Soft Skills – Get the job you want… and keep it

Finding a degree holder in this day and age isn’t that hard. In a country like Singapore courses offered by foreign universities are rampant and the average middle-incomed person is able to obtain a degree within a span of a few years. Paper qualifications as we have come to know are termed as “Hard Skills”. However, an individual with the required qualifications might not necessarily be the one an employer is looking for. This may lead to discontent on both sides, lack of productivity and perhaps the eventual dismissal or resignation of the hired staff.

This poses a problem for employers. With the increasing number of job applicants with Hard Skills, how does an employer separate the wheat from the chaff?

Soft Skills can be defined as the set of communication habits, personality traits, charm and positive behaviours that come into play when an individual interacts with another person.  One might fall into the trap of thinking that Soft Skills can only be applicable in jobs such as sales where person to person interaction is key, but this is not true. If an IT technician in a company is able to effectively communicate with other business units within a company then productivity within that company would increase significantly, and that particular technician would be viewed in higher regard.

Training course for Soft Skills are increasingly being offered to aid individuals to improve themselves and allow them to be better at their jobs. Examples of such training courses would be Power Speaking, Implementing Change, Memory Empowerment – to name a few. And while these may just be few of the more popular examples of Soft Skills, various others also qualify – such as being flexible, adaptability to change, creative thinking and tolerance to cultural diversity. Some Soft Skills people might already innately possess.

Of course, Soft Skills are by no means the sole deciding factor that employers base their hiring process on.  Soft Skills work best when they are complemented by Hard Skills and expertise in the job that is being done. The medical profession is one example where Soft Skills are invaluable. Nurses and doctors with superior bedside manners are held in higher regard by their patients, despite the fact that their peers might have had the same educational qualifications as them.

Hard Skills may land you the interview that you want, but its your Soft Skills that help you ace it and keep that job.

You can check out soft skills courses at http://www.careerminded.com/training_calendar.php