What occupationally non-specific skills do employers look for?
The authors note that whereas some employers have produced key skills classifications there are few published examples and the evidence and analysis tends to be based on the work of large organisations. Their lists are invariably unique and eclectic; they rarely (if ever) include occupation- specific skills, the need for which is regarded as axiomatic. The term, occupation-specific skills is used to refer mainly to technical skills and not to imply that any given occupational title will call for a given mix of skills, peculiar to that occupation. Yet it is doubtful if even technical skills should be described as occupation-specific, since the job context is so critical. Leaving aside the occupation-specific skills, depending on size of firm, market and preferred strategy for change, a high proportion of employers will be looking for educational basics, diminishing to a minority (albeit an increasingly growing minority) consciously looking for overarching capabilities. Educational basic
