More and more often you can come across that soft skills are becoming essential and important to the employers and that is because in most of the business you are or will be, the first contact with the clients. If hard skills or the so-called technical skills help you show off your experience and ability to do your job, soft skills show your ability to work with others, to build relationships in the company, to grow and to help solve problems, and to use your hard skills to thief full extend. A combination and balance of hard and soft skills in the workplace will make you and your team more efficient and productive.
Some of the soft skills often required when obtaining a job or when you head over your CV are like time management, creativity, emotional intelligence, communication skills, teamwork, and showing leadership.
But what makes soft skills so important for employers?
For every employer, the success and the growth of their business are of extreme importance and that doesn’t only depend on the technical knowledge of their employees but also how employees interact with each other and the clients. Employees with soft skills are indicators of good team players, efficient managers and indicate longevity at a job and when hiring for a position most employers look for a sign that the applicant will stay at their company long-term.
Here is a better overview of the importance of the skills previously mentioned above.
Teamwork
If you’re applying for a position as part of a team, the hiring manager will judge your application partly based on how well you can fit into a group dynamic. This soft skill will be a way for the employer to measure your communication abilities and active listening. Being a team player means you are open to new ideas and feedback, you can respect different perspectives, and are comfortable working within a group. You can read more about the importance of the skills in our previous article
http://project-yei.eu/teamwork-competency-or-just-a-slogan/
Time management
This becomes a valuable soft skill especially at present when most people are working from home. Good time management skills help you to plan and manage your daily schedules and meet deadlines. Managing your time well makes you more efficient and productive.
Creativity
With the ability to think creatively and outside of the box, employees are more likely to come up with unique and innovative solutions to obstacles they encounter. Creative thinkers are also more likely to innovate and improve processes and systems within the company.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the capacity to understand and manage your emotions. The skills involved in emotional intelligence are self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills. Having these skills is a sign that you are collaborative empathetic and good at conflict resolution and at building positive relationships at work
Leadership
Having leadership skills means possessing all other soft skills and use them to effectively manage people. Show employers that you have leadership capabilities by highlighting the soft skills on your CV show the employer that you are able to analyze what kind of leadership strategies the team needs to succeed and implement different strategies for each set making you an excellent manager.
These are only a few of the skills from a long list. Now how can you improve and/or develop soft skills?
By being aware of your strengths and weaknesses, create a plan of action for improvement, self-reflection and being honest with yourself. Because soft skills encompass a relatively large category, there are a number of ways to develop or enhance these skills and some of them are working with a mentor, focusing on improving communication by taking courses in subjects that are related to the skills you want to develop or improve, hiring and paying a coach who can help you, being positive and willing to work on yourself
All these suggestions, including changing your mindset so you are able to see the positive in situations that can have a significant impact on how you interact with others and considering that soft skills can influence your ability to give a great presentation and communicate your speaking points effectively in front of the hiring manager or employer.
Soft skills help employees fully utilize their hard skills. Skills such as conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, time management, and working well under pressure are critical in the workplace.
Employees with soft skills make for good team players and efficient managers. They are good at building relationships and are easier to get along with. They also make for good ambassadors of your brand and have the potential to grow in their role and at your company.