Skills are everything that defines you in your professional life. Some skills are which you acquire during your college and school, and are better known as hard skills. They will define the path of your professional life and be with you for the rest of your life. But there are skills which not only your professional credibility but also your ability to stand out from the rest of the people who have similar hard skills. These skills will help you to be successful in your career. These skills are called soft skills.
Soft skills are a misnomer as they are not as it sounds. Though soft skills do not require high IQ or you need not be very smart to understand its concept, it does require some amount of practice to get it perfect. Soft skills are required everywhere; whether you are working in the IT industry or the media; Public Sector government (PSU) jobs or the private sector.
Here are some of the top soft skills that are still relevant and can increase your chances of landing a high-paying job:
- Communication in all forms
Communication is the essence of all professional activities and hence, it is one of the top soft skills that you will need to perfect in order to take your career to another level. The gateway to a new career path or an organisation of your dreams is through interviews, where the first soft skill that one notices is your communication skills.
When we are talking about communication here, it is not only about spoken, but also about written and listening abilities. The ability to write in a clear form so that the person to whom it has been addressed understands without any difficulty is also a skill. Even listening is a skill. If you cannot understand whatever the under person is saying, then it will lead to an unsuccessful communication.
- Non-technical analysis and research
Analysis and research may not always be associated with numbers and graphs. It might be your ability to analyse a situation that can help in identifying important issues that need to be addressed for the team to perform better. Research can be as simple as learning the strengths and weaknesses of your team members, and knowing their skills. This way you can utilise their skills in the most effective way.
- Leadership skills
Maximum of the high paying jobs have managerial responsibilities and for one to be a good manager, one needs to have outstanding leadership qualities. Leadership skills are not acquired in a day. You should understand the essential characters that a good leader possesses. Learn from the people who are known for their leadership abilities and also you can join some leadership training courses to be that person yourself.
- Time management
Success does not come easily. It takes a lot of effort and you need to efficiently use your time in order to get the most out of your opportunities. Time management skills help you to prioritise your work and perform them so that you do not miss out on the important works. With good time management, your productivity will be improved sufficiently and you can take on more responsibilities. It will also help you to maintain a good work-life balance.
- Adaptability to multicultural/multilingual environment
Most of the big companies have a multicultural workplace, with the best talents from across the world working together. If you want to be part of such an organisation, you need to adapt to a multicultural work environment. Adaptability is a skill that you will find it very useful as you go up in your professional world.
- The ability to multitask
Nowadays most of the roles require one to have the ability to multitask. Multitask does not necessarily mean more work; it just means the ability of a person to handle different responsibilities at the same time. The work profiles are changing and it is becoming more demanding than earlier. Multi-tasking abilities also help you to adapt to any changes in the profile.
- Being a solutions provider
Always be a solutions provider rather than pointing out a problem. If you can show the interviewer that you are more of a person who can bring solutions to the problems the organisation is facing, it will help you in getting a role that has more responsibilities and in short, which pays more.
- Team player
If you are a brilliant worker but not a team player, there are high chances that there will be no one who would like to work with you. The success of a project or a company is not the result of individual efforts, but it is because of the teamwork. You need to grow in your field or get a good paying job, show how you can add value to the team instead of focussing what you can do individually.
This list of skills is to give you an idea about what you can do to get yourself in the right direction in your career path. Let me know if there are other soft skills that can help in leveraging a person’s career in the comment section. Best of Luck!
