How to Identify and Develop Soft Skills in the Workplace

What Are Soft Skills?

Soft skills are traits, characteristics, and abilities that allow professionals to perform their jobs efficiently. These skills are not tied to one job, rather they are valuable for work irrespective of the role, industry, or function. An employee’s ability to make confident presentations to clients, work effectively in a team, adapt to new situations quickly, or receive feedback with an open mind are some examples of soft skills. In this article, we’ll have a deeper look at soft skills that can help you at work and how you can identify and improve them.

Soft skills vs hard skills

Apart from soft skills, hard skills are the other type of skills that you may need to excel at your job. Hard skills are quite the opposite of soft skills. While soft skills are not job-specific, hard skills depend on the type of role, industry, and function.

For instance, the soft skills required in a software engineer’s role would be quite similar to that of a civil engineer. These could include strong communications, critical thinking and decision-making skills, flexibility, and adaptability. However, the hard or technical skills required for each role are different.

As a software engineer, it is essential to know programming languages such as Python, SQL, or C, operating systems, and networking. A civil engineer, on the other hand, should be knowledgeable about construction management, budgeting, blueprints, and more.

If you are looking for more help with hard skills, this article may help.

How to Identify Your Soft Skills

Before making job applications, it is essential to know your skills. While you can easily list the technical skills you possess, understanding your soft skills can be challenging. However, identifying these skills is essential so that you can articulate them clearly. Additionally, this exercise can help you understand your areas for improvement so that you can develop your skill-set further.

To identify your soft skills, you can start by thinking about your strengths. For example, if you like to communicate with people or if you speak and present confidently and effectively, your communication skills may be strong. On the contrary, if you are hesitant to speak in groups and don’t feel confident while making presentations or talking to people, you may need to work on your communication or find a role not requiring these skills.

Another great way to understand your soft skills is by seeking feedback from others. You could reach out to your friends, family members, colleagues, or managers and ask for their opinions. Having spent time with you at work or at home, they would have a fair idea of your soft skills. Additionally, you may also turn to the internet, as you can find multiple tests and quizzes to help you identify your soft skills.

What soft skills do you need at work and how to add them to your CV?

While soft skills can be key in your career, helping you to land and succeed in your best roles, not all of them are the same. Some soft skills are more important than others, as they are more valuable to employers. With this in mind, we present you with the key soft skills based on research around the workforce of the future.

Technology is constantly transforming how we work and live. However, humans may be uncomfortable to change their ways. Many of us would prefer a controlled environment that we already know from a new, unexpected setting. This natural tendency can impede change, which is required for progress in business and in general. So, organisations need resilient individuals who feel comfortable operating in ambiguous and challenging situations. 

In every line of work, breakthrough moments can only be a result of long-term, consistent, and hard work. However, impactful work always comes with situations that are challenging when giving up may seem tempting. In these cases, resilient leaders drive an organisation forward, keeping others on track till the goal is met, which is why they are so valuable.

Some other skills that reflect resilience are flexibility, patience, optimism, and self-awareness. Here is an example of how you can reflect resilience on your CV.

“Successfully managed to transition all employee training initiatives online within two weeks of the pandemic lockdown with only 50% of the support team being operational”

Creativity refers to your capability to introduce new ideas or perspectives, enhancing business decisions and growth. According to LinkedIn, it was the most popular soft skill to have in any workplace in 2020. While creativity is often tied to professions like design and art, all candidates are required to be creative.

Regardless of the job, creativity enables talent to find workable solutions to problems. Also, it can facilitate innovation, which can be key in business. This helps organisations to stand out with their products and services, create an effective brand, and attract the right consumers. So, adding creativity to your CV can help you create a strong first impression.

Curiosity, open-mindedness, creative thinking, and experimentation are some examples of skills that you can use to demonstrate creativity on your resume. Let’s see an example below.

“Increased the visual element in social media posts by 50% which increased the engagement by 35% on LinkedIn and 22% on Facebook”

Valuing only intelligence quotient (IQ) in the workplace is a thing of the past. Today, emotional intelligence (EI) is as important in a workplace as IQ. EI refers to someone’s ability to know their emotions, understand the people around them, and manage situations accordingly. An individual having high EI may be capable of making connections and maintaining relationships at work more efficiently than someone with low EQ.

EQ is considered to be one of the skills that is relevant for most roles today. In fact, hiring managers seek candidates with strong EQ skills as they are known to take constructive criticism positively, work well with others, and show leadership qualities. According to a TalentSmart survey, 90% of the top performers had high EQ levels.

Some skills that can be added to your CV to reflect EQ are empathy, self-awareness, relationship management, and sensitivity. Here is an example demonstrating EQ in your CV.

“Teamed up with a new joinee for two weeks, helping them network in the organisation, supporting in decision-making processes, and mentoring them to adjust to the new environment”

Critical thinking is one’s skill of making rational, informed decisions based on understanding and analysing information while assessing all possible options. It is the art of considering different ideas, identifying their relevance, systematically approaching issues, building related arguments, and making a decision. Employers look for people who can think and act logically instead of employees who follow the status-quo.

Critical thinking is highlighted as one of the attributes to approach new value-creation opportunities for businesses in the highly competitive corporate world where customer experience is prioritised. According to a study by KPMG, critical thinking is one of the top soft skills that employers usually find missing in prospective candidates. So, highlighting critical thinking skills on your CV can get you a competitive edge.

Skills that show critical thinking include analysis, reflection, attention to detail, research, and logical reasoning. A critical thinking example that you can add to your CV is:

“Led a strategic approach to transform and move underperforming products to a revenue-generating model by ensuring consistent delivery of high-quality products and competitive pricing”

Organisations succeed based on the collective effort of their employees, management, and other stakeholders. This effort can only be possible when the workforce collaborates effectively to achieve common goals. So, teamwork is one of the most valued soft skills. In fact, LinkedIn listed teamwork as one of the top skills to learn due to its high demand in the market.

Moreover, teamwork which involves open communication, collaboration, and shared goals,  contributes to the high performance of employees at work. Demonstrating that you are a good team player on your CV allows employers to understand your ability to thrive in a collective work environment through leading or supporting a team.

Collaboration, active participation, and good listening skills are some skills that reflect you are a team player. An example demonstrating this on your CV is:

“Created an effective rota system to distribute work evenly among teammates based on their workload, shift timings, and other preferences; enhanced performance by 15% and employee satisfaction by 23%”

How can you improve your soft skills?

Soft skills are invaluable for any job. Whether you are looking for a job as a fresh graduate or moving to a different career, they can help you achieve your goals. If you aren’t confident in your soft skills yet, have no fear, as there are always ways to improve them. Let’s have a look at some learning opportunities below.

Before improving your soft skills, it is important to know your areas for improvement. Your colleagues and managers can be a great source to learn about your strengths and shortcomings. You can reach out to close connections and seek feedback on your soft skills. Then, once you have an idea of the skills you need to improve, you can start working on them.

One of the best ways to improve any skill is to practice. The more you practise, the better you get at something. Also, we suggest looking for resources online to help you enhance your existing skills. These could include workshops, MOOCs, or professional support where needed. For example, if you want to improve your decision-making skills, you can work on case studies to help you understand the decision-making process.

A great way to track your improvement is by setting up SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound) goals. The inability to achieve results is usually due to loosely set goals. Instead, setting SMART goals ensures that you have a solid development plan in place that will help you achieve your objectives. Based on the skills you are looking to improve, you can set short-term goals and take steps towards implementing them starting today.