My company, ExecuNet, deals primarily with corporate executives. But the skills executives need to succeed today are the same ones that management level employees like safety directors need.

21st Century Job Skills

It’s all about the bottom line. Companies are looking for individuals that can increase the efficiency of operations, manage plans and objectives and cut costs. These are the three skills regarded as the most critical not just to surviving these challenging times but to ensuring sustainable corporate success in the long-term.

“Instilling an ethic of sustainability and collective responsibility is more important now than ever, as it signals to investors, employees, vendors and customers that the business is stable and the leadership has a long-term vision drawing on the state-of-the art practices,” says Judith Glaser of Benchmark Communications Inc. That long-term vision must address the things individuals can do to help their companies save and make money.

How to Cultivate 21st Century Job Skills

Your challenge as safety professionals is to cultivate these desired skills. One thing you can do to meet this challenge is use others as a sounding board to run ideas by. This will enable you to identify your core strengths and weaknesses and what, if anything, you have to do to reinvent yourself as the kind of safety leader businesses are looking for.

To develop what some experts refer to as an “efficiency mindset,” you need to understand your cost per transaction. It’s fairly straightforward to quantify the cost of conducting a safety audit or doing a job hazard assessment. But the efficiency mindset isn’t just about these kinds of activities. It’s a broader approach that considers how to fund activities that achieve optimal results for the company.

How to Let Companies Know You Have the Skills They Want

The other part of the challenge is to let companies know that you have the skills they want so that you can market yourself effectively. The key place to trumpet the 21st century skills you possess is within the resume and cover letter.

It’s not enough to simply say that you’ve got what it takes to help the company cut costs and increase profits. You need to demonstrate it. Make sure your resume and cover letter include metrics that illustrate your past successes and how they’ll translate to the reader’s company. “Weave stories into your resume, using key language related to cost reduction and efficiency improvement while showcasing the unique leadership traits you used to implement changes and improvements,” advises Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter, owner of Kansas-based Career Trend.

Key questions your resume should answer:

• How did you work with upper management on annual safety budgets?
• How did you ensure that your budget was consistent with the overall corporate strategy?
• How did you work with the CIO, vice president of engineering, IT and other company officials to implement technologies that improved safety?
• What subordinates and personnel in other departments supported your efficiency initiatives?
• How did you select and manage baseline managers and analysts during these projects?
• How did you organize and oversee task forces or steering committees to execute large initiatives?
• To the extent that the initiative had a greater impact on the supply chain, how did you plan and manage the roles of customers or vendors?

Conclusion

According to classic marketing wisdom, those with a product to sell should stress the product’s benefits, not its features. This bit of wisdom applies to safety directors selling their skills and talents to companies. Quantify both the savings and earnings you helped your company achieve. Tie those achievements directly back to your personal skills and leadership to persuade companies that you can work the same magic for them. In this way, you’ll become not just an effective safety director but a highly marketable one.

Wishing you career success!

Lauryn Franzoni
ExecuNet
www.execunet.com

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