Soft skills are a vital part of a resume and overall personality for a job interview and the workplace. It is a set of communication methods to interact with other people. It shows personal attributes, character features, and other skills. Soft skills are non-technical skills to work and communicate.
It is essential for every job aspirant and employee to know what are the 7 soft skills to crack that dream job or progress in the workplace. Listening, Communication and delegation are the main characteristics of soft skills.
There are two types of skill-sets: Hard Skills and Soft Skills
Hard skills are technical abilities such as MS Office, Data Science, AI etc., and Soft Skills are non-technical abilities. Hard Skills are easy to measure and explain. Soft Skills are difficult to measure with traditional parameters.
What are the 7 soft skills that employers look for in job applicants and employees in the office during the evaluation?
Seven Soft Skills
Communication Skills
Employees should be great at communication skills to excel in interviews and at the workplace. Recruiters value communication skill as the most crucial metric while hiring new candidates and promoting employees in the workplace.
Communication skills are of three types: Verbal Communication, Non-Verbal Communication and Visual Communication. Verbal Communication includes written and electronic variants.
Communication skill improves the understanding capacity, confidence at interview and workplace, and makes overall a friendly office environment. It is a two-way process where there is a speaker and listener. Listening is an essential part of building excellent communication skills. If you are not listening correctly or it is a one-way interaction, it will be completely ineffective.
Employees need to develop the following communication skills for an interview and the workplace:
Listening, Negotiation, Non-Verbal modes of interaction, Persuasion, Presentation before clients and senior management, Positive posture and gesture, public speaking and storytelling ability, content creation etc.
Critical Thinking
Employers expect job aspirants who can critically analyze the situation and develop a relevant and wise solution. Irrespective of any job, critical thinking is one of the most vital soft skills expected from job aspirants and employees.
Critical thinking applies in all jobs and professions, whether you are teaching, working with software or running a business.
Some of the essential skills associated with critical thinking are creativity, adaptability, observation, critical thinking, artistic aptitude, innovation, flexibility, logical analysis, research, optimum utilization of available resources, value proposition, learning aptitude, problem-solver etc.
Leadership
Another important soft skill to impress the interviewer and senior management at work. Though leadership skills are in every job description, it is expected from the candidate if there is scope for development in the job role.
An employee needs to develop leadership qualities to get promotions, incentives and appreciation from senior management during annual or quarterly evaluation.
Management always looks for employees who are ready to take on challenges and provide solutions in time. Not only at the workplace, but the recruiter also prefers leadership qualities and team management experience for job aspirants too.
Soft skills related to leadership quality are conflict management, deal-making, problem-solving, mentoring, encouraging, facilitation, concise feedback and brief delegation, virtual meeting management, supervising, coaching, and project handling.
Positive Attitude
The employee should always keep a positive attitude towards assignments, projects, targets and brainstorming sessions. Employers appreciate employees who are easily approachable, friendly to co-workers and ready to take on new challenges.
A positive attitude should be visible for job aspirants in their personality, not only on the resume. Body language should be confident and optimistic at the time of answering the interviewer or in group discussion.
Skills related to a positive attitude are being positive in high-stress projects, teamwork, energy, respectability, patience, friendly, enthusiasm for work and client servicing.
Teamwork
Teamwork is another significant soft skill for a successful career and workplace. The employee should develop teamwork skills to be more valuable to the company and fellow team members. Teamwork is required for effectively co-operate on group projects and timely execution of the assignments. It improves understanding of each other, helps learn new skills, and encourages a friendly office environment.
Soft skills associated with teamwork are negotiation skills. Dealing with complicated and challenging office situations, customer support, co-operation, feedback, acceptance of diversity, interpersonal relationship, empathy, social networking, persuasion etc.
Work Ethic
A strong work ethic proves an employee’s dedication, punctuality and organized character. If an employee or job aspirant wants to excel in their career interest, he/she has to develop a strong sense of work ethic. This soft skill will take the person to the height of their career.
It will be impressive if a job aspirant shows work ethics in interview rounds in terms of the presentation, punctual for an interview, organized in appearance and replies.
A careful listening of the interviewer or instructions of senior management is also related to a good work ethic. The employee should understand the brief and plan the project to complete within the timeline and budget.
Skills associated with work ethics are competitiveness, business acumen, attentiveness, multitasking, independence, organization, planning, persistence, working within deadlines and budget, following guidelines, dedication etc.
Adaptability
In the 21st Century world, companies are hiring ready and equipped people to adapt to new technologies. They should be flexible in accepting changes and improvising their skill-set. Today’s employees should be ever ready to change gears and fit themselves for new and challenging roles.
Organizations are becoming less hierarchical and agile; to adapt to this, employees need to be multi-tasker and quick learners. He/she should be ready to do several responsibilities and go outside of the comfort zone.
With these types, it must be understood what are soft skills and every job aspirant and employee should practice them.
Conclusion
Though soft skills are crucial, what if an employee or job aspirant does not have such skills? Learn these skills by observing co-workers and management. Make volunteer offers to participate in group activities, company events and group projects. Job aspirants can take a suitable course on soft skills. These institutes will explain what are the 7 soft skill and all the related information.
Learn a soft skill and be a valuable resource for the company; it will ensure your growth and position in the company.
