How employable are you?

Posted On 18 Jan 2025

How employable are you?

18 Jan 2025

Candidate Resource, Employer Resource, Interview Tips, On The Job, Popular Culture

Welcome to 2025!

Are you one of the brave many who made a New Year’s resolution this year? More than 15 million Australians have set a new resolution for 2025 and guess what…one of the top resolutions is to find a new job.

It’s no surprise to us! So, we thought, what better to kick off the year than to give you the inside scoop on what makes someone employable!

Have you ever wondered why you missed out on the job, promotion, etc., when you had the skills and ticked all the boxes? Maybe it came down to how employable you were? Read on for more:

Dependable

Employers love this attribute! It means you can be relied upon, no matter the task or occasion. Your employer trusts you to do your job; you are on time, meet deadlines and are accountable. It gives your boss peace of mind and in today’s environment, peace of mind is the equivalent of gold bullion.

And when the going gets tough, you don’t falter, quit or give up. This is when the dependability attribute really counts. We can all be dependable on a ‘good day’, but it is when there is a challenge that dependability truly kicks in. Be the employee your boss comes to for extra help, support and assistance. It might mean working additional hours and putting yourself out at times, but that’s how strong working relationships are formed. You need to be ‘in it together’.

At interviews–what example can you give where you worked through a tough time, didn’t give up and your boss could rely on you?

Self-awareness

This quality goes beyond understanding how others perceive you. It’s about recognising the impact you have on them. Self-awareness, whilst highly desirable at work, must also be a necessary life skill. For that reason, we should all work on it.

Not all of us have strong self-awareness. Cultivate self-awareness by actively seeking feedback. You can ask your boss, colleagues, and even friends for feedback. Be prepared to receive it in the right way. Don’t be defensive; instead, be open, listen, and seek to understand. See feedback as a gift and a window to view yourself as others do.

At interviews- what example do you have that shows your self-awareness? Where have you been able to see the impact, you had on someone and change tact to deliver a better outcome?

Forever learning

In today’s complex and fast-moving working world, curiosity and learning are as essential as oxygen. When you are curious, you investigate further and question assumptions – an essential quality to support fresh ideas and innovation. The pursuit of learning, the acquisition of knowledge and mastering new skills are crucial to being employable. Employers are crying out for this attribute from their employees.

At interviews- what example do you have where you sought out a new skill? Perhaps you self-taught yourself a new piece of technology?

Optimism

It’s the powerhouse attribute. It causes you to think differently and feel differently. Optimistic people are far more likely to be innovative, discover new ways of working and seek out new ideas and opportunities. So, it should be no secret that employers love optimistic people on their teams. Put frankly, negative or pessimistic employees are hard work.

For the dubious, being optimistic doesn’t equate to being ‘Pollyanna’- i.e., being overly cheery and happy with no foundation or basis. You can be optimistic and still be grounded, analytical, and understand risk.

At interviews- do you have an example of when you came up with a new way of working or process improvement?

Resilience

Everyone talks about it, but what does having resilience really mean and what does it look like in a working environment? Many might believe they are resilient; after all, we just went through a pandemic, right? Well, resilience is more than getting through something- it’s how you deal with hard times. It is your bounce-back ability. Incidentally, your optimism is a crucial ingredient to being resilient.

Today- in every work environment, hiring managers are looking for employees with resilience, even, dare I say it, over some job skills. If you are resilient, you see adversity and setbacks as passing states and are not trapped by external unfavorable conditions. You move past adversity to move ahead.

At interviews- do you have an example showing a challenging work situation, that you worked through? Perhaps a project failed, you lost a client etc., How did you deal with it? What did you learn from it and how long did it take you to ‘get over’? How do you feel about it now?

If you want to know more, I’ve written two gorgeous books on these subjects, Employable – 7 Attributes to Assure Your Working Future’ and Earning Power: Breaking Barriers and Building Wealth for Women’.

About the author
Roxanne Calder
Managing Director

As Founder and Managing Director at EST10, Roxanne has an all-encompassing role that includes building and growing the business, as well as actively recruiting and consulting.

After completing a Bachelor’s Degree at Monash University, Roxanne began her recruitment career with renowned recruiter Julia Ross. From there, Roxanne worked in HR and recruitment with a number of global players and boutique businesses throughout Australia, the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong for over 20 years. She has been responsible for managing large teams and projects, implementing RPO models, managing and assisting businesses to an IPO and assisting companies in setting up their recruitment teams and processes.

Following completion of her MBA at the Australian Graduate School of Management, Roxanne launched EST10 in July 2010. In doing so, she hoped to combine the flexibility and high touch service levels of boutique agencies with the structure and strategy afforded to larger firms. Roxanne believes in high-touch, high-care consulting and is always on the lookout for consultants that share this vision of recruitment.

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