As we prepare our children for tomorrow’s workforce, we must ensure they are ready to meet the needs of tomorrow’s employers.  Over 80% of employers in Ontario, Wayne, Seneca, and Yates Counties say that to begin or advance at their company employees must demonstrate these skills:*

  1. Integrity/Honesty - Can be trusted.  Recognizes when faced with making an honest/dishonest decision based upon values.  Understands the impact of violating organizational beliefs and chooses an ethical course of action.
  2. Listening - Receives, interprets, and responds appropriately to verbal messages and other clues such as body language; to comprehend, to learn, to critically evaluate, to appreciate or to support the speaker.
  3. Team Member - Works cooperatively with others.  Contributes to group with ideas and suggestions.  Encourages and motivates an individual or group.  Demonstrates speaking, listening, writing, and interacting skills sufficient to participate as an effective team member.  Communicates thoughts, feelings, and ideas to justify a position.  Identifies people to be involved in creating solutions to work-related problems.
  4. Responsibility - Exerts a high level of effort and perseverence toward goal attainment.  Strives to become excellent at performing tasks even when assigned an unpleasant task.
  5. Personal Appearance - Demonstrates understanding of personal appearance and hygiene appropriate for industry/company policy.  Wears appropriate clothing/uniform and maintains personal hygiene regularly.
  6. Social - Demonstrates understanding, friendliness, adaptability, empathy and politeness in new and on-going group settings.  Asserts self in familiar and unfamiliar social settings.
  7. Writing - Communicates thoughts and key information in writing, records information completely and accurately.
  8. Self-esteem - Believes in own self-worth and maintains a positive view of self.  Demonstrates knolwdge of own skills and abilities.
  9. Interprets and Communicates - Interprets graphic and pictorial maps to others.  Complete a message form.  Explains ideas from a work plan and options for implementation.  Reports emergencies.  Chooses words/manner of expression appropriate to the work place.  Explains products and services.  Selects and uses a variety of ways to give informaiton.  Responds to complaints.  Writes simple memos and informative reports.
  10. Knowing How to Learn - Recognizes and applies new knowledge and skills in both familiar and changing situations.  Is aware of learning styles (visual, aural), formal lerning strategies (note taking), and informal learning strategies (awareness of unidentified false assumptions that may lead to faulty conclusions).
  11. Speaking - Organizes ideas and speaks clearly.  Communicates appropriately to listeners and situations.  Participates in conversations, discussion, and group presentations.  Asks questions when needed.
  12. Reading - Locates and interprets technical vocabulary and key messages from written information in prose and documents.
  13. Arithmetic - Performs basic computation and makes estimates without a calculator; uses basic numerical concepts including whole numbers, percentages and charts to display information.

*This information was presented by the Finger Lakes Workforce Investment Board, 3010 Country Complex Drive, Canandaigua, NY  14424.  It is based on results of the 1995 NYS Employer Survey of Workplace Skills, conducted by the NY Association of Training & Employment Professionals and the NYS Department of Labor.

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