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Top 10 Soft Skills for Job Hunters

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Many might not know this, but having soft skills that count in today’s job market can give an applicant a critical edge over others. Now you may ask: what are “soft skills”? Well, “soft skills” is a term used to describe a combination of your personal qualities, social graces, attitudes as well as habits that makes you a great employee and someone that is compatible with others at work. And, the fact is employers value these skills as much as they do “hard” or “technical” skills.

This is more so the case when they consider the difficulty involved in encouraging people that lack such “soft skills” to develop them. Yes, employers believe it is better to hire someone with less technical skills and who possesses strong social skills than someone who is technically competent, but lacks social skills. The simple rationale behind this is that people who have the basic technical skills required for a job, but who also possess strong social skills can be easily trained regarding their technical inability to make up for this.

Alright if you are a job seeker here are ten important soft skills employers are looking for in their prospective employees below:

 

1. Strong work ethic

Managers do not have the luxury of time as well as resources to babysit their subordinates, so this skill is one that is required from every employee. Possessing this skill means that you are motivated plus dedicated in carrying out the job. In other words, you are reliable and the kind of person that takes initiative.

 

2. Team player

Another social skill that ranks high with employers is the ability to be a good team player. As a job-seeker you should ask yourself how well you performed when working with others on the job. Was your interpersonal skills an asset or in doubt? This applies even if you have never worked in any company before. This is because when you were in school you must have worked with others doing a group assignment, project, etc. So how well did you fare here?

 

3. Emotional intelligence

Even though this will probably never feature in anybody’s job description, emotional intelligence is a much sought after skill. It relates to your social abilities, social awareness plus self-management abilities. EI as it is otherwise known as is often revealed during actual interactions with the person that is hiring.

 

4. Problem-solving skills

One’s ability to make use of his/her creativity, reasoning, information, available resources as well as past experience to address and resolve current issues should not be taken for granted. As it saves valuable time that of the organization and everyone else that is involved. Include this in your resume if you have it by sighting an example when you exercised this social skill in the past.

 

5. Adaptability

Adapting to changes of all kinds in today’s rapidly changing business environment is important indeed. With it a person can learn and adjust to different situations like picking up on recent technologies or manage several tasks at the same time. You should equally endeavor to include this in your resume with proof.

 

6. Good communication skills

This involves more than just communicating in any particular language. If you have this social skill, then you will be a good listener plus communicate effectively through your writing as well as your words. One strong skill here is the ability to break-down difficult technical concepts into something that others like your coworkers, partners, and customers will understand.

 

7. Time management skills

Time is a resource many of us don’t get to manage very well. So can you prioritize tasks doing what needs to be done first before others? Or use your time wisely on different tasks?

 

8. Self-confidence

Self-confidence is a skill that says you can get the job done. It is the belief in one’s ability to the point where others are even inspired to be confident of their own abilities.

 

9. Teachability and accepting criticism

Accepting criticism and learning from same is not something that is very common. For those who can, this is a wonderful ability. And, it is definitely a skill that employers seek in their staff. Also, being teachable means you are an asset. You can learn new things and can be coached.

 

10. Performing well under pressure

If you are the kind of person that handles the stress that comes with the job very well, then know this: employers love you. Highlight this in your resume giving them a reason to believe you by sighting at least one instance when you proved yourself.

 

Author Bio: This post is written by Jason Phillips. He is a freelance writer and an entrepreneur. He generally writes on the topics relates to career in business management, business etc. He last wrote for LVN jobs Los Angeles.

 

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432 Responses

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