Why did the chicken cross the road? There wasn’t a lorry driver available to give it a lift.
There’s still a candidate shortage problem for many industries, not least the serious lack of delivery drivers that’s disrupting most supply chains.
Like supermarkets struggling to fill shelves; hospitality, catering, nursing, warehousing and engineering are just a few of the other sectors having difficulty filling vacancies. It’s a nationwide issue affecting the Basingstoke area and all other regions.
Post pandemic, people now want more flexible working hours and the above industries are perceived not to offer it.
Most Wanted Skills In 2023
- Management
- Communication
- Customer service
- Leadership
- Sales
- Project management
- Research
- Analytical Skill
- Marketing
- Teamwork
So, if you’re facing redundancy and wondering where you’ll get a job next, take a broad view. Your options will multiply once you start to consider all your soft skills. In short, not just WHAT you’ve been doing but HOW you’ve been doing it.
For example, a retail sales assistant role usually involves hard skills such as advising customers, operating a till, creating product displays and restocking shelves. Some of the soft skills required to do these tasks well would be communication, organisation, and creativity – all qualities that are valuable in many other jobs outside retail.
Need Help To Identify Your Soft Skills?
It’s not always easy to look at the work you’ve done to date and pinpoint what your most notable soft skills are. With redundancy looming, you might feel panicked and even less able to do so.
Outplacement services can help! Through a combination of workshops, discussions, role plays, presentations and one-to-one sessions, Wote Street People will provide you with the advice and tools to identify what your soft skills are – and the confidence and encouragement to evidence and promote them to future employers.
Employers are usually keen to cover the cost of these sessions, so that you leave their organisation feeling positive, inspired and empowered – instead of leaving with negative feelings.
Find out more about outplacement services from Wote Street People here – and share the information with your manager.
Ways To Expand Your Skill Set
There’s no doubt that you have many transferable skills that you can apply to the next step in your career. However, if redundancy has left you thinking about a career change, career coaching can help you make that switch.
As a recruitment experts in Basingstoke, Hampshire, Wote Street People has helped many people to change careers. It’s all about recognising your strengths, what interests you, what makes you happy, and where you truly see yourself succeeding. Then, learning how that industry works and taking the right steps to get there.
Soft skills are an integral part of this process but there might be some training you need to undertake to develop your hard skills too. Financial limitations don’t have to hold you back. The Government Skills Toolkit is a free online resource, there to help you learn the skills you need to get that dream job. It has been launched to help tackle the skills shortage in certain areas.
Courses include everything from digital design and marketing to personal growth and wellbeing, and professional development to computer science and coding.
A Bright Future
Whatever age you are, try to look at redundancy in a positive light. Now is your chance to explore all the sides of yourself, re-evaluate what you want out of your job, and learn new things.
Identifying your transferable skills might just be the catalyst for a life-changing redirection.
For more information about identifying, developing and applying your transferable skills and latest jobs in Basingstoke, please contact 01256 236997 or email maxine@wotestreetpeople.co.uk
