Find out the top 10 core skills you need to master as a cost estimator and what hard skills you need to know to succeed in this job.
A Cost Estimator is assigned the role of collecting and analyzing data to determine the amount of labor, time and material it would take to produce a product or deliver a particular service. He or she will ensure that all factors are considered before a particular project is undertaken to avoid resource wastage and inconveniences.
Besides that major role he or she will perform the following duties; travel to gather the required information; consult with other professionals to come up with a good estimate; perform cost suitability and profitability; maintain the directory of all contractors, subcontractors and suppliers; develop plans for the project cost; resolve any estimate issues with the clients and prepare and document all cost and expenditure statements.
Core Skills Required to be a Cost Estimator
Core skills describe a set of non-technical abilities, knowledge, and understanding that form the basis for successful participation in the workplace. Core skills enable employees to efficiently and professionally navigate the world of work and interact with others, as well as adapt and think critically to solve problems.
Core skills are often tagged onto job descriptions to find or attract employees with specific essential core values that enable the company to remain competitive, build relationships, and improve productivity.
A cost estimator should master the following 10 core skills to fulfill her job properly.
Conflict Management:
Conflict Management is a situation where the interests, needs, values and goals of the involved parties interfere with one another in the workplace where different stakeholders have different priorities.
A Cost Estimator must learn to recognize and deal with disputes in a rational, balanced and practical way through effective communication, problem-solving abilities and outstanding negotiating skills to restore the focus of the company's peace.
Innovation:
Innovation is the process of translating new invention into a service that creates value or brings better solutions that meet the requirements.
A Cost Estimator ought to introduce innovation in their business to help save time and money giving a competitive advantage to grow and adapt the business in today's marketplace as well as creating more efficient processes and ideas with a likelihood for your business to succeed.
Office Politics:
Office Politics is a tool that assesses the operational capacity to balance diverse views of the interested parties of the human interactions that involve power and authority.
A Cost Estimator is meant to pay attention to the organizational politics while creating the right political landscape that lubricates the organization's internal gears without focusing on personal gain rather focusing on the corporate profit that will benefit everyone.
Realistic Goal Setting:
Realistic Goal Setting is the skill to hone in the specific actions that we need to perform to accomplish everything we aspire to live.
A Cost Estimator should invest his time in planning and set both short and long-term goals that stretch and initiates the growth in every employee causing each to perform at his level best bringing in real benefit to their life and the business as well.
Results Orientation:
Results Orientation is knowing and focusing on outstanding results and working hard to achieve them because they are significant.
A Cost Estimator must understand and make it clear to the employees how important results are and the competitive and results driven market that the company is facing while encouraging them to remain focused on the results that every project bears without fail.
Financial Management:
Financial Management is the skill of learning how to handle accounting, finance, and organizational management through providing daily data on the operations that take place every day.
A Cost Estimator ought to be highly effective in planning and organization, controlling and management of the financial resources to achieve the company's organizational objectives that are laid down to see the growth of the enterprise.
Business Ethics:
Business Ethics is the ability to learn what is right and wrong in the world of business and choosing to do what is right at all times.
A Cost Estimator must emulate good business ethic that is essential for the long-term success of an organization by implementing an ethical program that will foster a thriving entrepreneurial culture while increasing profitability and personal maturity.
Diversity Awareness:
Diversity Awareness is the understanding that people are different and unique in their particular way and respecting their uniqueness.
A Cost Estimator ought to successfully identify the various types of diversity presented in his company to be able to benefit from these individual differences in the hope of improving the success of his team and encourage the team members to become aware of these qualities and use them appropriately.
Intercultural Competence:
Intercultural Competence is the knowledge and skills to successfully interact with people from other ethnic, religious, cultural, national and geographic groups.
A Cost Estimator should have a high degree of intercultural competence that enables him to have successful interactions with people from different groups as well as train his employees to be sensitive to the cultural differences and be willing to modify their behavior as a sign of respect for each other.
Process Improvement:
Process Improvement is the creation of new processes or improving the existing ones that will work and take your corporation to the next level.
A Cost Estimator must maintain the continuous improvements in the workplace that are favorable to the current investors, potential investors, and stock owners while working with methods that can serve as a foundation for future business decisions causing a profitable growth.
Hard Skills Required to be a Cost Estimator
Hard skills are job-specific skill sets, or expertise, that are teachable and whose presence can be tested through exams. While core skills are more difficult to quantify and less tangible, hard skills are quantifiable and more defined.
Hard skills are usually listed on an applicant's resume to help recruiters know the applicant's qualifications for the applied position. A recruiter, therefore, needs to review the applicant's resume and education to find out if he/she has the knowledge necessary to get the job done.
A cost estimator should have a good command of the following hard skills to succeed in her job.