Any job you take will require you to perform research on your own. For example:
- Sales roles – The person has to find companies to sell to. He or she has to find the decision makers and then needs to figure out what their pain points are. If you are good at research, your managers will appreciate the extra intel you might have unraveled.
- Product management and marketing – Even more in-depth research is needed. What is the competition doing? How are they marketing their products? Which conferences do they sell at?
- Office management – Who are the best Insurance providers? How to automate payroll? ? Who is the right person at companies to clear invoices quickly? Great deals to save money for office supplies.
- Recruiting – Need killer research skills to find candidates
- Teachers – Need to find creative ways to teach students.
How do you know you have good research skills? If you have been able to find great deals to travel, or if you find information on social media that others find later, this would mean that you are inclined and know how to use the online search engines much better than others.
Research is a skillset, which is not just technical but also a skill where you need to navigate through materials fast and know which material to pay attention to while moving away from other ones which are not of any value.
You could even take this to the next step by growing your skills in Excel or maybe even using some statistical software. Here we are talking about numbers. I If you are quantitative then you could even correlate what you find and provide results which are more valuable than just qualitative statements.
Another way to impress your new managers is to present your research in a very easy to understand fashion. This would mean, you need to look at templates your company already uses (Internal research), and then look at templates used outside. Create your own template with similar look and feel to your company. Follow the brand guidelines, and then present your content to your peers in simple to understand fashion.
This skill is very valued by all employers. You can graduate with any degree but, if you have the above skillset, you might be able to differentiate yourself from others in an interview.
The trick will be for you to use your skills and be well prepared for the interview. If you are good at it then you will be able to find a lot of relevant information about the company, their clients, their culture and their challenges. If you then use that information effectively in your interview, you will leave the group impressed about your knowledge.
Do you think you have killer research skills?
Why don’t you put it to test? Here is an exercise for you to perform and comment below.
Are research jobs on the rise? What jobs within your domain need those research skills? Can you list 5 jobs in your area which will require these skills?
Once we have some comments, we can give you our answers as well.
Abhijeet Narvekar – Abhi has his Masters in Industrial Engineering & Management. He has 20 years of experience in Leadership roles and currently is the CEO of The FerVID Group and Co-Founder of CareerUnleashed