Soft Skills

Soft skills are the personal attributes, personality traits, inherent social cues, and communication abilities needed for success on the job. Soft skills characterize how a person interacts in his or her relationships with others.

Unlike hard skills that are learned, soft skills are similar to emotions or insights that allow people to “read” others. These are much harder to learn, at least in a traditional classroom. They are also much harder to measure and evaluate.

Soft skills include adaptability, attitude, communication, creative thinking, work ethic, teamwork, networking, decision making, positivity, time management, motivation, flexibility, problem-solving, critical thinking, and conflict resolution.

Hybrid skills are related to soft skills in that they include a combination of non-technical and technical skills.

Why Employers Care About Soft Skills?

It’s easy to understand why employers want job candidates with particular hard skills. After all, if you are hiring a carpenter, he or she needs skills in carpentry.

However, soft skills are important to the success of almost all employers. After all, nearly every job requires employees to engage with others in some way. Therefore, being able to interact well with others is important in any job.

Another reason hiring managers and employers look for applicants with soft skills is because soft skills are transferable skills that can be used regardless of the job at which the person is working. This makes job candidates with soft skills very adaptable employees.

Also, because soft skills are acquired over time—as opposed to those acquired in a short time during a class or training program—people with soft skills are often seen as having unique and broad backgrounds that can diversify a company and help it run more efficiently.

Soft skills are particularly important in customer-based jobs. These employees will typically be in direct contact with customers. It takes a number of soft skills to be able to listen to a customer and provide that customer with helpful and polite service.

Five Important Social Skills

1. Empathy

Empathy is a very important skill. To interact well with others, you must be able to understand how they are feeling. Empathy is especially critical when dealing with clients who come to you with questions or problems. You need to express genuine concern for their issues, as well as helping to solve them.

2. Cooperation

Cooperation is especially important when you work on a team, where you will be required to partner with others to reach a common goal. However, even if you do not work on a team, cooperation is still necessary on those occasions when you are asked to work alongside colleagues to help achieve the goals of your organization.

3. Verbal and Written Communication

Verbal communication is the ability to express yourself using clear language that others can understand. You’ll need solid verbal communication skills whenever you speak to others in person or on the phone. Written communication comes into play whenever you write an email, text, letter, report, or presentation – here, appropriate grammar, spelling, and format are necessary.

4. Listening

Another important communication skill that helps you interact well with others is listening. You need to be able to listen carefully to what your employer tells you to do, to what your colleagues say in a meeting, and to what your employees ask of you. You must listen to clients’ concerns, and express to them that you have understood them. People respond well to others when they feel they are being heard.

5. Nonverbal Communication

While verbal communication is an important skill, so is nonverbal communication. Through your body language, eye contact, and facial expressions, you can express that you are an empathetic person who carefully listens to others.

Tips for Highlighting Your Soft Skills

First, make a list of the soft skills you have that are relevant to the job you want. Look at a list of soft skills, and circle the ones that you have. Then, compare your list of soft skills with the job listing. Which of these soft skills are mentioned in the listing? Which of these do you think would be most useful in this job? Make a list of three to five soft skills you have that are also needed for the job.

Then, include some of these soft skills in your resume. You can add them to a skills section (or a section titled “Transferable Skills”).

You can also use them as keywords throughout your resume, mentioning them in places such as your resume summary, and in descriptions of your duties for each job in your “Work History” section.

You can also mention these soft skills in your cover letter. Pick one or two soft skills you have that appear to be the most important for the job you’d like. In your cover letter, provide evidence that shows you have those particular skills.

Finally, you can highlight these soft skills in your interviews. You can mention examples of times you have displayed some of these skills in the past at work. However, you can also demonstrate your soft skills during the interview. For example, by being friendly and approachable during the interview, you’ll show your ability to interact with others. And by paying attention while the interviewer is talking, you will show your listening skills. These actions will demonstrate your soft skills clearly to the hiring manager.