all spheres of life.

The workplace today requires you to notice and leverage connections in your network as it adds value to what you do. People with the ability and skills to build connections are good at observing the strengths of others.

It makes it easy for you to notice that a certain person in your network would suit a particular position perfectly and possesses the skills necessary to build a super team of collaborators or to fit a certain assignment.

Your connections and network will also make your employer keep you closer especially if it benefits what you do. It also makes you sociable, which is another soft skill that can drive your career to the next level.

Communication skills

In the world of work where people can now work remotely, the ability to communicate effectively is a critical skill. Strong communication has become more important, especially in the post-pandemic era. Working remotely requires you to have additional written communication.

In this era of social media, being able to package information digitally and disseminating it is yet another skill. Video editing, blogging and script development are all key communication skills that you won’t regret having.

Today you will find medical doctors using social media to share important medical information to their followers, which means they can reach more people using such platforms as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

Have self-awareness

Self-awareness, or the capacity to recognise your thoughts, feelings, and actions, is a skill that transcends the first stage of your career. Self-awareness can also be considered a form of emotional intelligence.

Emotional intelligence extends to both knowing yourself and remaining open to new viewpoints. It’s also a skill that can be developed by paying attention to opportunities to grow and explore new ways of thinking.

Being aware of yourself as a leader trickles down to how you interact with your direct reports and colleagues. It means you are also picking up on the emotional cues of others and practicing empathy.