I became anxious and was unable to aggressively address the crucial points during a progress review meeting in front of our company’s senior executive.
Later, I felt embarrassed about the same.
For several days, I was even unable to recover from the shame syndrome hangover.
On that day, I came to the realization that I needed to work on my presentation skills.
A soft skill, that!
That day, I also came to the realization that having some soft skills is necessary for success in a company, regardless of how strong your technical skills are.
Is it just for my situation?
Employers now consider an applicant’s soft skills when choosing a candidate for a specific position.
Nowadays, soft talents are more in demand than ever.
According to a Deloitte Access Economics report, by 2030, two-thirds of all jobs would need soft skills.
But what precisely is driving this pattern?
The workplace is undergoing fast change. Digital innovations are changing the way we work, and the skills required for the new occupations they are creating are evolving at a similar rate. Therefore, it seems natural that businesses would want their employees to display new talents in order for them to succeed when faced with obstacles that perhaps the previous generation wasn’t likely to experience.
But what exactly is the soft skill we discussed?
A broad range of transferable skills known as “soft skills” are mostly concerned with how you interact with other people. They comprise interpersonal, social, communicational, emotional, and human resource skills. They are also challenging to teach and quantify.
Hard skills, in comparison, are simple to teach and assess, as you may already be aware. They are made up of skills that can more easily be learned through formal education and training and are frequently occupation-specific. Technical abilities, computing capabilities, and language abilities are a few examples.
Does this also happen to you?
You’re in the thick of your job search and are certain that you are a strong contender. Why? That’s simply because you possess all the qualifications for the position, including industry knowledge and technical skill.
But after a few days, you learned that someone with less experience than you had been hired, and you weren’t even invited for the interview.
You need to change the way you think since soft skills are what make job seekers stand out from the competition.
Key soft skills are more crucial than ever, with some going to the top of recruiters’ wish lists in 2022, as soft skills are becoming the new normal in terms of the employment market, which involves a lot more remote work.
93% of employers, according to Ian Siegel, co-founder, and CEO of ZipRecruiter, say “soft skills play a crucial influence in their decision about whom they want to hire.”
Don’t you think it’s important to develop these soft skills in order to advance your career and achieve great success? I’m sure you do.
That is why you are reading this right now.
According to LinkedIn’s 2019 Global Talent Trends study, soft skills are still in high demand. In a poll of recruiting managers, 92% of them stated that soft skills are equally crucial to hard skills or perhaps more so. Soft skills are of “paramount importance” for the global work environment, according to a study that was published in the International Journal of Applied Management and Technology.
Despite the fact that these are soft talents, it will be difficult for you to excel at work without them.
After looking through the portals of various recruiters, you will see why soft skills are so important when you consider the questions that employers frequently ask.
This is because the world is changing quickly in the wake of COVID-19.
1. Do they have the desire to learn?
The soft skill that employers today look for the most is a willingness to learn. Hiring managers are looking for someone who will be proactive, take charge of their own personal development, and share that development with others. Whatever the sector, big and small firms alike respect employees who want to stay abreast of developments that are pertinent to their line of work. Your self-awareness is further demonstrated by this. Your expertise will advance to recognizing new gaps by keeping an eye on changes within your sector.
2. Do they comprehend our clients?
Consumer behavior has changed as a result of technology. Businesses are now focusing on user behavior and the customer experience while developing their products and services.
3. Are they changeable?
Employers seek candidates who can step outside of their comfort zone and view change as a chance for advancement and creativity. Being able to accept and adapt is crucial since the modern workplace today frequently requires workers to adjust to new environments.
4. Do they possess great communication and interpersonal skills? A crucial component of advancing in your job is learning new things and coming up with clever solutions to problems, but they will be lost if you can’t communicate. 5. How well-organized is this person?
Employers need people who can organize their time with attention to detail so that production is maximized, deadlines are met, and all resources are coordinated flawlessly. The world of work can occasionally be unpredictable, whether this is due to budget cuts or being more cost-conscious in this economy. No matter the circumstance, they want you to maintain your concentration as an employee.
Don’t you believe that now is the perfect moment to develop the top soft skills that employers will be seeking in 2022?
1. Innovative thinking and creative problem-solving
The soft skill that employers are looking for the most in today’s workforce is a willingness to learn. Hiring managers look for candidates who are proactive, take charge of their own personal development, and express this to others. Regardless of the industry, both big and small firms respect employees who want to stay current on changes and trends that are pertinent to their line of work.
This further demonstrates your self-awareness. Your ability to identify new gaps in your sector and perhaps attempt to fill them will grow as a result of keeping an eye on changes inside it.
2. Capability to communicate
As previously said, my lack of communication skills caused me to feel uncomfortable during a presentation. It’s important to be able to communicate with clients and team members at all times, not just when you’re attempting to make a point. Strong communication skills are more important than ever because the majority of contact now takes place via emails, chats, videos, or phone conference calls. It will be well worth your time and money to take a class on effective communication techniques. It’s one of the most important soft talents for any position, in any field. Find a strategy to highlight it on your resume and in your interview if you already believe it to be one of your strongest qualities.
3. Managing time
For many organizations and recruiting managers, switching to a full- or partial work-from-home environment required a significant leap of faith. Would their teams actually produce outside of the office? Time management evolved to become a soft talent that swiftly ascended to the top of many recruiters’ priority lists since it lacks the inherent discipline that an office day at work provides. Knowing how to organize your schedule on a daily and broader scale to complete jobs on time and effectively is known as time management. By eliminating trips at both ends of the day, working from home can really save individuals time, but it can also add a lot of distractions. How well are you able to concentrate on your task and manage your time?
4. A philosophy of growth
A growth attitude is what, then? Professionals with a growth mindset are driven to excel by always picking up new abilities in order to keep up with a market that is changing. In essence, it involves adaptability and a willingness to move beyond the soft and hard abilities you presently possess. You must be able to develop and adapt to changes in your industry and the wider job market if you want to have a successful career. A growth attitude is crucial given the mechanization of businesses and occupations. Showcase your growth attitude by pointing out occasions where you took the initiative to learn a new skill to improve yourself or your job.
5. Emotional quotient
The capacity to recognize, assess, and react to your own emotions as well as those of others is known as emotional intelligence. This indicates that you have the capacity to consider others and the interpersonal interactions that form at work with empathy. Another soft talent that has new significance for 2022 is this one. As we try to deal with the pandemic, stress, grief, and frustration are everywhere. Knowing how to sense your coworkers’ feelings and respond with compassion is crucial while dealing with everything from new work-from-home obstacles to lost loved ones or other serious issues. In fact, according to a CareerBuilder survey, 71% of employers prioritize emotional intelligence in employees over intelligence quotient, and 75% are more inclined to promote someone with a higher EQ than someone with a higher IQ.
6. Collaboration
Collaboration with coworkers is more difficult than it first appears. People who don’t trust others to complete their tasks because they think they know how to do them can lead to conflict in the workplace and reduce productivity. You now need to be able to perform all of these tasks while being away from your coworkers’ workspace. It’s challenging to develop the ability to trust others, collaborate, and offer and accept suggestions, but if you can, you’ll be miles ahead of the competition. By highlighting your capacity to collaborate with others on your resume, you can highlight your best soft abilities in this area. During the interview, you ought to emphasize it as well. Exhibit enthusiasm for accepting suggestions from teammates and enhancing your team’s effectiveness overall by utilizing each member’s unique abilities.
7. Flexibility
Even without the challenges of 2020, change is a significant aspect of the workplace today. We constantly change our ways of doing things due to the lightning-fast evolution of technology. The extent to which jobs have changed and will continue to change as 2022 approaches are amazing when the additional problems of the previous year are taken into account. Consider all the recent changes that have taken place. Many workplaces transitioned from entirely in-house employment to partially or entirely remote labor. Today, working and collaborating online is the norm, and video conferencing is a common occurrence. Workers have had to adjust to new procedures, new technology, and new ways of thinking as a result of all of these factors.
8. Listening actively
An excellent listener is adored by everyone. It shouldn’t be challenging, but for many people, it is – particularly in a distant setting. More than merely paying close attention, active listening involves showing interest in the topic by nodding and expressing small things like “Okay” or “I get that.” It also entails posing inquiries, maintaining eye contact, and refraining from passing judgment. More than merely paying close attention, active listening involves showing interest in the topic by nodding and expressing small things like “Okay” or “I get that.” It also entails posing inquiries, maintaining eye contact, and refraining from passing judgment.
9. Having Leadership Quality
Actually, leadership abilities are a synthesis of all the other soft abilities. When you combine these, you get a person who can lead the team, improve the other members of the team, and work effectively with the group as a whole. While teamwork, emotional intelligence, a growth mindset, communication skills, and creativity are all important traits that can help you become a great employee, leadership abilities will take you much further. Bring up any experience you have with managing large projects on your CV and in job interviews.
Bring up any experience you have with managing large projects on your CV and in job interviews. Show the hiring firm that you’re not just wanting to punch in and punch out, but rather that you’re a candidate who is prepared to take on this position and develop into a future leader within the organization. This makes you an appealing investment.
Conclusion:
Soft skills are necessary for every position in the modern workforce, from cashier to CEO. You’ll stay in the lead if you learn to take care of yours and showcase them for companies to view. Who doesn’t want to be extremely successful, after all? All of us do. The moment is ripe to carefully consider the list of the top soft talents and consider which ones you already possess and which ones you still need to develop in order to advance your career. You’ll figure it out on your own.
It is found most relevant to conclude with Emanuel James Rohn, professionally known as Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker’s quote
“Take advantage of every opportunity to practice your communication skills so that when important occasions arise, you will have the gift, the style, the sharpness, the clarity, and the emotions to affect other people.”
-End-
