Three Essential Job Skills for Any Job Whatsoever
When I was seventeen I was hired to be a RadioShack sales associate, back when it was still possible to get a corporate job under the age of 18, which is less common these days.
My then-new boss, Joe Pierce, who would go on to become my now-lifelong friend and mentor, had just been burned by another seventeen-year-old who was stealing from the store. So my boss Joe wasn’t exactly pleased to have another seventeen-year-old working for him. (Of course, I went on to become one of Joe’s best salespeople, and no one could sell cell phones like I could back then!)
On my first day of work, Joe said he had three expectations for me, and that everything else would take care of itself if I did these three things. To this day, 25 years later, Joe’s three expectations are some of the best and most broadly applicable pieces of job/career advice that I have ever received.
Here are Joe’s three expectations:
Show up on time when you’re expected to be here.
Have a good attitude.
Dress appropriately.
Let’s look at these three basic job skills one at a time:
1. Show up on time when you’re expected to be here.
No matter what job you have, showing up on time when you are expected to be there is essential. If you aren’t dependable, you are no good to your employer. With the rise of working from home, especially now during the coronavirus pandemic, this is as important as ever.
Even if you are a freelancer working on your own schedule, this expectation can be broadened to meeting all of your commitments, completing your work or your projects on time.
Being successful at your job all starts with showing up and being reliable. Everything else builds on this basic job skill.
2. Have a good attitude.
Having a good attitude is equally important for any job whatsoever. If you don’t have a good attitude, people won’t want to work with you and they won’t have a very high opinion of you. If you don’t have a good attitude, you won’t be teachable or trainable, open to learning the things you need to learn to become not merely an employee but a master at your job or master of your craft.
If you work in customer service or in sales, having a good attitude with your customers is important, of course. But even if you don’t have a public-facing job, having a good attitude in relation to your colleagues, supervisor, and about your work expectations from day to day is just as important as having a good attitude for those in public-facing jobs.
3. Dress appropriately.
Although RadioShack had a fairly strict dress code for its sales associates at that time, requiring a shirt and tie, dressing appropriately is important no matter what job you have. If you are an executive, there is an expected way to dress and appear to be taken seriously in your role.
Even if your company is relatively informal, there is a classy way of dressing casually that still commands respect and conveys authority and gravitas, even with a more informal style of dress.
If you are aspiring to climb the career ladder, your style of dress says a lot about your own pride in your appearance, which informs what conclusions that your employer and colleagues will draw about the pride you take in your own work.
Of course, some jobs require a specific style of uniform—everything from waiting tables to working on an assembly line. But, even if your job doesn’t have a specific dress code, you can still take pride in your own appearance and dress appropriately for the job, perhaps with an eye also toward dressing for the job you ultimately want to have someday.
If you dress the part, it’s just that much easier to rise to the occasion and thrive in your job and in your role.
Conclusion
These three basic job skills, or basic expectations if you prefer, form the foundation of almost every other job skill you are seeking to acquire or master. Even if you are struggling to master there skills related to your current or aspirational job, if you master these three basic job skills you will have a leg up and an advantage over other job candidates and coworkers who may have higher-level skills but have yet to master these foundational skills of showing up on time, having a good attitude, and dressing appropriately.
