Soft skills have always been top of the mind of employers, and right now employees, job seekers need to understand that a lot of things are happening and changing in the global job market. Recruiters know it’s tough to identify skill talent through executive resumes, CV and online profile.
An executives -by executives “we mean job seekers” at some point will realize he/she possess very similar hard skills as your competition or contemporaries when searching for a new job. But when you combine your soft skills with an impressive resume/CV/Online profile that showcase your hard skills, competence, you stand a chance to stand out really.
Quick one, what are soft skills?
“Soft skills are a combination of people skills, social skills, communication skills, character traits, attitudes, career attributes, social intelligence and emotional intelligence quotients among others ... “ -Wikipedia
The point is soft skills are more than “people skill.” We tried to give a clear perspective of what soft skills are in the previous article “Top Job Skills that are Optimal for Executive Job Search”. There you have a list of the critical skills, but then it beyond that – there are more –soft skills, emerging and often being overlooked by job seekers.
In a nutshell, soft skills are tangible, personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. Simply put, “how well you work with other” –speakizi.com
In modern job search, the relationship has gone beyond just the conventional employer to employee communications, employees are expected to relate with their colleagues and even the business client’s or customers as well. Job seekers are expected to place value on themselves, on others not excluding their potential employer’s client(s) or customer(s). And that’s the more reason employer want to hire talent and assets.
Now let’s get down to the business. What are the soft skills being overlook by Job Seekers?
Strategic Thinking
Strategic thinking is about thinking about the past, present and future in any decision you make. Think about your thought, the consequences your action will generate. It’s a great skill to put up while in an interview and you are being called up to analyze a situation. So what are the specific steps to take to be more strategic in your current role or job search? Click here “Strategic HR want to hire talent that will be an asset and of value to their organization.” - CareerNaija
Office Communication Skills
Yes, communication! We all communicate every day, via variety of channel – through verbal and non verbal. That we communicate every day doesn’t mean we’re any good at it. And there is no one on earth who’s never experience a miscommunication! We must understand the process communication for job seekers had begun since they first saw the advert for that job opening. From that point onward, you will by one means or the other be sending emails, filling the application form online, some recruiters will require a phone conversation before they invite you to their office for a one on one interview session, as the case may be.
So you now know why you have to be able to communicate appropriately. You should have it at the back of your mind that your potential hire are keeping track of those emails you send, how you pick up when they call and it all boils down to how grounded you are when we talk about business ethics and etiquette. Note the word “Business ethics and etiquette”, we get to talk about it some other time, in our upcoming article.
You have to be articulate, objective, and audible. You have to mind the tone, voice and also your message or signal is simple for the purpose of clarity and understanding.
Multitasking
Being busy is not the same as multitasking. Multitasking simply means you can get multiple jobs done at the same time. These great skill employers look out in their new recruit. Employer seek candidate with these trait that to help move the business forward and to fill in form vacant position in order to cut down cost. Every executive and professional will have to multitask at some post, but ensure they create positive result. Employer or recruiters will throw questions at you just to test for your ability to be able to multi-task.
Leadership
Every employer often seeks staff with strong leadership skills at all cost. Leaders are involved in dealing with people in such a manner as to motivate, enthuse, manage them, influence and build respect. Leadership roles are all around, not just in the work environment only. Different leadership styles are appropriate for different people and different circumstances and the best leader learn to use them all.
Time Management
Good time management enables you to work smarter. Employers are looking for personality with the ability –Smarthire. The highest achievers manage their time exceptionally well. Being busy isn’t the same as being effective.
Negotiating Skills
In business, negotiation is a bargaining process between two or more party usually leading to a common ground between both parties. Employer and Employer usually undergo this process in other to achieve a common ground during the process of interview or while on the Job. Usually you would expect a win-win outcome, but most time this is not always the case.
The art is a key career and employability skills. The skill will help you throughout your career life. If you are leaving for a new job, you will need your negotiation skills; also while on the job you must be able to price yourself well. You will have to up your game in other to improve your chance and also to stay in the game. The skill is paramount for sale executive role, but every employee should be able negotiate their way through in any situation they find themselves in the business world.
Creative problem solving
You wonder why you have to go through Aptitude test, Gmat and all. However irrelevant you feel the questions are, the examiners are trying to test for your basic mathematics skill, arithmetic computation, analytic and creative problem solving skills. How you approach the scenario and case study will determine how effective and efficient you will be dealing with real life problems. Careernaija recently shared a poll across our social handle asking “If Aptitude Test (GMAT, GRE ETC) before recruitment in any way relevant?” View sampled opinion here, this will inform your decision as to be more creative and develop a problem solving mindset toward your job search in 2018.

Also, according to study recently conducted by LinkedIn, one of the two most important qualities employers seek are problem solving skill (65%) and the other we will be discussing in the next section. These abilities are difficult to assess based solely on resumes and interviews, and that is where aptitude tests can help them. So it’s about knowing what your customers in this scenario, we assuming you know your employer is your customers until you have finally landed the job. You have to be creative and your problem solving skills has to be up there. Here is how to prove you’re good at interview problem solving by The Muse. Employers would rather pay attention to candidates who provides innovative solutions and they believe creative mind can contribute fresh perspectives that add value to their company.

Fast Learner
Part of your assessment, will be to test for your ability to learn new things, concept or being able to quickly learn new skills on the job. Beyond your profile, you must convince your potential hire that you can deliver, that you can learn new concept within a short while, and that you are progressive. This is the new trend you must be open and teachable.

Emotional Intelligence
Pardon me, for just bringing this up. Emotional intelligence, also known as emotional quotient, is the capability of individuals to recognize their own emotions and those of others and the ability or capability to discern between different feelings and label them…Wikipedia.
In fact, this particular skill should have come first as many of the other soft skills have a foundation in emotional intelligence skills. Many job seekers still downplay on the effect of having a strong emotional intelligence and the impact it can on have in path to landing their dream job and career success.

Wrap Up
Soft skills can be harder to assess than hard skills - technical abilities, but there are still dozens of tactics to recruiters and hiring managers use to sieve out candidates based on communication skills, emotional intelligence and other soft skills as highlighted above.
If there’s one thing that’s constant in the talent landscape, it’s perpetual change. The business world in general is shifting, new skills and new promising jobs are bound to fall in and out of favor.
Degrees and credentials are no longer the only important thing but if you really want to know “How to Land Your Dream” you have to get familiar with the soft skills in demand.
Master them so you can become a better contender I your job search in 2018. By getting an inside track on the hottest trends, you can out-recruit the competition by getting an early start on the talent attracting the most demand in 2018.

For more information, take a look at these handy blog posts:
• 12 Effective Ways to Assess Candidates' Soft Skills
• Ask These 4 Interview Questions to Screen for Emotional Intelligence
• The Most Popular Interview Questions to Reveal Key Soft Skills
• Soft skills and communication | Stimulating practical training | isoc.com‎
• Top Jobs Skills that are optimal for Job search
• The most in-demand hard and soft skills of 2018
• Soft skills you need to succeed in 2018

Read More >>>>www.careernaija.com/blog

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