6 soft skills that are in high demand among employers and what you can do to seek out and build these skills!

In today’s competitive job market, employers are seeking candidates with strong experiences and a foundation of skills. Despite the fact that nowadays there is a high demand for technical skills – especially in the growing technology industry – we must also consider the soft skills that play a large role in an individual’s competitive advantage. Some believe soft skills are extremely difficult to build; however, with a little bit of stepping outside your comfort zone and a lot of dedication to improvement, you will be professional in no time!

A Globe and Mail article indicates that “there is a greater emphasis on so-called soft skills such as collaboration, problem-solving and communication, and a growing recognition in corporate head offices that many of these skills are learned outside the traditional classroom setting”. When employers notice your effort invested in building your soft skills outside the classroom, it displays your commitment without guaranteed results, work without forms of extrinsic motivation, that the soft skills you’ve acquire, will always shine a spotlight on any experiences.

Here are 6 soft skills that will help you gain a competitive advantage when seeking a job:

1. Self-Confidence

The significance of maintaining self-confidence in today’s highly competitive job market has never been more apparent. A good source of self-confidences comes from work you feel good about doing, because research has shown that “meaningful work has long been one of the important ways to feel good about oneself.” Self-confidence is often a derivative of self-awareness, where one has a conscious understanding of their character, feelings, and motives. By understanding who you are as an individual, you will grow to be more comfortable and confident in your ability to provide value in the classroom, interview, or workplace setting.

One of the best opportunities for you to learn your self-worth is to talk to an advisor. Here at the Graduate Career Management Center, advisors will not only help you assess your value, but they provide you with meaningful insights on what you can do to improve and refine your skills, allowing you to better your confidence in what you can offer in the workplace. Aside from visiting an advisor to better understand your area of confidence building, here is an article from AOL with tips to improve your self-confidence.

2. Communication

Whether communicating with your work colleagues, customers, or external stakeholders, communication skills are relevant in everyday situations. With the prevailing widespread of social media platforms and telecommunication, creating and maintaining connections has never been easier. However, it is always important to consider your in-person, face-to-face conversations as your speaking skills define your presence to others. Communication is not only the process finding the right words to say and how to say them, but learning to actively listen is also an important aspect of communication. You might be wondering “how can I build my communication skills?”.

One of the most effective methods in improving your communication skills is taking the initiative to ask a professional for a coffee chat. In coffee chats, not only do you have to opportunity to improve your listening skills, but understanding how to communicate your story and pitch yourself will significantly improve your ability to develop relationships. (For more about storytelling, read this article) Take into consideration the importance of building compassion for others when on a coffee chat or networking! Make sure to ask how their day is going or what they’ve been up to lately before you jump into any business or finance subject.

3. Collaboration & Teamwork

As the trending culture of working in collaborative teams become more prevalent, it has never been more important to understand how to work collaboratively with diverse individuals. In many businesses (especially tech companies), product or project teams define the company’s growth. In these teams, it is crucial to understand and maintain the ability to collaborate and work with diverse individuals effectively.

Seeking experience to work with diverse backgrounds plays a large factor is your teamwork skills. Many opportunities to grow these skills lie beyond the classroom. A great way to collaborate with others and build your teamwork skills is through extracurricular involvements and student organizations. From pro bono consulting opportunities to club involvement, there are countless ways to work with passionate individuals outside the classroom.

4. Problem-Solving

In any company or industry, problems arise every day. Whether it may be as small as a customer purchase issue or as large as a financial crisis, overcoming challenges is an important factor in all businesses today. Not only is it an asset for you to assess your problem-solving skills, but understanding how to continuously build and innovate your problem-solving skills will be beneficial in your career growth.

From customer service experience to debugging a program, there are plenty of ways to build your problem-solving skills. According to a study, the best way to build your problem-solving skills as a business student are through Case Competitions. Stay on the lookout for internal and external case competition opportunities offered at SFU! For business interviews, in many occasions there will be an additional case component. For case interview preparation strategies, watch these YouTube videos.

5. Working Under Pressure

From working under deadlines to presenting to external stakeholders, the ability to work under pressure is fundamental in any business setting. To practice working under pressure, we recommend you prepare your personal elevator pitch (1 – 2 min) because it is important to understand how to first pitch yourself before you learn how to pitch a product or service. Additionally, the time constraint in a pitch imposes you to use effective time management and deliver your pitch efficiently.

As business students, the best way to get comfortable in high pressure situations is to put yourself in uncomfortable situations and environments where you are encouraged to learn from your failures. Aside from practicing your pitch, another activity that enriches your ability to perform under pressure is Mock Interviews. The opportunity to pitch yourself and answer questions on the spot in a safe environment can be very beneficial to how you perform in an actual pitch or interview; because after all, practice makes perfect! Book an advising appointment with one of our advisors and request a mock interview on Beedie Community to practice your ability to perform under pressure.

6. Accept & Learn from Criticism

No matter what job you decide to pursue – from developer to analyst, marketer to designer – feedback plays a crucial factor in your professional and personal growth. Whether it is positive feedback or constructive criticism, the ability to learn from criticism and take the necessary actions to improve your work defines your ability to grow. There will always be feedback and criticism being carried around in the workplace, but the best opportunities to learn from feedback and criticism exists outside the office or classroom.

Aside from the benefits of Mock Interviews, another source of effective feedback comes from Mentors. When mentors are working with mentees, an important trait of mentors is their honesty. Honest mentors will not only provide you with insightful career advice, but they will also help you highlight your strengths and weaknesses. Additionally, mentors will supply you with constructive criticism, where you will receive the opportunity to learn from the criticism and take the necessary steps to overcome current and future career obstacles.

Beedie offers a Mentors in Business program that connects you with an experienced industry professional! Learn more here.