Unit 1: LO1: understanding the personal attributes that are valued by employers:

So in this unit I am going to be looking at all the kinds of ways in which an employer will look at an employee and all the kinds of things that the man in charge likes to see from their workers, in and around the workplace. I will also be looking at several different examples of some of the best employees and some of the worst employees and later I will look at the kinds of attributes that a person will need if they are part of the ICT industry.

So for this particular piece of work I think we can slim it down to 2 main areas which an employer is going to be focusing on and what they are going to look at, and within these 2 areas we can begin to look at the smaller attributes that make up these areas. The areas that I believe an employer will look at are:

-Personal attributes: so the kinds of things that you as a person can offer to the business, things like self-motivation and leadership, the things that the employer cant physically make you provide but it is in their best interest to encourage it, the kinds of things that you as a person will want to offer the workplace to give yourself the best chances within the business of moving up the ladders to success and getting in amongst the best in the business, and overall it’s the kind of things an employer wants in their workers hence having things like person specifications for job applicants so they can see what the business expects of them.

-Good working practices: good working practices on the other hand are things that a business or an employer can offer you help to ensure you provide it, good working practices refers to how you ensure that yourself and others around you are able to work to their maximum potential and benefit the company as much as possible. The kinds of working practices that an employer will want to be seeing is things like ensuring health and safety around the work place throughout the employees time with the business, so for example putting a wet floor sign out if you are going to clean a floor, or ensuring your hygiene is of a good standard. So we can see therefore how a business can help you to keep on top of these working practices and be the best worker possible.

Personal attributes:

So now I am going to begin to go into a bit more depth about the kinds of personal attributes that it’s almost certain an employer will not only look for but value within an employee, the kind of things that make you stand out from the crowd and seem like a better more valuable worker than the rest.

Self-motivation: this is a big one in terms of what an employer values in an employee, self-motivation refers to how well someone is able to get themselves going and ready to take on a task, so rather than actually having to rely on someone else to almost force you to do something, you are able to get yourself in the right frame of mind and pumped up to carry out a task to a high standard, what an employer doesn’t want in someone who is constantly being told to stay on task or start working again, what they want is to be able to rely on workers to do that themselves day in day out. It is usually more professional roles within business that you begin to see this kind of attribute coming into play, as opposed to a low skilled part time job like working in a shop that is, for example Google. Google are renowned for having amazing offices and providing the best kind of service to the world, they have a system in which the employees are allowed complete freedom to come up with ideas and develop these ideas as they wish, to provide an ever improving business and work place, therefore we can see how self-motivation is a key attribute for the employees of Google, the last thing a company like this want in an employee is someone who drags themselves unwillingly to work every day and sits there bored waiting to be told what to do, they want someone who is ready for action and striving for success, who is motivated and will take on any task with a positive attitude and will to get it done well.

Leadership qualities: this again is a thing that employers will value very much if they see it in an employee and it’s the kind of things that will take a person to the highest points of a business if they can show it on a regular basis in high and low pressure situations. Leadership qualities refer to a person’s ability to take control of a team or fellow workers when the situation becomes of them. This kind of skill is particularly valued by companies who work on a high pressure kind of schedule as they will know that if the time comes, an employee will be able to take control and manage their colleagues through the times of need. But it is also very much a value for business who lets say aren’t on such a high pressure schedule, being able to control a team isn’t the only quality considered within leadership, leadership can also be smaller things like offering help to people if needed, like fellow colleagues, both physically if say they need help with a project they are working on, or in terms of advice, if they have questions that they need answering or issues that they are finding hard to face, simply being able to provide solutions for such things can massively help employees within a business thrive and work to their best potential, showing us how there is definitely two sides to having leadership qualities. So looking at a real life example of a business that would benefit a lot from employees with leadership qualities about them, personally I think that something like airline services ticks the box, where the employees are actually in the public eye, airline services are a particularly good example to look at here as they are solely about providing a service, not selling goods, therefore it is all about customer service and experience, so we can begin to see why leadership is such a value for these employers. If something was to happen during a flight, the last thing you as an employer will want to see is the people who both you and your customers are relying on, panicking and freezing up, thus becoming useless to everyone around them, what you want if for them to be assertive and reassuring to everyone around them so the situation can be dealt with effectively and therefore leadership is a big element of doing just this.

Respect: having respect as a person is the kind of quality that an employer will value in an employee massively, that goes without saying. But it’s not only employers who value respect as an attribute of a person; it is all the people around you or who you are involved with. Respect refers to accepting other people’s ideas, beliefs, thoughts or requests as if it were you own, it’s about showing a level of decency to others around you and treating them in the right way like it’s in your best interests. We can clearly see therefore why respect is such a largely valued attribute to have as it shows you’re a good person with a heart that’s in the right place and that you aren’t simply focused on your own personal achievement and happiness but other around you also. Having respect is an attribute that any employer from any business will appreciate in a person, therefore any business could be looked at here, but in this instance I am going to use Google again purely because it’s such an innovative business and it’s always creating new things for the world to benefit from. So if an employee of Google was working on a particular project, spending their time to think of something that may benefit the business, the last thing that they will want is for someone to show them disrespect, whether that be to slate their ideas, interrupt their work or any other kind of way in which they could be disrespectful, in turn what they would actually want is positive vibes from other employee’s, advice on how to do things, beneficial feedback on how to improve and anything else like that which will help their work rather than hinder it.

Dependability: dependability again is a value that is usually expected by an employer more so than anything. Dependability is when a business can depend upon you as a person to offer the best of yourself to the business and work to the highest standard that you can, but not only this they can rely on you to be fair to the business in return, so dependability looks at aspects like trust between employer and employee and expectation to work hard without having to be told to do so. Again this is like respect, it is a value that anyone can have but is dependent on the kind of person you are as well as your attitude towards work, and therefore again it can be applied to any business out there. So again I think I can look at Google for this attribute. Based on what I have talked about previously with Google we know that there is a lot of freedom within the workforce, but with freedom comes responsibility, which in a nutshell is what dependability is, with Google the employers are depending on the employees to make the business successful, therefore there is a high responsibility for workers to honor this fact and live up to the expected standards. So therefore we can see how dependability is a valued attribute by not only Google but all business across any industry.

Punctuality: this is an attribute that should be used not only in employment but throughout life for anything you take part in. When we talk about punctuality we are considering everything from the following: being on time to anything that you have agreed to be at like meetings or appointments, dressing appropriately to set a good example and knowing exactly what you are doing and the purpose of your appointment. Punctuality is considered an asset for any employee to have by an employer and is an attribute that any business would appreciate within a worker. But again looking at Google, for a multi-national business like Google it is going to be vital that all workers are indeed punctual for several reasons, the first one being that any kinds of meetings or appointments that someone might make with a Google employee, whether it be internally or an external business, must be attended. This is because these meeting could be of the best interest of the business, and secondly it is important that the employers at Google can be 100% sure that there workers are going to be setting the best impression for the company and by knowing things like they are going to be on time for meetings, means that these employers are sure the employees are giving off a good impression of the business.

Problem solving: problem solving is a big asset to have in your workers if you are and employer and is definitely one of the best valued attributes as an employer. Problem solving refers to how well someone is able to take a situation and deal with it to resolve it. This kind of attribute is what employers look for when they employ someone as assurance that if a situation arises, they have the best suited employees to deal with it. So for example Google. This is a good business to look at this attribute because of the freedom for creativity that the business has and the possibility for problems that they face therefore. So if a team us working on a new project, we can see how easy it is for something to go wrong, it is a trial and error process getting new projects to be successful so there is space for problems, therefore having employees who can deal with these problems and find a reasonable solution to the issue is definitely something an employer will look for in his employees.

Determination: determination is an attribute that lots of employers like to see in an employee because it’s the sort of thing that tells an employer that the worker has ambition to do well in the business and will benefit the business because of this. Determination is an attribute that means you have some kind of ambition to do well and you have the backbone to go out and achieve what you want to achieve. So for an employer this is ideal to have determined workers, because if they are taking it upon themselves to achieve to the best of their ability, it can only mean good things for their business and because of this the business will benefit, hence why an employer will like to see determination as an attribute in an employer. So now to look at a business where determination is particularly valued in the workers. Sky, Sky are a massive business who have thousands of employees across the country, and there organizational structures are very hierarchical meaning that there is always opportunities to work up the structure to the higher jobs within the business, so by being determined and by working hard, individuals are able to work their way up the business, which in the long run therefore has an effect on the success of the business, so determination is definitely a big asset valued by employers.

Independent workers: independent working is an attribute that is more expected by employers rather than valued but it is valued none the less, and can also be used to a person’s advantage. Independent working refers to how well a person is able to take a task on by themselves and just simply get on with it, not relying on other to constantly help them and being able to source and use resources effectively to aid your work. A business that would benefit a lot from this again is Google, as I mentioned several times in the past Google has a massive amount of creativity and freedom with their workers, therefore they are most efficient if someone can take a task on themselves, come up with ideas and simply crack on with a project on their own behalf, some of the best ideas that Google have come up with have been side project which workers at Google have simply though up and developed with the backing of the resources team, for example Google maps. So by being an independent worker we can definitely see how an employer would like this attribute in an employee.

time management: this is another one of the biggest assets a person can have and also one of the most important things that an employer will see in an employee, time management is basically how well someone is able to stick to the time, whether that be arriving on time to meetings, meeting deadlines that have been set or something as simple as not being late to work every day, all contribute to having good time management. Good time management is the kind of asset that any business will like an employee to have, it means that the business you work for can rely on you to be where you are meant to be, when you are meant to be there.

Team working: team work is one of the main things that a employer likes to see in an employee, the last thing they want if for someone who is not cooperative and won’t get along with fellow colleagues, it causes un-rest within the workforce, therefore they try to avoid hiring people who aren’t good at working with teams. Team working is quite simply what it states to be, it is how well you as an individual can cooperate and work as part of a group of other, regardless of whether or not you like them, personal issues aren’t a concern with employers, as long as you are giving you employer what they want from you, you aren’t considered a problem, so if you are good at working in teams when you have to you will be fine. Again Google is a great example of a business to look at here. A lot of Google’s work is done by groups of workers from all different parts of the business therefore it is crucial that all the workers are good at working with different people from around the business, even if they don’t know or like them particularly.

Written, verbal and numeracy skills: these are the kind of attributes that a business will ask specifically for when you apply for a job and can massively help you throughout your business life, different business will ask for different levels of these skills, more academic jobs like doctors, architecture and so on are likely to have more skills like these required, whereas other jobs like labor work might not matter so much, written skills are referring to how well someone can write and explain things on paper, the language they use and how well they punctuate their work, verbal skills refer to how well someone speaks, do they speak fluidly and with confidence or are they shy with what they are saying, also things like muttering and slurring words is what verbal skills looks at as well, and finally numeracy skills, this is anything to do with mathematics, like counting, calculating things to get answers or finding out percentages. As I mentioned earlier different jobs will need different levels of these skills to justify employing someone, so for example a person who owns a accountancy firm will value numeracy skills from the people they employ, a school will value employee’s who have all 3 skills in their arsenal, whereas a business say dustbin removal service won’t really require any of these skills as its more about physical attributes for the tough labor work. So these 3 skills are all very useful to employers if they know there employees have them, although different jobs will need it more so than others.