The Fourth Industrial Revolution is bringing change at a speed, scale and force unlike anything we have seen before. All these changes are going to affect every industry – and engineering is no exception.

Old business models are going to become obsolete. Businesses resisting change will cease to exist. New business models in each and every industry are going to be transformed as part of the whole digital transformation.

And it’s changes like these that will see a rise in demand for soft skills, also called interpersonal skills, that many engineers perhaps don’t have today.

A good dynamic set of both technical and soft skills may be what is going to make a difference when employers consider candidates for joining their team. Yet, these skills are often neglected by professionals in the engineering field, since these professionals quite often focus on the hard skills alone.

Here, we have a look at some of the most common soft skills that are useful for today’s engineers.

Adaptability  

An engineer with good adaptability skills is able to identify solutions to unforeseen problems. Then, the engineer can make the necessary modifications to adapt to the new situation or new environment.

This also happens at a fast pace, since often the success of a project depends on assessing the problem fast and finding a flexible and thoughtful solution to it.

Collaboration

Engineers usually work with fellow engineers and also with other people from other departments. This implies working and interacting with a variety of different people, different personalities, and different levels within a chain of command.

In such cases, the ability to apply skills like verbal communication and body language as well as demonstrating a solid character and personality are crucial.

Communication

Communication skills are pretty much linked to being successful in team environments. Yet, many engineers underestimate the importance of brushing up their communication skills since they believe their technical skills are the only ones that matter in their profession.

Being an adequate speaker, writer and listener is important in the engineering field, where clarity and understanding are required for completing teamwork projects. Public speaking and making presentations are also often in the engineer’s agenda, particularly when companies participate in trade shows and conferences.

Attention to detail 

Engineers often work with complex projects. Having an eye for spotting a small detail that, if unnoticed, can cause the failure of the project in the future is a valuable soft skills an engineer should develop.

Creative thinking 

Here is where thinking-outside-the-box becomes essential. Creative thinking is a skill required by many jobs across different industries. It becomes particularly important in engineering.

Finding ways to apply existing knowledge in a new and creative way can take you further in your engineering career. Problem-solving is a key requirement of a successful engineer. Possessing or developing creative thinking is as valuable as the technical skills you use to identify and troubleshoot the source of a problem.

Creative thinking is a soft skill that more engineers and others in the STEM field should cultivate to become truly valuable as both a team member and as a leader.

Leadership 

As you advance in your career and your technical abilities improve with time, your expertise is going to be required in order to manage projects.

Your new position as a project manager will require you to manage and motivate other engineers as well.

Delegating tasks, managing teams of people, and coordinating complex projects are going to be on your everyday list. To become a top leader, therefore, implies that you need to master as many soft skills as leadership requires.

What kind of soft skills do you think you need to cultivate and advance your career?

Source: Edited from original article https://interestingengineering.com/engineers-should-master-soft-skills-for-a-successful-career

Where to start?

The key to searching for jobs is knowing what you are looking for. You need to decide where you want to work, what you want to do, and how much you’re willing to get paid for the job.

It often helps to start with an exercise, which I like to call “Brainstorm Myself”. Be honest and list what you’re good at, as well as any achievements you’ve accomplished (at school, church or volunteering). 

Write down the following:

1. Your ideal first job (Top 5 but, BE REALISTIC!) – the kind of job you are looking for
2. Where you would like to work (the company/individual)
3. What skills and characteristics do you have, so you can get a better picture of what you have to offer
4. Why you want to do that job
5. Your short and long-term goals

What’s next?

Job-hunting used to be about getting the newspaper and trawling through the jobs section or classifieds. Whilst newspapers are still a good place to look for opportunities, particularly your community paper, the internet is another great place to look – at home, school, your local library or internet café.

Online job-hunting takes practice, however. And be prepared, some internet cafés may charge by the minute.

What do I search for?

If you do a Google search (www.google.co.za) for “job opportunities in South Africa”, approximately 441,000,000 results come up…EEK! That’s not a good place to start!

Use the answers from your brainstorm exercise above and start by typing these keywords into the search field. Use these keywords to search for jobs with specific skill requirements rather than searching for jobs in general.

Find out which job portals are most popular for the type of work you are looking for. You can ask your teacher/lecturers, friends, past employers, relatives or mentor.

Many career sites advertise opportunities for “first jobs”, “graduates”, “Matriculants”, “Part-time” or “No experience needed”. Add these keywords in your searches. You may need to use the advanced search option.

There are a number of websites listed at the end of this article to help get you started.

You should also read about the companies you would like to work for and learn about what they do; understand their vision and see if you truly want to work for them. Do they have positions available at your level? Do they have jobs for school-leavers, graduates or offer internships or apprenticeships?

Check out their websites for employment or other opportunities they may promoting, including internship or graduate programmes, under the Vacancies, Careers or Jobs section.

Be specific, be creative

Be creative. For example, when looking for jobs in Sales or Retail, type in retail assistant, sales consultant, customer service agent, shop assistant, etc. By doing this, you are searching for the same kind of job in many different ways.

So, when typing in search terms or filling in entry fields on job websites, the trick is to include as much detail as possible to narrow your hunt and get closer to the job that’s right for you.

Include the industry you want to work in, job type and title
Location: City or area you’d like to work in. Most career sites today give you the option so use it!

Level (junior/mid/management): keep it real! Look for jobs within your experience level to maximise your chances of getting an interview

Full-time/ Part-time/ Contract/ Permanent: in these hard times, explore what’s out there. You never know if a part-time position will turn into something more permanent.

It’ll also count as experience to add to your CV, which most employers look for.

Good luck!

by Liat Beinart

Liat Beinart  is a Graduate Development Consultant at S-Connect
(http://s-connect.blogspot.com/)

‘It may not always be profitable at first for businesses to be online, but it is certainly going to be unprofitable not to be online.’ – Esther Dyson

When talking to young people about to go to university, I often ask them why they’re doing a particular course, diploma or degree – and what they want to do with it. Many end up looking a little confused, and say they have no clue what they want to do – but that any qualification is better than none.

That’s partly true; however, even graduates are not guaranteed employment in today’s tough job market. Moreover, finding the right career is about more than just securing a job that pays the bills, or that even pays the most; it’s about working out what drives you.

Imagine if you study or gain experience (through internships, learnerships or apprenticeships) in an area that blows your hair back. Think about what gets you excited about the working world (as hard as that may be) and where you want to be in 10 years time.

To figure out if you’re simply looking for your next job or are embarking on a long-term career path, ask yourself these questions:

What am I working for?

• Is it purely for money and a means to an end, or do you want a sense of fulfilment at the end of each day, month and year?
• What did you dream of doing when you were growing up? Is there still time to redeem that goal or dream and find a way to make an income from your passions and interests?
• Working in a position that’s not too challenging
• Working nine to five with a steady income
• Learning new things each and every day on the job
• Happy to work long hours or for myself doing something I love

Where do I want to be in 10 years time?

Understanding what and where you want to be in the future will help you better align your current choices to your future goals. Not everyone will want a challenging career or to manage an entire team of people – and that’s okay.

But, if you want to build a career that’s more than just the job you do, it’s about plotting a long-term course for yourself – starting today. Begin by researching the career you’d like to pursue. This will help you eliminate careers that seem great on the surface but don’t actually align with your interests or talents. Career research will also allow you to identify various jobs that can help get your started or get ahead on your chosen career path – as careers are frequently made up of a collection of jobs and positions that help you gain more experience.

See what successful people in that career have done to get ahead. You may have to do a little ‘gap analysis’: compare what they had or did to what you have or can do. Not everyone’s career paths would be identical, and at the end of the day, you will have to plot your course to your own circumstances.

For example, if you cannot afford university fees, apply for loans, bursaries or research alternative places of learning that align with your career choice. If full-time studying is off the cards, try taking night classes or enrol in distance learning, whilst holding down a current or part-time job on the side.

Most importantly, don’t be scared to start at the bottom. Too many people come out of university or college and expect to be near the top of the chain just because they have a qualification. It takes a lot more than theory to get to the top. Building a career is a process that takes time, commitment and constant action to find job satisfaction.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

About the author:

Bev Morrison is a development coach based in Johannesburg. She opened her coaching practice in 2008 after an 18-year corporate career. For more information or to contact Bev Morrison visit www.developmentcoach.co.za or www.facebook.com/DevelopmentCoaching

For more career development advice, visit the FAQ section at www.careerplanet.co.za

‘The biggest mistake that you can make is to believe that you are working for somebody else. Job security is gone. The driving force of a career must come from the individual. Remember: Jobs are owned by the company, you own your career!’ – Earl Nightingale 

A National Scarce Skills List of the top hundred scarce skills is regularly drawn up by the Department of Higher Education and Training. Various sources of information are combined, such as government job creation plans, like the National Development Plan, the National Infrastructure Plan, Industrial Policy Action Plan, and the Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs) Scarce Skills Lists, which indicates shortages in specific career fields.

With the unemployment rate standing at 26.6%, it is well worth remembering which skills will give you a competitive edge and increase your chances of landing a new job or, if you are an employer, which job roles you would have difficulty finding suitable replacements for.

According to a report on skills supply and demand in South Africa; the South African labour force is made up of 15 million employed and 7.5 million unemployed people. Unemployment is also particularly high amongst youth (15 to 34 years) and this is increasing as more young people join the labour force. Additionally, the education level and skill base of the labour force is lower than that of many other productive economies. Of the employed population, 20% have a tertiary qualification, 32% have completed secondary education, and close to half of the workforce do not have a grade 12 certificate.

A critical constraint on the education and training system and the labour market is the inadequate quality of basic education. Success in the school subjects of languages, mathematics and science, forms the basis for participation and success in technical subjects in post-school education and training institutions as well as the workplace. Presently, each year around 140 000 grade 12 students complete the matriculation examination with a bachelor’s pass, and of these only around 50 000 students pass mathematics with a score higher than 50%. The pool of students who can potentially access university and science-based TVET programmes is very small in comparison to the skill demands in the country.

According to the Department of Labour, too few people study qualifications that are required to address the skills shortages in the country.

Source: http://www.trainingforce.co.za

Click here for the 2018 full  list of Careers in Demand in South Africa