Employers Value Important Multitasking Skills
There are relatively few occupations that do not need some level of multitasking. In today’s work environment, employees seldom have the luxury of concentrating on one job at a time.
Most occupations have workers balancing opposing demands for their time and energy, and employers want you to be able to manage numerous responsibilities. Even if you don’t believe you do it often, you’re probably multitasking a lot of the time.
Employers will want to know that you can multitask well while you’re job hunting. As a result, it’s critical to be prepared to offer instances of how you’ve managed various jobs or projects in the past during job interviews.
What Exactly Is Multitasking?
Juggling many job tasks and transferring attention from one activity to another is what multitasking implies. An employee should ideally be able to address the needs of several stakeholders without losing the ball.
The risk of multitasking is that the worker’s performance may be jeopardised if he or she attempts to do too many things at once.
Many employees’ jobs are made more difficult by modern technology, which requires them to manage several requests at the same time through email, Slack, Zoom, text messages, phone conversations, and in-person communication with colleagues and customers. Checking your phone and email while working on other chores has become the norm.
Jobs that need great attention to complicated activities while simultaneously requiring regular engagement with people might be very difficult. When you’re attempting to accomplish too many things at once, it may be difficult to concentrate, and it’s critical to be able to manage your workload.
How to Successfully Multitask (and How Not to)
Employees who can multitask well must be able to shift their focus effortlessly and completely from one activity to another. Workers must be able to prioritise tasks and handle the most urgent and pressing requests first in order to do this effectively.
It’s also crucial to understand when multitasking isn’t a good idea. Certain vocations and activities need you to focus on just one item at a time. Keep this in mind while interviewing, and make sure to personalise your responses to the position you’re applying for.
Examples of Multitasking Capabilities
The scenarios in which a worker is required to multitask are listed below. There are instances that apply to a wide range of sectors, from hospitality and health to design and banking. Use these examples to generate your own instances of occasions when you multi-tasked at work.
- In a crowded reception area, answering the phone while welcoming guests.
- Working on three separate graphic design projects that are at various stages of completion.
- Driving a bus while attempting to calm a vocally aggressive passenger.
- Taking calls from distressed clients while managing portfolios during a market downturn
- Managing many social media accounts while doing email marketing duties
- Air traffic patterns are monitored and planes are directed.
- While completing the plans for a promotional event, I’m polishing a press release.
- Preparing a lecture, writing a grant application, dealing with drop-in advisees, and offering feedback to a committee chair
- Preparing a sales presentation while dealing with a client complaint
- Complaints are prioritised at a customer service office.
- Closing documentation for a range of real estate transactions
- In a dental office, you may be responsible for processing insurance paperwork, making appointments, welcoming patients, and answering the phone.
- Completing five separate dinner orders at once.
- Creating a new website while upgrading existing ones.
- Disciplining a pupil who is misbehaving during a class.
- Refining computer programmes while meeting the demands of internal users
- Responding to patients’ call buttons while taking case notes
- While responding to employee queries regarding perks, the performance evaluation procedure is being revised.
- Workers’ schedules must be planned while their job obligations are managed.
- Serving beverages, settling checks, collecting orders, and delivering meals to restaurant clients while it is still hot
- Patients at the emergency department are prioritised.
- While taking a call from the boss and looking for a substitute for an absent employee, you must write a performance assessment.
- While arranging subcontractors, I am writing a proposal for a renovation project.
How to Demonstrate Your Capabilities
If a job posting particularly requests individuals with great multitasking abilities, it’s a good idea to sit down before your interview and brainstorm examples.
List situations in your prior work when you had to multitask. Look for instances of how you balanced many goals as part of your education if you’re a recent college graduate.
You’ll be more than ready to demonstrate to your interviewers that you’re the multitasking rock star they’re looking for after you have two or three instances you know you can expound on.