A specific set of technical skills help you get hired but having the right soft skills is equally important to increase your chances of landing a job. These are behavioral skills and personality traits that help you shape your career. Many employers look for “culture fit” candidates that can keep up with the work environment. Some candidates look good on paper but they lack the essential soft skills to strike that much needed balance for long-term success.

What are soft skills?

Soft skills are your abilities to relate and interact with other people and your abilities to solve problems and handle situations at any given point.  More often, these skills are hard to teach. These are innate values and qualities that you acquired through time brought about by various sources like your family, peers, school, habits, among others.

Why are soft skills important?

Soft skills play a key role in writing your resume, in your preparation for interview, in performing your job, and in having success relating to people at work or outside of work. When you are job-hunting, you may find a list of soft skills that employers are looking for in various job posts. You may discover that you possess some of these soft skills. You may not match the profile in the job descriptions, but you may have the desired soft skills for the job. As you continue to look for a job, keep your resume updated to reflect the right soft skills required in the job that you are applying for. This way, you can catch employers’ attention and increase your chances of getting an invite for an interview where you can highlight your soft skills in answering the interview questions.

Soft skills in the hiring process

We identified five of the most important soft skills that employers are looking for when hiring talents.

1. Communication Skills

Your ability to communicate determines how you should speak in different situations or environment. Finding the right words to say whether you are agreeing or disagreeing with somebody is very important. Speaking with grace and tact is an important skill that employers put value on.

2. Problem-Solving Skills

In any aspect of your life, problem-solving is vital. In a work environment, your ability to identify problems and finding solutions is of optimal importance. This can be done by research, analysis, critical thinking, and wise decision-making. Showing your strength in this arena can earn you the seal of approval from your employer.

3. Creativity

Employees with creativity think of innovative ways on how to effectively perform their tasks, how to improve systems or processes, or even develop new means to grow the business. Employees with this kind of skill are valued assets in the company.

4. Adaptability

Changes are inevitable. The occurrence of these test your ability to adapt to any given situation or condition. Changes in the workplace, especially in the technology industry can happen swiftly and your ability to work under pressure and in varying circumstances is imperative. If you possess this quality, you will achieve success in your career.

5. Work Ethic

Work ethic is a set of values that are focused on the importance of work and how these are manifested in the quality of work that an employee shows. An employee with strong work ethic is highly motivated to perform his job well despite lacking in technical skills. He is eager to learn. He works well with others, produces timely and quality results, always available when needed, does his job with integrity, and goes the extra mile in performing his duties.

“Soft skills get little respect, but will make or break your career.”

– Peggy Klaus –