5 Skills You Should Develop at Work This Year

To thrive in a contemporary career, continuous development is required, but for most people, time, energy, and finances are limited. 

So what areas of focus will give you the most bang for your buck? According to the Future of Jobs report from the World Economic Forum (WEF), these are five important skills to focus on: 

Analytical thinking 

We are living in an age of information overload. Take photographs, for example; some 1.81 trillion photos are taken worldwide every year, which equals 57,000 per second or 5 billion per day. Estimates say that by 2030, 2.3 trillion photos will be taken every year. 

And that’s just one category. To sift through the world’s output would be information overload, so to make sense of it, analytical thinking is required. 

This skill enables you to dissect complex problems, analyze data, and derive actionable insights that help you make informed decisions, identify trends, and drive innovation.

Of course, there are many AI tools that will help you tackle large data sets. However, they still need a human interpretation for their findings to really make sense in a way that’s uniquely applicable to your company or industry. 

Technological literacy

This leads us neatly onto the next skill in-demand; technological literacy. Depending on what industry you work in, tech literacy can range from proficiency with Microsoft Office to building a large software infrastructure in C++.

But regardless of your level or role, AI is the hottest area of tech right now, and use of tools like ChatGPT, Claude 3, and Neuroflash don’t require any advanced technological knowledge.

In recent analysis from the IMF, it found that in advanced economies about 60% of jobs may be impacted by AI, and roughly half of these jobs could benefit from AI integration, enhancing productivity. 

There are a lot of AI productivity tools out there already. So much so it’s easy to get bogged down with trialling the new shiny option. Instead of trying to do it all, focus on an issue you’re experiencing. For example, perhaps keeping on top of your inbox is a problem? Research a few virtual assistant tools, try one or two, and share your learnings with your team.

Build your knowledge through trial and error from here, and consider doing an online course to sharpen your Gen AI prompts.

AI will continue to dominate workplace upskilling for the next number of years. Particularly, as KPMG research published in June 2023 and conducted across several industries, says that 71% of businesses intend to deploy their first Gen AI solution in the next two years. 

And by the end of H1 2024 alone, four-fifths of businesses will have boosted their investment in AI by more than 50%.

Creative thinking 

Creativity is highly prized in workplaces as it is a cornerstone of innovation. 

With a creative mindset, you can look past the tried-and-tested ways, and come up with new ideas beyond conventional boundaries. 

Whether you’re addressing a specific issue, reimagining processes or ideating for a new project, creative thinking opens you up to new possibilities.  

To cultivate creativity, expose yourself to new ideas in different disciplines. Think about lessons from your personal life or hobbies that could apply in a work environment, write with a pen or pencil, collaborate with colleagues from different backgrounds, visit a museum or gallery, or watch live theater. 

There are endless ways to spark your creativity. Look for environments that encourage experimentation and spark your interest.

Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy is a broad church. It’s about believing you have the skills, knowledge, and resources to tackle challenges and goals, and also encompasses the ability to navigate ever-changing work environments, and adjusting your approach to bounce back from failures.

These skills are more than self-confidence. The WEF specifically outlines them as resilience, flexibility, agility, self-awareness, motivation, curiosity and lifelong learning, dependability and attention to detail. 

You can nurture your self-efficacy by embracing new challenges and viewing them as opportunities for growth and development. 

This will naturally lead to setbacks, learning experiences and adapting to changing circumstances. 

Foster motivation by setting meaningful goals and having an accountability buddy – although this might be pre-set as your manager. If you stay curious and commit to continuous learning, you’ll never be left behind. 

Empathy and active listening

Empathetic leaders have been championed lately, but you don’t need to be in leadership to excel in empathy.

Nowadays, the majority of us work in multicultural and multigenerational workplaces where people have various experiences, problems, and backgrounds. 

Empathy enables you to feel sympathy for someone else without being able to relate through firsthand experience. 

It goes hand in hand with active listening. You can develop the latter by putting your phone away, giving your full attention, asking clarifying questions, and reflecting back on what you've heard.

Both skills foster trust and a culture of inclusivity, belonging and kindness, all valuable contributions within any organization.

Dive into the nextpit Job Board today to uncover the perfect role you've been searching for.

In Atlanta, sports-tech entertainment company FanDuel is hiring a Software Engineer to help build web-based applications and tools using React and other related libraries and frameworks. You’ll need three or more years of building scalable web or mobile applications, a degree in computer science or a related field, or equivalent work experience. 

If you’ve a Master’s degree in data analytics,, data engineering, or in a life science or agri-related discipline, then this Data Analyst role at Envision, LLC in St. Louis may be of interest. The successful candidate will focus on data management and ensure data governance best practices are implemented, and will create processes and metrics to ensure data accuracy and consistency across different sources. 

With a starting salary of $100,000 per annum, this Account Executive role at Paycom is appealing, and it doesn’t require lengthy experience to apply. Just one to three years of demonstrated sales experience is required, as well as a Bachelor’s degree. This is essentially an outside sales rep role, which involves selling to new prospects, and managing the sale cycle from first appointment to closing.

Don't wait for your ideal job to find you – take back control by exploring the nextpit Job Board today. This article was written by Amanda Kavanagh.