The degree-specific skills you acquire in school are essential for landing a job, but employers don’t just value these skills. Your personal characteristics, usually referred to as soft skills, are equally important.
As businesses seek to increase the value of their operations, soft skills are taking on more significance in the workplace. In a Wonderlic survey, it was discovered that 93% of hiring managers saw soft skills as either “essential” or “very important” when making hiring decisions. Additionally, a lot of companies said that soft skills were more significant than technical skills.
Soft skills are referred to as a personal attribute that supports situational awareness and enhances an individual’s ability to get a job done.
While certain soft skills can be learned, others are ingrained in your personality or work ethic. They can all provide you a competitive edge in the job market. You can gain an edge in the employment market by having any number of them.
A National Association of Colleges and Employers poll found that employers prioritised leadership and teamwork abilities over analytical and quantitative capabilities when looking for recent college graduates.
Here is a list of soft skills which are often in demand in the workplace according PeopleScout:
- Attitude
- Communication (both listening and speaking skills)
- Work ethic
- Teamwork
- Leadership qualities
- Time management
- Decision making
- Conflict resolution
- Critical thinking
- Networking
- Empathy
- Problem-solving
Soft skills are a crucial but elusive set of skills to look for since they are non-quantifiable professional qualities that can be challenging for hiring managers and other participants in the hiring process to evaluate in potential employees.
