The 7 Types of Employable Skills

There are 7 types of employable skills that are consistently seen as valuable in the marketplace.

You can apply these to any industry or tool of your choice. Master one of these skills and you will always be able to get hired. If you have two of these as strengths, you’ll be a standout performer, and if you have three, you’ll be a leader in an organization.

Here are the 7 ways you can get paid:

1. Logistics. You help people get things done on time and on budget. You are a master of the order of operations when it comes to getting tasks accomplished.
2. Communication. This can either be through writing or presentation with the goal of helping others understand complex ideas. Writing, oral communication, and diagramming are core to this skill set.
3. Research. You are really good at finding and compiling evidence to help people understand complex issues or build arguments for persuasion.
4. Teaching. You help others gain an understanding of new concepts and obtain new skills.
5. Coaching. You help others perform better. This is different from teaching in that this role is not inherently trying to help people obtain new skills as much as it is trying to help them use the skills they already more effectively to achieve a desired outcome. In coaching, the desired outcome is achieving a goal, not obtaining a skill like it is in teaching.
6. Crafting. You are good at using a particular tool or medium to create something that people can use. These tools or mediums could be physical like woodworking or digital like coding.
7. Persuasion. Slightly different from communication in that your skill is getting people to take a desired action using communication skills and psychology.

Some soft skills like emotional intelligence, problem-solving, attention to detail, repetition (the ability to repeatedly do the same task), and responsiveness are multipliers for these skills. You can apply them across the board to enhance your employability based on the skills that you are already strong in.

When thinking about your career, consider which of these you enjoy most. This is important because as you progress up the ladder into more prominent roles, it might require you to frequently use a different skill set that you enjoy less. This is why some people perform worse as they move from an individual contributor role to a manager role. The manager role may require you to be better at logistics and coaching versus crafting and research.