These Skills Will Boost Your

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MAY 17, 2016

When it comes to skills that pay the bills, its all about STEM-based skills. Knowing how
to code will bring the biggest boost to your paycheck, according to recent report
from PayScale, the worlds largest online salary database.
Knowing how to program in Scala, Cisco and Go gets you the biggest salary bump of 22
percent, 21 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Worth noting is that two of these
languages -- Scala and Go -- are emerging skills, or skills that have only been in demand
for the past five years.
STEM skills are continually becoming more important in our technology and datadriven economy, says Katie Bardaro, lead economist at PayScale. Even positions that
didnt previously require any tech or data skills are starting to more and more, and
making sure you arm yourself with these skills is a way to compete in todays labor
market.
And if youre looking to get a promotion, the skills you need to get one differ at every
pay grade. If youre at the C-Suite level (or aiming for it) and looking reach the next rung
of the ladder, these are the most common skills: business management (21.8 percent), IT
management (20.3 percent) and profit and loss management (16.8 percent).
For those at the director level, these are the most common skills among those promoted.
Donor relations skills are at 20.2 percent, software development management is at 13.9
percent and senior financial management is at 12 percent.
For those training to be managers -- but arent quite there yet -- the most common skills
for promotion are training management (3.1 percent), property management (3 percent)
and event management (2.7 percent).
Related: 5 Ways to Find Your Dream Job

Perceived competence gap

There is a major perception gap in competence between those who are recent college
graduates and the managers who hire them. According to PayScale, 87 percent of
workers feel well-prepared for their jobs upon graduation, whereas only 50 percent of
managers feel employees who recently graduated are well prepared.
The gap in competence between those graduating college and those hiring can be
attributed, at least in part, to the increased dependence on technology and the recent
Great Recession, says Bardaro. The two factors has helped to widen the skills gap and
worked together to make employers pickier about the talent they pull in and to make it
harder for students (and schools) to have the ability to learn (teach) new technologies.
However, not all managers feel the same about recent college grads. Among them, its
millennial managers who have the most faith in the skills of recent college grads at 55
percent, followed by baby boomers at 48 percent and gen Xers at 47.
Related: Why More Than Half of Your Employees Are Looking for a New Job

Communication and problem-solving

With all the buzz about STEM and tech-based skills, those skills arent what managers
cite are most lacking among recent college grads. Data shows that 44 percent of
managers feel that writing proficiency is lacking, along with critical thinking/problemsolving (60 percent) and public speaking (39 percent).
Related: 10 Tips for Finding the Best Career Fit In a Startup
The good news is that if you lack these skills, it doesnt doom you to a promotion-free
career trajectory, says Bardaro. [STEM and technology] skills are often ones you can

learn while already in your career due to both the nature of these skills, and the
prevalence of online coursework in these areas.
As for learning how to write a good email, learn the basics and practice. And theres
always spell check.