ith a definition‘Soft skills’ can be a very misleading term and people often question their value to the conventional recruitment process. However, it is important to understand that they are not somehow secondary to the ‘hard’ skills, nor are they any easier to obtain.
Let’s start with a definition
Soft skills are the character traits and interpersonal skills that characterise the way you relate to other people and manage your own behaviour. Soft skills are considered a complement to hard skills, which refer to your sector knowledge and occupational skills.
Now let’s consider their importance for your career
Competency frameworks are the most widely used candidate selection tool for nearly all sectors. The majority of them are used wholly, or at least in part, to assess your soft skills.
That’s a simple indication of how important they are.
Which soft skills are the most important?
In recent years the perception of which soft skills are the most important has changed significantly. The key soft skills that used to grace just about every job description were communication, presentation and leadership.
Whilst these continue to be important, changes to the workplace and the recruitment process has meant that a further set of skills are now coming to the fore. These newer soft skills include creativity, problem solving, perseverance, flexibility and adaptability.
In a recent UK survey conducted by Randstad of nearly 19,000 working-age adults, it was found that professionals now believe that the most important soft skills are:
You’ll notice that the once dominant leadership, presentation and communication skills have slipped discretely to the bottom of the pile. At the top are creativity, flexibility and adaptability which seems to suggest that the modern workplace is nothing if not a rapidly changing environment.
Can you learn soft skills?
Soft skills are not solely innate. Through training, opportunity, encouragement and practice we can all develop our soft skills.
Creativity, for example, is very much a trait that can be actively encouraged or deliberately stifled. Many organisations now stress the importance of providing forums where staff can propose and develop new ideas. In the same way managers now are taught to facilitate and coach rather than just lead. Both of these are attempts to encourage creativity.
The soft skill showcase
It is important that you consider the soft skills most needed by employers as you are likely to be asked about how you have previously demonstrated or developed them. So whether you enrol in a new course or simply have a discussion with your line manager about how you can develop them, refining your soft skills is integral to career development, especially if you currently have your eye on new opportunities.
To read more about this year’s topical people management developments, request a free copy of Randstad’s 2015/16 Work Pocket guide.