When building your job application kit, it's useful to put yourself in the shoes of employers or agencies who will read your job application. As they peruse your covering letter, personal statement and CV, some of the following questions will be running through their mind:- How can you make my business grow?
- How can you save me money?
- How can you save me time?
- How will you fit into the team?
- Will you bring something new to our department?
- What can you do?
- Why should I give you a job?
Let's focus in particular on the penultimate question from that list: What can you do? What can you actually do? What skills do you have? Can you write a decent report? Can you call a client and convince her to buy €20,000 worth of advice? Can you cope under pressure and meet demanding targets? Can you resolve a problem quickly and efficiently. How well do you speak English?
When thinking about your skills it's best to organise them into two categories: Core Skills and Soft Skills.
Core Skills
These are specialised skills specific to a job or sector that must be learned, either on a course or by doing a specific job. eg. a computer programmer knows how to write code, use particular software and build IT infrastructure. Obviously, these are all skills that a lawyer couldn't possibly have; just like the computer programmer doesn't know how to write a legal brief or contest a court case. Undoubtedly, core skills are highly valuable and absolutely necessary for many important jobs. However, on their own they are not sufficient in a 21st century work context.
Soft Skills
These are your personality attributes, your intuition and attitudes. Soft skills can be harder to define than core skills but they are fundamental when working with other people. For example, a successful salesman is a great communicator and can empathise with clients, as well as listen carefully to their needs. Whereas core skills are learned in a specific measurable way, the salesman's skills are intrinsically linked to his personality and experience.
Soft skills include communication; like listening; speaking; writing; presenting, social skills like networking; empathy; teamwork; managing people, personal skills; like self-motivation, organisation, taking responsibility, leadership, influencing, creativity, problem solving, etc.. There are literally hundreds of soft skills and they are very valuable to potential employers.
Soft skills can also be called transferable skills as they are necessary for helping employees adapt to different situations, as well as to future jobs within a company.
In the coming years, as some technical workers are replaced by artificial intelligence and robots, a greater development of people's soft skills will be especially necessary, because robots are not capable of human emotions and lack intuition. Therefore investing your time and energy in order to continuously improve your people skills will definitely help your career.
Soft skills include communication; like listening; speaking; writing; presenting, social skills like networking; empathy; teamwork; managing people, personal skills; like self-motivation, organisation, taking responsibility, leadership, influencing, creativity, problem solving, etc.. There are literally hundreds of soft skills and they are very valuable to potential employers.
Soft skills can also be called transferable skills as they are necessary for helping employees adapt to different situations, as well as to future jobs within a company.
In the coming years, as some technical workers are replaced by artificial intelligence and robots, a greater development of people's soft skills will be especially necessary, because robots are not capable of human emotions and lack intuition. Therefore investing your time and energy in order to continuously improve your people skills will definitely help your career.
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