15 Top Soft Skills That May Help Get Your Dream Job

by | Last updated Oct 17, 2022 | Published on Nov 8, 2019 | Interview Transcription

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Soft skills refer to certain qualities including common sense or positive attitude that do not depend on acquired knowledge. Apart from the hard skills gained by earning certifications and degrees, soft skills will also be considered when hiring someone for a job. Even if your education or experience isn’t enough for a certain job profile, your soft skills may help you secure the job. Each company looks for a different mix of skills including soft and hard skills and experience depending on the business type. Companies value soft skills and most employers favor people who are alert, flexible and creative at solving problems. The qualities and experience of candidates are revealed in a job interview and most organizations have these important interviews transcribed using digital transcription services.

Soft Skills That May Help Get Your Dream Job

While hard skills refer to technical abilities that are learned through education, training, and experience, soft skills are more intangible or non-technical skills that are mainly related to your disposition, attitude and personality.

Several researches have proven that soft skills and experience are important indicators of job performance, just as hard skills. The Entry Level Applicant Job Skills Survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) found that employers actually care more about soft skills than they do technical abilities like reading comprehension and mathematics.

This survey assessed 15 such skills employers commonly look for in entry-level applicants and they are –

  1. Integrity
  2. Initiative
  3. Dependability and reliability
  4. Adaptability
  5. Professionalism
  6. Customer focus
  7. Teamwork
  8. Oral communication
  9. Written communication
  10. Reading comprehension
  11. Respect
  12. Critical thinking
  13. Computation (mathematics)
  14. Planning and organization
  15. Creativity/innovation

Not only experience, soft skills also impact employability, the survey found. Such skills help to ease human connections, build relationships, gain visibility, and create more opportunities for advancement.

Key findings of this survey also include –

  • More than four-fifths of HR professionals reported that dependability and reliability (97%), integrity (87%), respect (84%), and teamwork (83%) were very important when determining whether an applicant possessed the necessary qualifications to be hired to an entry level position.
  • One-half to three-fifth of HR professionals said that adaptability (62%), initiative (49%) and critical thinking (49%) would become more important for entry-level job candidates to possess in the coming years.

When job-hunting, jobseekers can demonstrate these skills through their resume or cover letters. Whether applying for a service position or a technical job, the blend of core and soft skills will set you apart from the crowd.

For a lawyer for instance, it is ideal to have good presentation skills, effective communication, negotiating skills, collaboration and teamwork, creative thinking, confidentiality, leadership and management skills, empathy and strong emotional intelligence. Even while hiring healthcare workers, most practices will consider candidates with the right balance of hard and soft skills. Healthcare employers with the necessary soft skills can better meet patients’ needs, assist employees in their job performance, and promote overall organization success.

Here are some questions you can expect during a job interview.

Interview transcription services help employers to evaluate the intelligence and credibility of the candidate and accurate transcripts also make the selection process easy and quick.

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