Valuable Workplace Skills

This week’s blog topic is a discussion of valuable workplace skills in the U.S. vs Brussels. I have found that on many of my job applications in the U.S. there has been an emphasis on technological skills. For example, I see a lot of job postings that request that applicants be familiar with Microsoft Excel or all of the Adobe Suite. Of course this can depend on the job you are applying for, but the majority of the time it seems that if you have knowledge or experience operating a particular computer program that you have a leg up as an applicant for a job in the U.S.. When applying for my job in Brussels however, I was never asked about my knowledge of computer software. Of course, I wasn’t working in a predominantly mathematically driven workplace, but as I was working with social media content production I was still surprised that they weren’t expecting me to come in with photoshop or video editing skills. Again, I did have limited experience, but it seemed to me that there was a bit more lee-way in terms of allowing interns to learn on the job. My bosses really were super understanding with me and would often preface tasks with, “And don’t worry if you’re confused because this is probably the first time you’ve done something like this, so don’t be offended if we give you a few corrections or change some things.” It truly was a huge learning experience for me. 

I do feel that besides that small difference the U.S. and Europe are similar in what skills they value in a workplace. I think both areas of the world value good written communication, good verbal communication, and an overall air of professionalism in all work tasks. One task that I had to learn very quickly was the ability to read long documents and condense the information in them to a very basic level so that we could send to clients. That skill in particular seems to be one that I will be able to carry on to other political work, as it is very common for a representative or senator to ask for a quick briefing on a complex issue. 

Overall there is not a terrible amount of difference in valuable work skills between the U.S. and Belgium, though there did seem to be a little less emphasis on technological ability in Belgium.