Muscat: The job-seekers of today have to prepare a lot more than the previous generation. Today when the job interviews are conducted, the potential employer is not just interested in the resume alone. From attitude to skills and understanding diversity and inclusiveness, there is an extensive preparedness one has to take before appearing for the job interview.
An entrepreneur with a keen interest in people development, Khalid al Huraibi, managing director of a start-up specialising in AI technology, Impact Integrated, feels the requirements that job-seekers in Oman have to meet today are much more than qualification.
“Now when the job-seekers attend an interview they have to prepare, as the potential employer will like to see more than their certificate. They would also look into their attitude with a lot more focus and vigour. They would want to see if this person will care for the sustainability of the organisation. They would like to understand how their morals and work ethics are. We should also understand what is expected of the new person joining the new organisation’’, said Al Huraibi.
The expectations were different just one generation ago, pointed out Al Huraibi, “In our generation the stress was on being highly educated with the right degree and joining work and learning new skills as we go along. But now, organisations have so many people to choose from that they can afford to look at only the outer layers or the people who are quite exceptional. This is why it is very important to show that you are not a machine and that you can produce for the organisation a lot more than a report or a degree because you can think, feel and can be a productive person.”
Most importantly, one has to prove that they have teamwork skills and will pursue excellence. So the expectations might be more from the job-seekers today, but learning new skills and adding further qualifications are more accessible than ever before.
“There are many opportunities available today because of the internet when it comes to self-improvement and teaching yourself so I hope they will avail for themselves all the facilities that are available today from online learning portals to develop their skills and attitude towards organisations’’, he urged.
It might be an era of technology, but emotional intelligence is most important in today’s scenario.
“Definitely, emotional intelligence is required, especially when it comes to working within dynamic teams. In the past it was common to work for example either in a multinational organisation or a local organisation and the diversity of the team would be two or three nationalities from a similar background, but now if you notice since the pandemic one zoom meeting consists of 15 to 20 nationalities with different languages and backgrounds. So this generation of job-seekers has to be a lot more open-minded and tolerant of others and need to realise that organisations will ask and evaluate them on the awareness of D & I —Diversity and Inclusion. They would want to know if this person is okay working with different genders and people from different nationalities so diversity and inclusiveness have become a very important part of emotional intelligence’’, concluded Al Huraibi.
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