Information for secondary students and school leavers
What skills are employers looking for?
The most important skills needed by employers
- Skills are the abilities, knowledge and experience that help people to live their lives.
- Employers own or manage organisations and choose the staff who work there.
- Having the skills that employers are looking for helps your chances of getting the job.
Employers look for several important skills in employees. Here's how New Zealand employers ranked the eight most important skills:
- Specific technical and trade skills.
- Communication skills.
- Literacy and numeracy skills.
- Team and negotiation skills.
- Management skills.
- Computing/ICT skills.
- Health and safety skills.
- Supervisory skills.
Source: Industry Training Federation and Business New Zealand, 'Skills and Training Survey', 2007.
Basic skills that help you with employment
Literacy and numeracy
- Literacy (being able to read and write) and numeracy (being able to do simple calculations and make sense of numbers) are the two most basic skills that employers look for.
- If you want to improve these two skills, help is available from organisations like Literacy Aotearoa.
More information about literacy and numeracy
Literacy Aotearoa website – find out about tuition in your area
- Many industries require driving skills
Having a driver’s licence
- Having your driver’s licence can be an advantage for getting many jobs.
- Many jobs involve driving, from sales work and doing deliveries, to professional driving jobs such as bus driving, courier driving and truck driving, which require specialist licences.
- If you are going to work in any transport-related area, your car driver’s licence is the first basic licence you need.
Land Transport Safety Authority website – how to get your driver’s licence
Skills employers are looking for in university graduates
The results of a 2006 survey outlined the 10 skills most valued by employers in New Zealand.
Top 10 skills
- Strong interpersonal skills.
- Strong verbal communication skills.
- Strong written communication skills.
- Adaptable, can-do attitude.
- Sound academic achievement.
- Self-motivated/self-starter.
- Team player.
- Energy and enthusiasm.
- Problem-solving skills.
- Analytical and conceptual skills.
Source: Victoria University, 'Employment Skills Survey', 2006
