In today’s competitive job market, knowing how to be a valuable employee is definitely in a worker’s best interest. With cutbacks happening on a regular basis and an ongoing flow of new job seekers hitting the market, you want to make sure you’re indispensable to avoid get edged out of a job. So how do you become an essential part of an organization? Well, there are common traits employers usually value in an employee. Here are some of those prized employment skills.

Reliability

Being a reliable employee is one of those employment skills that is sure to get you noticed. If cutbacks are going to be made you can bet that the employee who hits all the deadlines, rarely makes errors (and takes responsibility when they do), seldom calls in sick, is on time, and provides exceptional customer service is not getting cut first.  

When it comes to making yourself vital to a company, this is one skill that’s fairly easy to achieve. Pay attention to what is being asked of you. Perform your duties to the best of your ability. Be at work when you’re expected to be there. Admit when you’ve made a mistake and take steps to correct it. Learning how to be a valuable employee isn’t difficult, but sometimes admitting mistakes is.

Positivity

We’ve all encountered workers with a bad attitude. Whether you’ve had poor service when you’re going about your day-to-day business or you’ve worked alongside someone with a negative demeanor, no one likes to be around employees with bad attitudes and poor employment skills.

Having a positive outlook is a trait that comes across to employers, coworkers and customers alike. Putting in effort in one setting, but not in another isn’t good enough. Word gets around; if you’re being positive to one group, but not to another, your employer will hear about it. Stay upbeat and treat everyone with respect.

Self Improvement

Some people are just happy with being where they are right now. They aren’t looking to learn or improve over time. Employers love to see workers who are constantly trying to do better by improving efficiency, finding new ways to work through problems, or seeking out useful information.

At a certain point, most of us settle for good enough. While this may be the norm, truly stellar employees are never quite content. Whether they’re constantly learning new things or trying new approaches, great employees always strive to work smarter and are always seeking to improve themselves and their teams.

Good Character

Being a good person is a trait that will win you points in every aspect of your life. On the job, employers truly appreciate someone who can distinguish right from wrong and who always chooses to do what’s right, even if it means more work. Business owners know that employees with good character make the company look good. They also know that they can trust these employees with more responsibility and sensitive situations. This build-up of confidence can lead to promotions and raises, and makes you far more valuable to have around.

Proactive

Having an employee who does his/her job without complaint and without having to ask a lot of questions is an asset, but having an employee who goes above and beyond what is asked is highly valuable. Being proactive at work is one of those employment skills that really make employers take notice.

If you’ve been contemplating how to be a valuable employee and want to become more proactive at work, you have to look ahead. Instead of just completing the task at hand, try to see what issues might be on the horizon and formulate a plan to overcome them before they occur. You may even want to make suggestions to management about how current processes could be improved.

Open to Criticism

No one enjoys hearing critical feedback about their work, but the reality is that it happens to everyone at some time. The way you handle it though can make a big difference in your employer’s eyes. Having an employee who is open to hearing criticism and who takes feedback in a calm, non-defensive way is always appreciated.

Rather than just taking the comments with a smile, employees who are open to criticism use the feedback they receive to improve their performance. If you want to take things a bit further you can make the first move and request feedback from your manager from time to time.

There are many ways to become more valued on the job. Generally speaking, having a positive attitude and looking for opportunities to do more than is expected will get you on the right track.