What skills and abilities do you have that will make you successful in this program and in your future career?

Being successful looks different to everyone. It comes in all shapes and sizes, but one thing that most people can agree on is that it includes feeling content and secure. One of the ways to offer this security is by opening as many doors to opportunity as possible by learning valuable life skills.

So, how will the next generation be able to do that? While trends come and go, and the economy and culture can change, there are some skills that every person will need to have to get ahead.

1. Critical thinking

Being able to think for yourself is a key skill at a time where the concept of career and the workplace is changing. Critical thinking is clearly self-directed and self-disciplined, so you will need to be able to think for yourself in a realistic and meaningful way.

“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” – Albert Einstein

This generation is going to need to go beyond taking notes and remembering information for important exams. They will need education teaching them to think for themselves and solve problems in real-time. Developing this ability early on will only stand to benefit today’s students and tomorrow’s leaders.

2. Adaptability

Navigating emerging technologies is something most students and professionals need to do in their daily lives. While this can ultimately make life easier, it often comes with new circumstances. A fine example of this is how several companies use modern technology to further their global presence. This results in top-tier companies encouraging their employees to work remotely and take full advantage of the Digital Age.

Working directly with an employee who lives in a different time zone could be just one of many adjustments the next generation will experience in their regular work culture. The next generations will need to be able to adapt or the could be left behind.

3. Excellent communication skills

Good communication skills are important, both in person and online. The next generation is going to need to excel in these and every now and again this will include having to lead the conversation. As mentioned above, there might be special circumstances to navigate, such as key members of a team who live in different locations.

This is only one of the many scenarios that might mean people will need to be multifaceted and learn how to communicate using new mediums. And with most workplaces using tools like Slack or Skype to communicate within their teams, written communication is a major point. Reading comprehension and writing skills have become crucial skills for the modern student and employee.

4. Cultural understanding

A deeper cultural understanding can lead to more positive interactions, better collaboration, and truly diverse conversations. Given that Generation Z is often stated as one of the most diverse generations to date, there will be a wider variety of voices and perspectives in the future workplace.

Cultural understanding has been a key part of progress in most cultures. With international business, an important aspect of modern life, large companies in top industries are embracing and teaching this to their employees. Companies like Google, Novartis, and Coca-Cola are well-known for their diversity initiatives.

Since companies like these are often looked to as tastemakers, it’s clear that by the time the next few generations are entering the workforce, this concept will be commonplace within most companies in the relevant industries.

5. Initiative and drive

While competition is a normal part of achieving success in life, the world is more connected now than ever so many will be competing on a much more global stage than previous generations might have. You have to consider the fact that this will mean that students will need to strive to compete with students from their own country along with several others.

Having the initiative and drive to compete will be an important element in navigating certain aspects of life, especially when it comes to career and education opportunities.

Looking for more information about what your child could need for a successful future? Learn more about EF Academy and our IB and A Level programs.

Rakesh Naukira: Communication skills - they're absolutely vital and important both written and verbal communication skills ensuring that you write very, very clearly and articulate it well. And same within the verbal communication. Speaking slowly, articulate yourself and actually think about what you're saying so that the other person understands what you're saying.

Niels Alkemade: Teamwork and interpersonal skills in a candidate is extremely important for us. We're an organization that works in an agile way so you'll be working lots with people across the company and in different project groups.

Justin Ensor: Teamwork is essential. More and more collaboration is becoming the centrepiece of what makes us successful.

Rakesh: Organisations are about a group of people and it's about those people connecting together and in today's world that we live in it's very diverse. Having that connection between that diversity is extremely important.

Shailen Patel: Nowadays anyone needs to be confident proud of their achievements and be comfortable to show that in an interview. If you don't shout about yourself no one else will.

Sandra Lyall: When we're recruiting, we look at people that are aligned with the values of our organization. So the last value is excellence and that really is being the best that you are, bringing yourself to work and working as hard as you can and bringing that effort through.

Camilla Weinstein: Another quality that we look for in candidates is that they're passionate and driven. We are a technology, software-development house so people that are interested in technology and have a passion for and where the future of technology is going.

Justin: Self-management is really important because yeah New Zealand businesses as a whole tend to be a lot flatter in the organizational structure there's an expectation that you're proactive in recognising what needs to be done and doing it.

Sandra: So one of the key things that we're looking for people that we're recruiting for are agility, sort of, flexibility people that are really open to change and also partnered with that is the real willingness to learn and adapt and be curious.

Rekash: Networking always assists anyone in their own career and we also value that in our organisation. Understanding what's going on within the industry in developing relationships with people with internally and externally within your industry so you develop more that relationship but also that understanding.

Sandra: Depending on what skills and background you bring to New Zealand it may be more helpful to get some type of experience potentially voluntary for a while you're starting to look for a job in New Zealand. It's a way of understanding how we work getting familiar with the language, linking into the community and also aligning some voluntary work skills that can then be relevant for work skills.

Niels: Any candidate has analytical and critical thinking is someone we'd like to have on our radar as well but also with the world that's changing it's a key skill set that people will have to have to be successful.

Justin: If you look at where the future's going you know, problem solving and collaborating to solve problems is really important. They can be very hard to assess in an interview situation so building a CV or repertoire of stories which can illustrate how you've solved problems is important.

Niels: So I think initiative and drive for a candidate is very important in our organization so anyone that can demonstrate they can take something and drive it through to completion is someone we're looking for.

Camilla: We are a values-based business so really understanding how you fit with the values that we have and what your values are to make sure that you're not only the right person for us but it's also the right organisation for you.

Adam: We've got 51 different nationalities here at KPMG. Over 30% of all of our hires come from overseas. So we don't necessarily have a fit, we're looking for people that might add to the culture of the organisation.

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