The world of business changes—sometimes very quickly. Skills that didn’t even exist ten years ago can be in high demand today. To thrive in the business world, it’s important to regularly examine your skillset, and see what could use updating.

Sometimes this might mean reinvesting in your education. Other times, it could just mean learning independently. In this article, we present a list of skills that are important for doing business in 2022.

Data, Data, Data

Data processing and implementation are skills that drive the modern business world. Big companies may have an entire staff dedicated to these exact tasks, along with an overall company-wide policy of using data as much as possible.

Smaller businesses with less money to throw around can still use data to their advantage. There is software, degrees, and professionals for hire you can use to learn more about data and use it as an advantage.

Start by making a list of what you want to achieve. Are you hoping to get to know your customers better? Be more strategic in your marketing efforts? Or perhaps you are looking for insights as you develop a new product?

Once you know what you hope to achieve, you can look for the tools and skills that will assist you in getting it.

Branding

Branding has become increasingly more important over the last several years. Businesses brand themselves with deliberate marketing. Their values become part of who they are, allowing customers to look for companies that are in some way aligned with what is important to them. Racial equality. Environmental friendliness, and so on.

Branding can also happen at the individual level. People looking for a good job in 2022 need to be able to tell a story with their resume and cover letter. Of course, resumes have always told “the story of why I can do this job”. And that’s still important.

Now, however, they also need to tell “the story of why I am a good fit for your company’s brand.”

People wishing to create a personal brand should begin by identifying what is important to them, and how it might be relevant to a business. From there, you can use your background experience to support your personal brand.

It’s important to pick something authentic. If you simply try to make yourself fit into what the potential employer is looking for you may get the job, only to lose it later for having misrepresented yourself, or simply not enjoy it at all.

It’s important to remember that personal branding does not begin and end with the application process. Your “brand” should be an authentic part of who you are. This means living it out, both in your new place of work and in everyday life.

Digital Fluency

You don’t have to have a background in computer science to do well in the modern business world. You should, however, be able to comfortably navigate the average business tech suite. These skills are taught in many modern business skills.

If you have not learned them formally, you can still take the time to acquaint yourself with some of the more prominent collaborative tools on the market.

Consider looking into what sort of tools the companies you are interested in use. Then, spend a little bit of time investigating how they work. This can be accomplished often through free demos directly on the tool. Short of this, there are a wealth of tutorial resources online for most major professional software programs.

It looks good on a resume to be able to list a wide range of tech skills. It also just helps you adapt quickly to professional life.

Flexibility

If the modern business world is anything, it’s flexible. This development had been coming for years, but Covid-19 hurried it along. To be successful, either as an employee or a business owner, you need to be able to turn on a dime.

Understand how to work well remotely. Or in person. Or in hybrid situations where some people are remote, and others are not. Things change quickly in business. Being flexible and prepared allows you to thrive in any situation.

Financial Savvy

Finally, have some financial savvy. The average college student graduates with little to no idea of how to handle their own finances. Many people starting their own business are not much better off. While you may or may not need a background degree in finance, it helps to at least have a rudimentary understanding of how things work.

It will be to your personal benefit, and it can make a big difference if you are running your own business.