7 Soft Skills Essential to your Career Growth

Have you ever applied for jobs that you believe you fulfill the requirements very well, but you never hear from the hirers after the interview? Often, in these cases, you might have met the hard skills requirements, but unknowingly fell short of the expected soft skills.

According to the Future Job Report of the World Economic Forum, the most important skills required in the workplace will be a list of soft skills. The following are by large the 7 sought-after soft skills essential for your long-term career success:

1. Creativity

In a world where change is constant, challenges and crisis has become a new normal in the workplace. Creativity is important to help you think out-of-the box so that you can see things in different perspectives and seek fresh solutions to overcome problems.

2. Eager-to-Learn

In this ever-changing job market, skills and knowledge is forever changing. People with an eager-to-learn mindset are always proactively acquiring new skills to upkeep with the market. Their thirst to learn and to try new things give them the impetus to constantly solicit feedback from others for their own growth. They also tend to see failure as an opportunity to improve.

A more progressive interpretation of the eager-to-learn mindset is the "growth mindset".

3. Collaboration

Teamwork is becoming increasingly important in the workplace. Collboration is the ability to work and trust others, while providing costructive feedback to our teammates. This constrcutive cycle of the team helps the team to grow and perform better.

4. Time Management

Tasks accumulated can get easily out of hand. If you do not know how to manage your time well, it may easily lead your hard work into chaos and futility. The ability to prioritize and delegate tasks help you to become more multi-tasking.

5. Flexibility

When crisis happens, we may need to change the way we handle matters and react to situations. Being agile and quick in adapting yourself to different circumstances allow you to become more susceptible to change.

6. Emotional Intelligence

As a human being, it’s natural for us to be affected by emotions which often come in a double-edged sword. In an organization where the way we react easily affects the people working around us, it is important for us to have good self-awareness of our emotions. This will help us to manage and redirect disruptive emotions in time.

On the other hand, we should leverage on our emotions to empathise with and motivate others during tough times.

7. Networking

Network is not only a social skill, but also an essential professional skill. Being an active listener with good questioning skills helps you to engage with more people in a social context. This is good, but not enough. Your diligence in upkeeping a list of your contacts, carving out time to keep in touch and care for them will help you grow and nurture your network extensively in time.

Be genuine in networking. Differentiate yourself from those who make friends for ulterior motives.