Decision-making skills aren’t something you only need at the workplace. You have to choose every turn in your life. Browsing the BCJobs board after you have decided to apply for a job is a significant decision.
However, making quick, precise decisions isn’t something quickly done.
It determines how far you will go in life and how high you will climb the corporate ladder. While all technical and interpersonal skills can be subject to job requirements, decision-making is a skill no company is willing to compromise on. So let’s try to understand why they play such a significant role in the business atmosphere.
What are decision-making skills?
Decision-making skills showcase how efficient you are at arriving at a solution when facing multiple prospects. It’s a response to situations- preferably one made after analyzing all the components that lead to the situation. Decisions are also an outcome of your own perceptions. When you are working for a company, you have to set that aside and think in terms of the company’s best interest. You have to make decisions free of your own biases.
Often, making the decisions isn’t enough in itself. Once you have decided on a course of action, you have to explain the step you mean to take or have taken. You have to communicate how you arrived at a decision and why you think it’s the best. So, a considerable part of company-centered decision-making skills is cataloging your thought process behind it.
Why are decision-making skills important at work?
Decision-making skills benefit both you and the company. Employees have to decide who to hire if there is a need for a training program if a product is ready to be released in the market, and so on. All of it has to be made with the cost meted out and the reward for it in mind. The smallest of decisions can make the difference between profit and loss for a company.
The more you demonstrate your ability to make these important decisions and excel at them, valuable you become in the eye of the company. In addition, your decision-making abilities open up career paths for you, within and outside of the company you’re currently working at.
Your decision-making skills will save you from working at the wrong company in the first place. It lets you create a resume that tailors your job search to your dream company. It allows the hiring managers to understand if interviewing you will lead to results.
How to improve your decision-making skills?
While decision-making skills are somewhat intuitive and a mix of intelligence and experience, for the most part, you can learn to fine-tune them. For that, you have to follow simple steps:
- Find out what the exact problem is. Sometimes, you are faced with the aftermath of a problem, and unless you identify what caused it, you can’t fix it.
- Write out all the solutions and courses of action you can think of regarding a problem.
- List out the pros and cons of each action.
- Implement the choice that seems to offer the most advantages. Of course, you have to think of both short-term and long-term gratuity.
When you’re short on time, you have to quickly follow the same process in your mind. Then, as you keep on making decisions, your brain will train itself to react faster.
Final Thoughts
While you are listing your decision-making skills on your resume, it would be a good idea to try and check out those of other candidates. It will set up the groundwork for you to build your resume.
About the Author
BCjobs.ca is Western Canada’s largest job board, with majority of the jobs coming from Vancouver. For nearly 20 years, BC Jobs has connected job candidates with companies looking to add talent to their team. Here at BCJobs, we understand that looking for a job is difficult. To support our candidates, we recently launched a podcast to help you stand out during your job application. Listen to weekly episodes on our podcast to hear what recruiters are thinking and what companies look for when considering their next hire.
