Soft skills, essential for your CV

Training is important, but recruiters don't just focus on academic qualifications or experience. Work success is based, above all, on what they call soft skills. Soft skills are a combination of personal characteristics for relating, communicating, working in a team, having empathy... and many others that complement the so-called hard skills, the hard skills, such as academic and technical preparation.

Just another subject

Soft skills can be innate. We all know people who, from childhood, are charming, likable, skillfully resolve conflicts, are not problematic, help others, quickly overcome adversity... Being like this can be a genetic lottery that comes as standard. It can also be forged with a good education and affection. But the good news is that, if one has not been fortunate or trained in soft skills, they can also acquire them. It's just a matter of training them.

What are soft skills for?

Companies know that people equipped with a good backpack of soft skills facilitate interaction between employees and create a good atmosphere in the work environment. Working days are not similar to being on vacation; they are often long and stressful, you have to face difficult challenges, solve conflicts, negotiate, make decisions, and be proactive, and in those circumstances, the worst nightmare is to surround yourself with inflexible, intolerant, or incapable people of relating positively to others. The productivity of the company, like that of any human group, is related to the well-being of the employees, and this can only be achieved with proper emotional management.

What are the most demanded soft skills?

People with emotional skills know themselves, value themselves, know what they are capable of, and give their best every day simply because their achievements and those of others bring them satisfaction. Our top ten of soft skills is this:

1. Knowing how to communicate

Work relationships are also personal relationships: you have to know how to speak, convince when you believe you are right, yield when someone has a better proposal, accept criticism, manage problems, ask for collaboration... The way to communicate well, orally and in writing, is learned, but it must always be modulated by respect for others. And let's not forget that to communicate, you must know how to listen.

2. Working well in a team

Establishing good relationships with colleagues, creating unity to achieve a common goal, and having a sense of cooperation rather than competition is one of the most valued soft skills by human resources departments. During university education, there are many opportunities to train in collaborative work. Let's not waste them.

3. Being flexible

We already know that the world is changing and that it always catches us by surprise. We can be hit by a pandemic or a war. What serves us today may not serve us tomorrow. That is why companies value the willingness to adapt to circumstances in an agile way and want people capable of finding creative solutions. The "it has always been done this way" is a harmful thought for individuals and corporations, for personal and universal growth.

4. Having empathy

Showing empathy does not mean feeling what the other person feels, but understanding their emotions, and that is only possible if we have previously understood our own. Being empathetic makes us understanding even with those who lack empathy.

5. Being motivated

HR departments know that motivated people are the most productive, capable of getting involved in their work and enjoying challenges, rewarding themselves with a job well done, not falling into discouragement, and infecting others with their enthusiasm.

6. Controlling emotions

Everyone can have an outburst, but controlling anger is an exercise that we have surely had the opportunity to practice throughout our lives. There are ways to say things without being carried away by sudden anger.

7. Living in tolerance

Tolerance is an emotional skill that we cannot pretend, but rather we are obliged to deeply feel it because it is a matter of human justice. Tolerance means accepting people with different cultures, accents, nationalities, ethnic traits, sexual or political preferences, physical or intellectual disabilities, elderly or children... It is important to understand that we must respect others and their diversity.

8. Showing proactivity

People who propose solutions before problems arise are the ones that a company needs the most. If you don't have this soft skill, work on it: don't settle into routine.

9. Having a desire to learn

The desire to learn cannot end when you get your eTitle. Curiosity, the pleasure of learning new things, acquiring different skills and abilities is one of the soft skills that any HR manager will value and that will help us progress in our professional career.

10. Ethics above all

Honesty must be present in our lives both inside and outside of work. People with a high sense of ethics are good for companies because loyalty and honesty are expected from them. And that also includes not participating in activities that may harm others and reporting them when necessary. Let's not look the other way.

Finding candidates with the required qualifications for a specific job position is not difficult. Universities and educational centers award titles every year to many more people than the job market can absorb. But finding people who, in addition to professional qualifications, can exhibit soft skills is much more complicated. Let's work on improving our soft skills and add them to our CV.