{"id":3079,"date":"2018-01-31T14:00:23","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T14:00:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/?p=3079"},"modified":"2018-01-31T23:04:59","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T23:04:59","slug":"study-the-most-valuable-work-skills","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comparably.com\/blog\/study-the-most-valuable-work-skills\/","title":{"rendered":"Study: The Most Valuable Work Skills"},"content":{"rendered":"

With a New Year comes new goals. For many people, those goals involve brushing up on skills that will prime them for greater personal and professional success in the year ahead.<\/p>\n

In that spirit, Comparably<\/b><\/a> analyzed tens of thousands of employee reviews to determine which skills are most prized by employees and employers right now. More than 32,000 respondents from across all industries, but predominantly tech, were asked the following:<\/p>\n

— Which of the following qualities is most important when hiring someone new for your company?<\/b>
\n— Which of the following soft skills has helped you advance most in your career?<\/b>
\n— What does your direct manager most need to improve?<\/b><\/p>\n

The results:<\/p>\n

\u201cWork ethic\u201d is the top skill valued by employers<\/b><\/p>\n

<\/b>Top-line view:<\/b> 34% of employers said work ethic was the most important quality in a new hire, making it the top answer. The second most-popular answer was \u201cintegrity,\u201d (25%) followed by \u201cgood culture fit\u201d (22%). The least popular answers were \u201cresourcefulness\u201d (12%) and \u201cprior experience\u201d (8%).<\/p>\n

\"light\"<\/p>\n

— Men vs. women:<\/b> Men and women were nearly identical in their rankings.<\/p>\n

\"D\"<\/p>\n

— By ethnicity:<\/b> People across all ethnicities ranked these qualities in the same order; Asians and Pacific Islanders, however, ranked \u201cgood culture fit\u201d just as important as \u201cwork ethic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asian\/Pacific Islander<\/p>\n

\"WO\"<\/p>\n

— By age: <\/b>Responses were similar across all age groups except ages 46 to 50. This group ranked \u201cgood culture fit\u201d as No. 1 (33%), followed by \u201cintegrity\u201d (25%), and then \u201cwork ethic\u201d (23%).<\/p>\n

<\/b>Ages 46 to 50<\/p>\n

\"WO\"<\/p>\n

\u201cPersistence\u201d is the No. 1 career-making soft skill<\/b><\/p>\n

— Top-line view:<\/b> When asked what soft skill has helped them most in their career, 32% of people said \u201cpersistence,\u201d making it the top answer overall. The next most popular response was \u201clikability\u201d (26%), followed by \u201chumility\u201d and \u201clogic\u201d (tied at 15%). The least popular response overall was empathy (12%).<\/p>\n

\"WOWO\"<\/p>\n

— Men vs. women:<\/b> The most marked difference in the responses of men and women was that women chose \u201cempathy\u201d much more than men (14% women vs. 9% men). Men, on the other hand, chose \u201clogic\u201d more than women (17% men vs. 13% women).<\/p>\n

\"bro\"<\/p>\n

— By ethnicity: <\/b>People across all ethnicities ranked these skills in the same order; however, 23% of African Americans chose \u201chumility,\u201d making it close behind \u201cpersistence\u201d at 29% and \u201clikability\u201d at 27%. Humility, on average, was chosen by 15% of people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

African Americans<\/p>\n

\"ca;\"<\/p>\n