The Watercooler

Get Hired Quicker: 4 Soft Skills Employers Want Today

Jobs, and the skills needed to perform them, have changed dramatically since the beginning of 2020.

That rate of change isn’t likely to slow down anytime soon. In fact, Gartner’s research shows that the total number of skills required for a single job is increasing by 10% year over year!

If you’re on the job hunt, this non-stop change can make you feel like you’re trying to hit a moving dartboard while blindfolded. How can you know what skills you need for today – let alone tomorrow? In this earlier post on soft skills, we shared six soft skills employers want in 2021:

  1. Adaptability / Versatility
  2. Strong Work Ethic
  3. Empathy
  4. Communication Management
  5. Active Listening
  6. Teamwork

Here are four more soft skills that will make you a more desirable job candidate in the post-pandemic workplace:

4 Soft Skills to Help You Get Hired Quicker:

1. Resilience

We all occasionally struggle and fail at work; resilience is all about how quickly you bounce back from those setbacks. If you are resilient you:

  • stay positive and motivated to overcome challenges;
  • remain organized and focused when things go wrong;
  • respond constructively to problems and criticism;
  • learn from mistakes.

To showcase your resilience in a job interview, prepare an anecdote or two that illustrates how you coped well when faced with a challenge or recovered from a mistake at work or a career setback.

2. Emotional Intelligence (EQ)

EQ is a unique form of practical intelligence that combines self-awareness with an awareness of others. Emotional intelligence is what allows you to:

  • understand and control your own emotions;
  • identify others’ emotions, as well as how they manifest in behaviors;
  • effectively manage work relationships with others by responding appropriately.

If you’re looking for a job that requires teamwork, service (internal and/or external), or supervisory duties, your potential employer will likely ask questions to gauge your EQ.

3. Agility (AQ)

If you have a high Agility Quotient (AQ), you can anticipate and react quickly to change. You don’t mind experimenting to find the right solutions. Nothing seems to throw you off your game, even when things go awry. When coworkers start panicking, you stay level-headed, think through scenarios, quickly develop solutions, and put them into action.

To demonstrate your AQ to a potential employer, prepare an example that shows how you anticipated a problem, recognized its impact, approached problem-solving with an open mind, and then implemented a solution.

4. Growth Mindset

As we mentioned at the beginning of this post, if there’s one constant you can expect in your career from now on, it’s change. The work you do will evolve, the skills you need to perform your job will change, and so will the people you work with.

In today’s workplace, employers want people with a “growth mindset”: the belief that you can develop new skills to overcome challenges and realize your potential – even as your job, team, and industry evolve. In an interview situation, you can demonstrate your growth mindset by sharing examples of how you continually learn, try new things and stay on top of what’s happening in your field.

Learn more.

For more tips on developing and showcasing your soft skills in every phase of your job search, read these earlier posts:

6 Soft Skills That Employers Want in the New Year

Job Skills that Transfer to Different Industries

Should I Still Apply to a Job If I Don’t Meet All the Requirements?

How to Showcase Your Past Experiences

Looking for a great new job?

Apply with PrideStaff. Our recruiters can help you inventory your soft skills and present opportunities that offer the flexibility, challenge, and compensation you want. Contact your local PrideStaff office to get started.