BY SUSAN RICKER CAREERBUILDER Have you ever gone to a job interview and felt like you were the perfect fit for the job, only to find out the company hired someone else? While you may have possessed the right technical skills for the role, there’s a chance another set of skills determined the employer’s hiring decision: soft skills. The attributes that make up your personality and “emotional intelligence quotient” are often characterized as soft skills, or the traits that you excel at and naturally enjoy. Identifying your own soft skills, as well as understanding the ones employers often look for, can strengthen your job search and allow you to present yourself as the total package. SKILLS EMPLOYERS WANT Some soft skills are better suited to a job than others, but there are a number of common traits that most employers are seeking. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ “Job Outlook 2013,” employers have common preferences in the soft skills they’re looking for in an employee. When asked what skills and qualities employers want to see, employers’ top five picks were: 1. leadership 2. problem-solving skills 3. written and verbal communication skills 4. the ability to work in a team 5. analytical/quantitative skills. IDENTIFYING THOSE SKILLS In order to know which soft skills you possess, it’s easiest to start by asking others. “Often, those around us have a clearer picture of our strengths, including our soft skills, than we have of our own,” says Lindsay Witcher, practice development manager at RiseSmart, an outplacement and career wellness company in San Jose, Calif. “Ask a couple of people with whom you have worked in the past, a couple friends or anyone else who knows you well. Ask not only what they think your soft skills are, but for examples of where they have seen you successfully use those skills. Concrete examples are key. Anyone can say they have a skill; only those who truly have them can discuss ways in which they have successfully demonstrated those skills.” Next, look inward at what you know you’re good at. “Take a look at your accomplishments,” Witcher says. “A necessary exercise in any job search is to identify key accomplishments, particularly solving problems or overcoming challenges. Once you have identified yours, break them down into the skills you used, specifically honing in on the soft skills you leveraged to help you achieve these accomplishments. Perhaps your stellar communication skills allowed you to negotiate a better contract for your company. By starting with your accomplishments and working backward to identify which skills you used, you will have a clear picture of which soft skills are your strongest.” PUT YOUR SKILLS TO WORK After identifying your soft skills, it’s time to put them to work for you. “I think the trick in communicating soft skills can be summed up as ‘show, not tell,’” says Alex Zorach, founder and editor of RateTea, who used previous experience and examples on his résumé to effectively demonstrate his soft skills. “In other words, you need to demonstrate something highly specific. I like to look for my biggest specific accomplishments that communicate a skill. Anyone can list a skill like ‘communication,’ ‘teamwork,’ or ‘learns new skills quickly,’ so merely listing things this general is meaningless. More explanation is necessary.” “For example, I once had a summer job in college, when I had no prior experience in databases,” Zorach continues. “By the end of the summer, I had designed a database that ran part of the fiscal office, and I had references backing this up and a schema showing the complexity of the database. This demonstrated creativity, ability to learn new skills quickly, (and ability to) design a product for use by others. (It) helped me pick up clients doing database design.” Demonstrating both your technical and soft skills can show employers that you are well-rounded and have what it takes to get the job done. Susan Ricker is a writer and blogger for CareerBuilder and its job blog,TheWorkBuzz. She researches and writes about job search strategy, career management, hiring trends and workplace issues.
Posted on: Wed, 16 Oct 2013 19:18:16 +0000
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