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Identifying and Selling Your "Soft" Skills
Has your professional training kept you up-to-date with the skills you need as you
progress through your career? True, you may have undertaken lots of training and be at
the forefront of issues and developments within your area of expertise, but highly
successful professionals must also possess “soft” skills, which are becoming
increasingly sought after within most professions.
Many career moms – and women in general, worry about whether they will have good
jobs in the future. So how does this relate to you? Academic or technical abilities are
not the sole means to higher-level opportunities for most people. To climb the ladder,
you need to be able to clearly and concisely share your professional expertise with your
superiors.
If you fail to recognize the growing importance of soft skills, you might miss out on
excellent opportunities, so identify which skills you have by considering what you do
well and how you approach certain situations and problems.
What attributes are regarded as “soft” skills?
Soft skills can often seem so basic they are overlooked, but employers are increasingly
searching for more than a qualification:
Interpersonal skills:
These include the ability to lead, motivate and delegate. They are important at every
level of organizational responsibility and should always be evident. Being the best in a
particular area is not always enough to succeed unless you can combine this with the
ability to convince others that what you are doing is important.
Consider a time when you utilized your interpersonal skills to effectively communicate
your ideas to others and obtained their agreement, or when you developed a
relationship with a co-worker that you disliked in order to succeed for your company.
Team working:
There are two issues a team must consider as a group. First, and most commonly
addressed is the particular task at hand and problems that might be encountered in
completing it. The second and most overlooked consideration is the process of the
teamwork itself and what procedures will ensure the group works cohesively. By
acknowledging both of these issues, you will be able to clarify group objectives and
enhance your team-working capabilities.
Lack of evidence that you can work effectively as part of a team is a sure-fire way to
eliminate you from the recruitment process, so learn to demonstrate your team-working
skills by recalling, for example, a successful project of which you were a part, your role
within in, and the reason the project succeeded.
Communication skills:
The ability to communicate ideas to others effectively is absolutely an essential
requirement for many hiring managers.
The way you speak is even more influential to the person you are communicating with
than what you are actually saying, so think about your body language, posture, and tone
of voice when you talk. Always speak clearly and cohesively. Also, the ability to present
comprehensive written ideas will enable you to put forward professional documentation
of your thoughts, a highly regarded skill.
Communication is a two-way process, so listening is naturally an essential aspect.
Listening is more than just hearing what is being said. Effective listening encourages
others to listen to you and respond to what you say. If communication skills are an area
in which you could improve, set about identifying ways in which you could develop them.
How do I identify my soft skills?
Think about which soft skills you use in your current job – what would your manager say
were your strengths? These personal traits make you unique. Maybe you never miss a
deadline or perhaps you have a great attitude. Ask friends, family or colleagues to write
down your good and not-so-good traits and have a look at consistencies in their
responses.
Transferable skills
If you ever look to apply for jobs that are a bit different from your previous roles, you may
be put off with fear that you have no previous relevant experience. While in the strictest
sense, it could be true you have no exact experience, there may be aspects of the role
you have done in the past, but in a different context. Skills you have learned and
developed in one situation that could be used in a different situation are referred to as
“transferable skills”. After identifying these skills, you can see which would apply to the
job you are considering. Transferable skills can demonstrate more experience than you
might think!
Providing evidence of your skills
The demonstration of your key skills should be something that you do initially through
your resume, then follow on throughout the interviewing process, and should then be
ongoing through your working career.
Demonstrate your strengths by finding an example of when you used a certain skill.
Think about the what’s, when’s, why’s and how’s of every situation and this should help
to communicate your selling points and enhance your credibility.
Developing new skills
Continue to challenge new soft skill sets. Research tells us that continual learning
keeps our brains active and therefore our minds healthy. Few jobs exist that do not
require learning new skills regularly, and everyone can improve certain areas of their
soft skills capabilities.
By: NES Group
NES is a leading global technical recruitment business providing professionally
qualified contract staff to blue chip clients across the world in the oil and gas,
infrastructure, rail, power and IT sectors. Founded in 1978, a committed workforce has
facilitated the company's success and continues to ensure that NES experiences
ongoing growth in terms of customers, geography and sector.
Has your professional training kept you up-to-date with the skills you need as you
progress through your career? True, you may have undertaken lots of training and be at
the forefront of issues and developments within your area of expertise, but highly
successful professionals must also possess “soft” skills, which are becoming
increasingly sought after within most professions.
Many career moms – and women in general, worry about whether they will have good
jobs in the future. So how does this relate to you? Academic or technical abilities are
not the sole means to higher-level opportunities for most people. To climb the ladder,
you need to be able to clearly and concisely share your professional expertise with your
superiors.
If you fail to recognize the growing importance of soft skills, you might miss out on
excellent opportunities, so identify which skills you have by considering what you do
well and how you approach certain situations and problems.
What attributes are regarded as “soft” skills?
Soft skills can often seem so basic they are overlooked, but employers are increasingly
searching for more than a qualification:
Interpersonal skills:
These include the ability to lead, motivate and delegate. They are important at every
level of organizational responsibility and should always be evident. Being the best in a
particular area is not always enough to succeed unless you can combine this with the
ability to convince others that what you are doing is important.
Consider a time when you utilized your interpersonal skills to effectively communicate
your ideas to others and obtained their agreement, or when you developed a
relationship with a co-worker that you disliked in order to succeed for your company.
Team working:
There are two issues a team must consider as a group. First, and most commonly
addressed is the particular task at hand and problems that might be encountered in
completing it. The second and most overlooked consideration is the process of the
teamwork itself and what procedures will ensure the group works cohesively. By
acknowledging both of these issues, you will be able to clarify group objectives and
enhance your team-working capabilities.
Lack of evidence that you can work effectively as part of a team is a sure-fire way to
eliminate you from the recruitment process, so learn to demonstrate your team-working
skills by recalling, for example, a successful project of which you were a part, your role
within in, and the reason the project succeeded.
Communication skills:
The ability to communicate ideas to others effectively is absolutely an essential
requirement for many hiring managers.
The way you speak is even more influential to the person you are communicating with
than what you are actually saying, so think about your body language, posture, and tone
of voice when you talk. Always speak clearly and cohesively. Also, the ability to present
comprehensive written ideas will enable you to put forward professional documentation
of your thoughts, a highly regarded skill.
Communication is a two-way process, so listening is naturally an essential aspect.
Listening is more than just hearing what is being said. Effective listening encourages
others to listen to you and respond to what you say. If communication skills are an area
in which you could improve, set about identifying ways in which you could develop them.
How do I identify my soft skills?
Think about which soft skills you use in your current job – what would your manager say
were your strengths? These personal traits make you unique. Maybe you never miss a
deadline or perhaps you have a great attitude. Ask friends, family or colleagues to write
down your good and not-so-good traits and have a look at consistencies in their
responses.
Transferable skills
If you ever look to apply for jobs that are a bit different from your previous roles, you may
be put off with fear that you have no previous relevant experience. While in the strictest
sense, it could be true you have no exact experience, there may be aspects of the role
you have done in the past, but in a different context. Skills you have learned and
developed in one situation that could be used in a different situation are referred to as
“transferable skills”. After identifying these skills, you can see which would apply to the
job you are considering. Transferable skills can demonstrate more experience than you
might think!
Providing evidence of your skills
The demonstration of your key skills should be something that you do initially through
your resume, then follow on throughout the interviewing process, and should then be
ongoing through your working career.
Demonstrate your strengths by finding an example of when you used a certain skill.
Think about the what’s, when’s, why’s and how’s of every situation and this should help
to communicate your selling points and enhance your credibility.
Developing new skills
Continue to challenge new soft skill sets. Research tells us that continual learning
keeps our brains active and therefore our minds healthy. Few jobs exist that do not
require learning new skills regularly, and everyone can improve certain areas of their
soft skills capabilities.
By: NES Group
NES is a leading global technical recruitment business providing professionally
qualified contract staff to blue chip clients across the world in the oil and gas,
infrastructure, rail, power and IT sectors. Founded in 1978, a committed workforce has
facilitated the company's success and continues to ensure that NES experiences
ongoing growth in terms of customers, geography and sector.