10 Soft Skills Your Employer Wants You to Have

Your employer expects you to have certain skills. While some skills are industry-specific, others are portable. Some of those skills fall under the category of soft skills. Typically, soft skills are social skills that involve organization, collaboration, and communication. Find out what soft skills your employer is looking for.

1. Communication

Every job requires some degree of communication. Whether you need to communicate with clients, colleagues, or superiors, you have to know how to be clear and informative. Your ability to listen also matters. If you lack communication, your employer can't trust you with day-to-day tasks.

2. Interpersonal Skills

Although some people lump communication and interpersonal skills together, they are two very different skills. The fact that you can communicate doesn't mean that you can work well with other people. You need to be able to connect with them and enjoy working together.

If you want to have more interpersonal skills, make an effort to socialize. You don't need to be in the workplace to develop interpersonal skills. All you need to do is talk to people and listen to what they have to say. If you make an effort to be pleasant, you can develop positive relationships.

3. Self-Awareness

If someone isn't self-aware, they won't be open to criticism or personal growth. So, an employer is always looking for employees who can look at themselves from a different point of view.

By being self-aware, a person is open to change. You can boost your skills by asking for feedback, meditating, and working to achieve goals. Always try to look at situations from another person's perspective.

4. Emotional Intelligence

While most people are concerned with their IQ, the EQ, or emotional intelligence, also matters. EQ includes social skills, self-management, and presence. If you can't handle your own emotions or take in the motions of your colleagues, you won't succeed.

One way to improve your emotional intelligence is to learn how to handle frustration. Rather than getting overwhelmed with a complication, you can react calmly. Your employer will appreciate your composure.

5. Adaptability

You could spend years in an industry, but still be unprepared for the future. With changes in technology and society, you can never know what to expect. It's important to be able to adapt to those changes and move forward.

An employer wants employees who embrace change and live up to the challenges. If you aren't adaptable, you need to find ways to develop the skill. If you're facing a change, don't think negative thoughts. Instead, focus on the positive and what you can accomplish. By letting negative thoughts in your head, you make it difficult to adapt.

6. Patience

Some things take time, so patience is essential in the workplace. If you can't be patient and set realistic goals, you won't be able to finish tasks. Your lack of patience could prevent jobs from being done the right way.

It's easier than you might think to improve this skill. Simply being mindful of your impatience will make a difference. If you have three things that you want to accomplish at one time, make a list of them. Pick one task and focus on that task alone. Although you might be eager to finish the other two tasks, your impatience will be forgotten.

7. Management

Even if you've never worked as a supervisor, you could have management experience. An employer cares more about your ability to manage projects than your ability to manage people.

Project management involves being organized and capable of planning. You should be able to take on a project without needing your employer to walk you through every step of the process.

8. Problem Solving

Every day, there are new challenges in the workplace. While you might be ready to handle some of those challenges, you won't be prepared for other challenges. You'll need to use your problem solving skills to overcome unexpected difficulties.

If you want to improve your problem solving skills, practice remaining calm and focused when things go wrong. Learn how to analyze situations and come up with better ways to accomplish goals.

9. Collaboration

At some point in your career, you'll need to collaborate with others. It might not be in your daily job description, but collaboration matters. You need to be open to the idea of working with other people and willing to accept help.

Collaboration also means assisting with things that may not typically fall under your job description. If a co-worker needs help with a project, will you be willing to assist? Show your employer that you can collaborate, and you'll go far in your career.

10. Conflict Resolution

No matter how hard you might try, you can't avoid conflicts. A client, team member, or employer might spark a conflict. If you don't know how to handle conflicts, you'll find it hard to do well in the workplace.

Think of the experiences you've had with conflicts. How have you dealt with those situations? Consider what you could have done to resolve the conflicts better, orale note of techniques that worked well for you.

How to Use Your Soft Skills to Get a New Job

If you're searching for a new job, your soft skills can help you. There's a good chance that a prospective employer will find your soft skills to be an asset. For that reason, you need to find ways to showcase your skills.

On your resume, include some of the soft skills under job experience. If you handled projects, list project management as a skill. Think about all your previous jobs and what soft skills you needed to perform your daily tasks.

If you get an opportunity to interview for the position, use the interview to highlight your soft skills. It's likely that the interviewer will ask you questions that help determine which skills you have. For instance, they may ask about a time you needed to work with someone to accomplish a goal. Be ready to answer those in a way that show off your soft skills.