Employability is the concept that describes an employee’s ability to stay in their job by adapting easily to a labour market that keeps changing. Put another way, it’s how easily you can keep your job and avoid having your employment contract terminated.
You aren’t fired; you simply fail to adapt to the conditions of the job, judged against a series of characteristics that make the employer keep trusting your professional values and technical skills.
In this sense, there are six parameters that define how employable you are. Check yourself against the six definitions below to see how likely you are to keep your job and stay off the unemployment list.
Qualities that make you employable
Vocation
Is the work you do every day, or the profession you’ve chosen, really yours? Many people work in trades that aren’t theirs and, to perform better professionally, they need to change jobs.
It has always been said that doctors and teachers are jobs that require a vocation. Imagine someone teaching at a school without that, without the vocation to pass on their own knowledge to the students.
An employee who doesn’t like their trade isn’t motivated and doesn’t enjoy their work, which makes for very weak employability in companies that don’t match their personal interests.
Professional competence
It’s not enough to land the job and then coast. You have to stay in shape within your trade. Qualifications are the entry requirement, and keeping up to date by broadening your knowledge and interests is how you hold on to the job and renew yourself in it.
An athlete who wins a medal and doesn’t keep training every day won’t win any more recognition for their efforts; what’s more, the next time they compete they’ll end up exhausted by the effort.
Suitability
The job has to be right for you: you have to believe in it and get that across in the initial interview and in your professional development afterwards. The job has to fit your profile; any gap between the position and your personal and professional abilities will become a weakness in your employability.
It would be like wearing clothes that don’t suit your lifestyle.
Fitness
The heading refers to health, but it would be better to talk about absenteeism, or absences from work. Someone who is repeatedly absent from work for various reasons is someone who doesn’t identify with the job and, if they don’t, they won’t develop a strong enough wish to keep it to secure their employability.
It’s like the patient with high cholesterol who is told to exercise and always finds excuses not to. Their cholesterol doesn’t come down, and they never really own the problem.
Resourcefulness
The employee who wants to stay in the job is the one who identifies with it: the one who keeps looking for solutions to problems, who looks for new ways out of them, and who has broad and varied training that reinforces their image as a resourceful person.
People skills
Good relationships with others create a good atmosphere and a good opportunity to feel comfortable at work. People who avoid trouble and create a good working environment are also valued: those who take part in the team, have a good temperament and are open to communication.
Good professional aptitude, a real willingness to work and an interest in improving are the best cards you can play for a high level of employability.
Think about these concepts, see how far you identify with them, and you’ll see your chances of continuing to enjoy your job. The more employable you are, the better your chances of keeping your job and your quality of life.
Further reading
Featured image: FOTO:Fortepan — ID 3612: Adományozó/Donor: Unknown., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
