This is a guest post from Saurabh Tyagi, Blogger, Career Author, and Digital Media Enthusiast

In the current economic scenario if you intend to make a comfortable living, more than anything else you should be relying on a set of skills. While degrees and certifications look good on paper, ultimately it is your skill or innate talent that will attract the employer or client towards you. You don’t get paid for your degree in computer science. It is what magic you can turn up with computers that will earn you a paycheck. Having settled the importance of skills, let us now examine five such competencies that will never fail you, however bad shape the economy might be in.

• Writing

Excellent writing skills have many takers. Almost all business, whether online or offline is done in writing and therefore the demand of skilled writers can never seem to go down. Everybody likes a well-spoken professional, but the highest paid are those who can work up some magic while putting those words in writing. Poor writing skills reflect badly on your education, credibility and intelligence while good writing skills will present you with an undeniable advantage over others, no matter which industry you are in.

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A typically well written article, or business proposal or blog has perfect grammar, punctuation, clarity, brevity, and consistency. Even if you are not employed as a full time writer, there are plenty of freelance writing assignments available on the web that you can take to make your ends meet.

If you are motivated enough to learn writing, then pursue an online creative writing course. There are other short term regular courses in technical and business writing as well.

• Social Media

Social Media has burst on the scene like anything. Today there is hardly any educated individual who is not using at least one social networking site. But did you know that the hours you spend sitting in front of your PC incessantly checking the Facebook newsfeed or the flow of tweet can earn you some extra cash. The way businesses have integrated social media in their marketing strategies; there is a certainty about jobs related to social media.

While higher level social media jobs require the ability to devise strategies, most businesses only need a person who has sound understanding of social media universe. A little bit of investment and efforts on your part to understand you would launch and plan a campaign to generate more leads or revenue for the business will certainly put you at the forefront of candidate pool for social media specialist jobs.

• Basic Accounting

It couldn’t be more foolish to assume that accounting is only the domain of a student of accounting. Basic accounting is an important life skill. With the knowledge of the most commonly used software you can easily distinguish yourself from other candidates. All you need is access to programs like Simply Accounting, Peachtree and Intuit Quickbooks. If you aren’t able to find these programs, it is advised to get yourself enrolled to classes or have some of your friends to teach you a thing or two about basic accounting.

• Web Design

Every business that targets expansion of audience and revenue has no option but to have a web presence because that’s one place where you will find both. Thus, every company, however small or large has a website and every new company arising out of any dorm room or a garage will also require one in the future. Needless to say, web designers will never go out of demand. Just like writing, there are plenty of freelance online jobs that require the help of web designers.

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To have the boasting rights you need to know HTML, CSS, and SEO. HTML or HyperText Markup Language is the main markup language while Cascading Style Sheet will help you design the look and appearance of the web pages. SEO refers to Search Engine Optimization, used to increase the visibility of the website in search engine results. Do not be overwhelmed with the technical sound of these skills; learning them is totally worth it.