Sell your soft skills and highlight these skills

F or any job opportunity, you need to check the boxes for education and experience. But when it comes to skills, don’t forget about soft skills.

What is a Soft Skill

Soft skills are the non-technical skills that help you work well. They support how you interact with colleagues, solve problems, and manage your work. Soft skills are a crucial indicator of how well you’ll get along in a workplace. The Balance Careers notes that hiring managers look for soft skills for a couple of reasons. Nearly every job includes some sort of interaction with other people. And soft skills are transferable, meaning they’re useful regardless of your role. Soft skills include: • Communication

• Listening

• Time management

• Empathy

• Work ethic

• Creativity

• Problem-solving

• Networking

• Teamwork

• Critical thinking Anything that helps you manage your time or work with others applies. These all benefit your productivity. These are key components when applying for a job. Also highlighting them in your resume and cover letter.

Highlight Your Soft Skills

You should always mention soft skills in an application and/or interview with your potential employer. Take a moment to think about positive interactions with other people in your professional life. Examples where you went the extra mile for a customer or diffused a tense situation are always good. And don’t forget about the times in which you helped out a colleague. Take notice how your attitude was when working through job situations. How you tackled the atmosphere in getting your job done.

A great way to highlight these skills is through a narrative. The Muse recommends the STAR method to tell stronger stories that highlight your skills. This means you describe a: • Situation

• Task

• Actions you took and the Result Using this framework will help guide your conversation, so you don’t miss any useful details. Business Insider demonstrates that people follow narratives more easily than bullet point information. With storytelling, interviewers are more likely to remember important details. Identify two or three of your top soft skills. Draft out personal examples of how these have helped you succeed. When thinking about why you’d be valuable to a company or business, remember that soft skills make you more employable. Keep this in mind, and you’ll be a stronger candidate at every opportunity.

Photo by iStock Sell and highlight those soft skills when seeking a job.