Make Yourself a Winner and Land (Endear Recruiters with Soft Skills)
The job search process is challenging and (if we are honest), colleges and universities don’t teach us enough about employability. They teach us what we need to know once we are employed, but not how to get hired in the first place.
They don’t teach us the soft skills employers are looking for. For this reason, finding a job can be a puzzling endeavor for new graduates.
Yes, a hard-earned degree and technical skills on your resume have their weight. However, a diploma or degree on its own is not enough to guarantee your dream job. Technical expertise and soft skills are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without having the other. They are both essential to your career and professional success.
Career success in our ever-changing world requires more than technical skills and expertise. You need to build upon your soft skills to be more successful in the workplace.
Technical skills have their perks and vary by industry. Soft skills permeate every profession and industry. Ergo, having only a degree and technical abilities in your arsenal will make you shorthanded.
Let’s say you have your dream job all figured out before graduation. It may be challenging to land interviews without demonstrating a few soft skills on your CV and explaining how you developed them. A soft skill here and there is all you need to give yourself a winning edge.
So, what soft skills do you need?
The tactic is to understand how best to demonstrate and strategically add your soft skills to your resume or CV.
For example, use this time-tested format for all your bullets:
Accomplished X by DOING Y, which resulted in Z.
See as demonstrated below:
1. Lowered hospital mortality rate in 20XX by 5% by coaching and mentoring nurses in new care protocols, translating into 47 lives saved compared to 20XX.
2. Decreased emergency response time by 15% by implementing agile workflows and ongoing staff retraining, leading to quicker patient care.
The bold texts: for example, if they were the required soft skills, it means you’ve been able to show how you possess those skills, which is better than merely listing them in a “Skills” section, as
- Mentoring
- Coaching
- Training
- Agile methodology (can pass as a soft or hard skill)
Merely listing soft skills doesn’t answer or address how you ‘applied’ such skills.
This article explores 14 soft skills recruiters look for on a CV (or resume) and required for workplace success.
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are basic interpersonal, social, or people skills that allow employees to interact positively. They are non-technical skills that enable people to interact effectively with others in an organization.
Soft skills are unique personal attributes that (largely) depend on emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Unlike hard skills, soft skills are transferable across roles and industries.
Although these skills are innate in individuals, they can be learned through constant discipline and practice. Developing soft skills leads to better productivity, workplace advancement, and organizational/personal success.
Soft skills are not job-specific. They apply to any profession and greatly complement hard skills. With soft skills, you can work with people from diverse backgrounds and interact on a higher level. Think of it as a box of great fortune.
Why Are Soft Skills Valuable to Organizations?
Hiring managers seek applicants with soft skills because they know that soft skills are the foundation of success. Organizations consider soft skills essential and valuable because they:
- Improve collaboration and teamwork
- Build strong relationships with clients
- Build leadership potential
- Resolve conflicts and create healthy work environments
- Increase productivity
- Improve company culture
- Prevent poor public and market perceptions
- Help employees increase their value and improve their chances of success in their careers
- Enhance job performance
More importantly, as our society advances, soft skills will be needed in the future. The Global Leadership Speaker and Futurist (Onyi Anyado) elaborates more on this topic in this three-minute video:
Top Valuable Soft Skills in Demand for 2024
In 2024, soft skills are more critical than ever for a job seeker. Even if you know the career path you want to follow, you must have soft skills to help you adapt and drive career advancement. So, to land your dream job straight after graduation, you’ll first need to build on your soft skills.
This section outlines the soft skills required and prioritized by organizations in 2024. With that in mind, the top soft skills to learn include:
- Communication Skills
- Interpersonal Skills
- Teamwork Skills
- Leadership Skills
- Organization Skills
- Time-management skills
- Active Learning
- Problem-Solving Skills
- Computer Skills
- Discipline
- Flexibility Skills
- Creativity Skills
- Consistency
- Conflict management skills
These required soft skills are helpful, no matter what field you aim to work in. In addition, with these good soft skills in (the skills section of) your CV, you’ll have more excellent opportunities if you switch career paths later.
Strong Communication Skills
Clear communication (verbal, nonverbal, or written) is a key soft skill and a critical component in the workplace. It is the basis for every interaction and collaboration between colleagues. Communication is vital to other soft skills, such as teamwork, interpersonal, and negotiation skills.
Communication skills involve active listening and paying attention to nonverbal cues. Strong communication skills involve the ability to convey ideas and messages clearly and compellingly. They also involve understanding the needs and opinions of others and giving/responding to constructive feedback.
Workplace communication takes several forms: face-to-face, email, telephone, virtual meetings, etc. Each style has its place in the corporate world and can be classified as verbal and nonverbal communication, respectively.
Nonverbal communication is about listening to others. For example, making eye contact to show you are paying attention to someone or nodding your head to show a positive attitude towards someone speaking. Verbal communication is about relaying information to others orally. Here, the focus is on your tone and choice of words.
Practical communication skills are necessary to interact and build strong relationships with teammates, stakeholders, or clients. This skill is valuable and critical for professional success, especially when working with teams. For example, you can say you are good at public speaking or written communication.
Just as you need to understand others, others must also understand you. This cannot be possible without good communication skills. If you want to communicate effectively, you have to be open. No one can read your mind. Communicating makes it possible to collaborate effectively on (business) projects and work effectively.
Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills are the character traits and social abilities that help you navigate social situations. These soft skills consist of certain personality traits and attributes that make you work effectively with a team (or colleagues). They make you sensitive to others, build trust, confront challenges (as a leader), and connect with others.
Interpersonal skills examples include;
- Clear and effective communication
- Empathy
- Friendliness
- Respect
- Patience
- Humility
- Responsibility, etc.
A person with these skills is a social butterfly and pleasant to be around. He/she values the contributions of team members, has a good work ethic, and leaves a positive impression wherever he/she goes. Organizations value these soft skills because people who have them can lead others, collaborate smoothly, interact with others, communicate, avoid conflict, and manage unexpected challenges.
That sounds great.
Although you may not have such soft skills, it’s not the end of the road. You may not be able to snap your fingers and have this skill, but you can develop interpersonal skills through practice and everyday life experiences. You just need to have (a high degree of) emotional intelligence. Developing these soft skills allows you to interact effectively across professional and personal contexts.
Teamwork Skills
Teamwork is a big part of organizational culture in every industry. Organizations need individuals who can work as a team to enhance productivity and achieve goals. So, demonstrating this soft skill on your CV or during interviews will put you on steady ground.
Teamwork skills require collaboration, individual commitment, and communication, among others. It is the ability to work with a team towards being productive about a shared goal. Teamwork involves the ability to communicate, understand multiple perspectives, and create/maintain relationships.
Good teamwork encourages team players to brainstorm and share ideas in a professional setting, fostering and maximizing creativity, initiative, and innovation. This soft skill is critical and essential for a harmonious workplace and human connection.
People with teamwork skills can work seamlessly (on group projects) with others because they see success as a shared achievement. Therefore, they are sought after because they are more likely to contribute to organizational success.
Leadership Skills
Leadership is a crucial component of long-term success in every organization. No matter the role you apply for, recruiters favor applicants with strong leadership skills. Candidates with such skills can manage operations, workers, and teams. Companies want to know that the person they’re hiring can grow within the company.
Being a leader means having certain qualities that inspire others. There are many definitions of what a leader should (and shouldn’t) be. However, a good leader can mentor, handle responsibilities efficiently, lead by example, convey clear ideas, and manage emotions for the common good.
The hallmarks of effective leaders include:
- Decision-making
- Guidance
- Confidence
- Cultural intelligence
- Initiative
- Trustworthiness
- Problem-solving
- Reliability
- Motivating others
- Mentorship
Leadership (as a soft skill) involves critical thinking, active listening, attention to detail, emotional intelligence, open-mindedness, understanding, innovation, and empathy. As a leader, you should be able to respect people’s opinions, manage new projects, delegate tasks, be an effective communicator, and respond well to constructive feedback.
Good leadership skills increase productivity. Therefore, having leadership skills (as part of the important soft skills) on your resume will make you stand out to recruiters.
Organization Skills
Learning to manage your time effectively and prioritize tasks is an essential job skill. This is particularly true as more companies are adopting remote working.
How do you demonstrate organizational skills in the dedicated skills section of your resume or during an interview?
Consider setting yourself a measurable goal external to your university studies, like organizing a fundraiser, a college paper, or weekly meetings. Completing your project successfully will demonstrate organizational skills such as planning, team management, and attention to detail.
Alternatively, prepare a 30- 60- 90-day plan to discuss during interviews.
Time-management Skills
It’s very easy to get overwhelmed by work, and this can often lead to missed deadlines. Recruiters want potential employees whom they can rely on. Therefore, Time management is one of the many key soft skills (and a work ethic) that should be on your resume.
Time management is working on a project or task by prioritizing, organizing, and being time-conscious. It is the ability to remain focused, avoid distractions, designate a timeline across different (business) activities, and manage time wisely.
Time management skills are what make a person more efficient at project management. Therefore, good time management skills require discipline (most of all) and planning.
This soft skill naturally enables you to identify the importance of one task over another and avoid anxiety, overworking, and stress. Those who possess this skill are seen as more efficient, reliable, and independent.
Time management is vital (and essential) across all professions. Whether you’re working with a team, solo, at the office, or remotely, it doesn’t matter. Time management is crucial to professional and personal development.
Active Learning
Learning doesn’t stop when you graduate. On the contrary, the most successful professionals continue learning throughout their careers. The difference is that, after graduation, learning takes place in a more active and practical form.
Active learning as a soft skill is constantly evaluating yourself and identifying where you need to improve. You can achieve this through;
- Active listening
- Critical thinking
- Seeking feedback from colleagues or friends
- Applying for training programs
- Team collaboration, etc.
When you strive to acquire more knowledge, you’ll experience more job satisfaction. For this reason, active learners are more likely to get hired and succeed. Sometimes, they can establish relationships with people who can mentor or connect them.
It all depends on whether you have a fixed or growth mindset, which Adam Danyal beautifully illustrates in his post on LinkedIn. Employees must learn to adapt to evolving workplaces, new technologies, and something as extreme as working through a global pandemic.
Problem-Solving Skills
Problems and challenges are frequent (and constant) in life and work. Having problem-solving abilities is a great advantage that will make you more appealing to recruiters. Solving problems is an essential skill that can power up your resume. Employers love to see problem-solving abilities (as a job skill) on a CV.
Problem-solving is a soft skill that involves analyzing obstacles in different situations and devising alternative solutions. It involves identifying the root cause of a problem, devising new solutions, and nipping it in the bud, which makes it easier to make more informed decisions.
Soft skills examples for problem-solving include;
- Critical thinking skills
- Deductive reasoning
- Strategic thinking
- Brainstorming
- Lateral thinking
- Analysis
- Troubleshooting, etc.
Solving problems is a skill that requires focus, attention to detail, perspective, and the ability to address complex issues. Candidates with problem-solving skills can approach problems calmly and tackle them logically, which allows jobs to get done faster, smooth teamwork, and optimal production.
Problem-solving applies to problems ranging from simple tasks (like interpersonal conflicts) to complex (business) issues. Hence, the ability to solve problems is vital for professional development.
Computer Skills
In our modern world, computer and digital literacy have become essential soft skills in all industries.
You’re guaranteed to have a certain amount of computer work in whichever sector you want to work in. Even if the jobs you’re applying for are predominantly active rather than office-based, employers want to know that you can handle basic computer-based tasks. For example, web development, graphic design, typing, or data entry are computer skills.
In the 21st century, you should be proficient in various software, platforms, and applications for project management, data analysis, etc. Highlighting such knowledge on your resume will mark you as very skilled.
If 2024 has proved one thing, it is that companies value employees who can thrive in a virtual workplace, regardless of their professions. They favor applicants adept at navigating digital tools and handling basic computer-based tasks.
Discipline
Employers also look for a strong work ethic. They want to know whether you will turn up and meet deadlines or call in sick at the first sign of stress.
Did you turn up to every lecture and tutorial throughout your studies?
Did you submit every assignment on time?
Your interview is the place to sing about it. Your university tutors or current employer will be the best character references for this position.
Flexibility Skills
Change can occur very quickly and flexibility might be your trump card in these (changing) times. In the business space, being able to bend without breaking (as well as comprise) will help you stay ahead of the curve.
For example, employers may need fully or partially remote staff to work from home or in an office.
Likewise, new sustainable business policies are likely to cause more changes. Therefore, employers want to know that their future workers will adapt to meet demands.
Flexibility skills refer to the ability to adjust and adapt to new situations and changing circumstances or demands.
Flexibility and adaptability go hand in hand. You cannot be flexible if you lack adaptability and adapting is impossible without flexibility.
Adaptability is the ability to positively adjust to present changes no matter the emotions you feel or the multiple chemical signals from your brain.
People with flexibility (and adaptability) can bounce back faster from the unexpected and learn new skills where (and when) necessary. They can read the room, take in new information, maintain calmness, and act accordingly.
Therefore, make it a point to acquire this soft skill and highlight it on your resume. The best way to show flexibility during the interview is to ask intelligent questions and answer unexpected questions correctly.
Creativity Skills
Creativity is essential for all jobs, and no company has come as far as it has without it. It sparks invention and innovation.
For example, if you’re in sales or marketing, creative skills can help you invent new products that meet consumers’ needs or new (and exciting) ways of marketing. Also, you can channel creativity into writing, graphic design, or programming.
Creativity is imagining beyond what you know, improving processes, and seeing things from various angles. Creativity skills involve thinking outside the box, generating new ideas, and exploring endless possibilities.
Creative people have different thought processes that help them achieve new possibilities and develop new systems. They give organizations a competitive edge by creating new, exciting products or services.
The soft skills required for creativity include;
- Critical thinking
- Curiosity
- Openness
- Risk-taking
Consistency
No one wants an employee who works perfectly only one out of five days a week. Consistency is the basis for any successful company, so employers must know they can depend on you.
Because of the nature of university studies, a degree doesn’t prove you’re a reliable worker. You were dedicated because you stuck with your course for at least three years. However, the hiring manager doesn’t know if you worked consistently every week or crammed hard before the examination date.
Instead, an external project, volunteering, or working a part-time job while studying is a better indicator of consistency.
Conflict management skills
Conflict naturally occurs in the workplace due to opposing ideas or a clash of interests. It is not uncommon, but it isn’t good for the work environment. Hence, conflict management skills are needed, especially in a team or leadership role.
Conflict management skills are the ability to constructively address disagreements or disputes between the people or parties involved. This soft skill involves weighing available options and considering potential outcomes for effective conflict resolution.
Conflict management skills involve communicating with others, welcoming feedback, empathy, critical thinking, attention to detail, de-escalation, and negotiation.
Conflict resolution begins with identifying shared interests and a willingness to find common ground and maintain peace. This will help strengthen relationships and establish a sense of unity in the workplace.
Companies want potential employees who can demonstrate this soft skill on their resumes and at their jobs. So, being adept at conflict resolution is something you should learn.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Are Examples Of Soft Skills In The Workplace
The essential soft skills vary depending on the industry or job descriptions. However, examples of soft skills required in the workplace generally include
- Communication
- Teamworking Skills
- Leadership Skills
- Interpersonal Skills
- Time-management
- Problem-Solving Skills
- Flexibility Skills
- Creativity Skills
What Are Examples Of Soft Skills To Put On A Resume
There are many soft skills to highlight on your resume. However, you can put the following soft skills on your resume;
- Communication
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Problem-solving
- Work ethic
- Adaptability
- Creativity
- Leadership
- Cultural competence
What Are Examples Of Soft Skills Training
Soft skills training focuses on forging skills like teamwork, communication, and consistency. Additional soft skills include emotional intelligence, discipline, and work ethic.
What Are Examples Of Soft Skills And Hard Skills
Soft skills are interpersonal and transferable skills that can enhance work performance. On the other hand, hard skills are technical capabilities and measurable skills. They are learnable and mostly job-specific. Examples of hard skills include;
- Programming skills
- Microsoft Office
- Social Media Marketing
- Recruiting
- Sales
- Bookkeeping
- Spoken languages
- Interpreting data
- Software development
- Financial planning, etc.
Examples Of Soft Skills For a Resume
Soft skills for a resume can range from communication to conflict management, teamwork, time management, presentation skills, and others.
What Are Soft Skills Examples?
Soft skill examples include problem-solving, discipline, empathy, adaptability, and initiative.
How to Include Soft Skills in Your Resume or Cover Letter
- Use keywords
- Use (attention-grabbing) action verbs
- Be honest
- Provide soft skills that relate to the job description
- Sprinkle your soft skills in the soft skills section on your resume
- Narrate your soft skills in your cover letter and provide specific examples
- Highlight soft skills in bullet points
Level Up Your Soft Skills: They Are Your Superpowers
You’d expect to find a job instantly after graduation. Unfortunately, this isn’t always true with young professionals like you. Expectations don’t always end up as reality.
Without the right orientation or guidance, you may make costly mistakes. You’ll struggle to get your first job without essential employability skills, references, or professional connections.
However, this isn’t meant to spook you out or discourage you. On the contrary, your fortune might turn around with the help of this article. You don’t need to wait until graduation to gain these essential job skills.
Start now!
The job search and hiring process is a fierce competition meant only for the best candidate(s). So, start by identifying your career trajectory, the soft and hard skills you possess, and the ones you need to add to your arsenal. You can take steps to acquire them through part-time employment, voluntary work, or personal projects.
So fear not! If you’ve come this far down this post, that means you are fully equipped with the knowledge to hack the job search process.
You are closer to achieving your dream job and that is a big win. When you fully understand how soft skills are crucial to your career, you’ll be able to develop them and maximize your career trajectory.
Now go forth! Your career journey awaits.
Cheers!
Not sure where to start? Check out the 40+ resume templates and the free resume builder CVJury has prepared for you.
If you want more employability tips and recommendations, check the CVJury blog.
