Selling Your Soft Skills

According to the 2019 National Skills Gap Survey, out of 500 executives surveyed, 44% of them responded that a lack of soft skills as a major problem when hiring employees. Focusing on your soft skills is a way to really make your resume stand out among a sea of applicants. In fact, CareerBuilder emphasizes that soft skills aren’t those skills that aren’t as noticeable. They are skills that are transferable, interpersonal, and social. No matter your profession, soft skills are useful to all kinds of employers and can set any candidate over the top during the interview process. Although not as easily defined on paper, here are a few soft skills you should incorporate into your resume and advice for defining them!

Leadership

Leadership is a soft skill employers look for in their employees, especially at higher levels. The ability to lead a team or set initiative for yourself to complete a task shows how effective you are in your position and illustrates your ability to help others succeed in their positions. Think of a time you displayed leadership qualities to add to your resume! Whether you led a team of workers in your past experiences or conducted a report that helped make a process smoother, you still showed a form of leadership, which can be a key component to landing your next career.  

Communication  

Written and verbal communication are important skills to have in the workforce to help build a relationship with your coworkers and can also impact how you are perceived by your coworkers. Using your listening skills can show that you’re capable of receiving feedback from your coworkers and employers and shows openness to new ideas.

Consider everything you submit to a recruiter as a way to show off your communication skills. The way you speak as a professional comes off to the reader as they review your experience. When writing your cover letter, try picking a few skills that are listed in the job description and apply them to when you carried out initiatives or created effective pieces of communication.

Problem Solving and Conflict Resolution

The ability to problem solve shows that you are willing and able to seek advice and use your skills to help yourself or others fix a problem or make a process more seamless. Using your problem solving skills makes you a reliable and trusted employee to your coworkers and employers. Although problem solving and conflict resolution may be tricky to convey in your resume, adding a simple sentence about a time when you helped a customer or employee in a situation can show your capabilities of working with others to solve a problem.

Adaptability

Being aware and reacting positively to various  situations at your workplace can show how flexible and accountable you are. Not only does adaptability show that you’re flexible, it can also help expand your leadership skills and improve your relevance in your field. Adapting when working with different organizations and coworkers can help you learn new strategies and ideas to help you succeed in different work environments. And anticipating change and being prepared can bring out the best of your leadership skills and prepare you for what’s to come. Adding a time where you experienced change in a workplace and how you adapted will help your reader understand that your were able to carry out your tasks under pressure.

Showing off your soft skills on paper can enhance your resume and help readers see your potential more holistically. Whether you’re seeking employment or are currently employed, these soft skills are among many that employers value as an addition to their team.