What are soft skills?

In this article we will let you know about 7 soft skills their impacts and skills of the future.

The skills soft can be defined as behavioral skills that a professional should have to take a certain position within a company. Still, personal attributes are considered that, together with technical knowledge, are part of an employee’s skills package.

It is no surprise that, over the years, the job market has become increasingly saturated and competitive. Therefore, it is in this matter that soft skills make all the difference in a selection process.

These are skills that arise to act as drivers of hard skills — technical skills. When worked correctly, the hard and soft skills duo form employees with the necessary aptitude to fill gaps in the market.

In the job market, in recruiting teams and among HR professionals, a lot is said about the soft skills of the future. In addition, it also discusses how they are becoming increasingly essential in a professional’s career.  Today, we live in a world that is constantly changing and the emergence of technological advances, where we are being bombarded with information all the time. Thus, new needs and behaviors arise that a company may want from a professional.

7 types of soft skills

1-Leadership

Each person has a different professional profile , but those who stand out for their famous leadership spirit manage to take bigger flights and conquer the best positions. To be a leader, a person does not necessarily need to be in a position of direction or management.

Any employee can go further in their activities and demonstrate leadership among the team . This is a very welcome skill, especially as companies want more than someone who just sits around waiting to take orders.

Leadership is different: it embraces objectives, proposes viable solutions, respects divergent ideas and inspires others, encouraging them to move forward together towards the expected results.

2-negotiation skills

Another skill that stands out is the ability to negotiate in different situations . This is a typical function of sales teams, but every professional will need this competence at some point in their daily work. Maybe you need to sell some idea about a project, for example, or negotiate better exits that you believe are the most advantageous in a particular strategy.

Did you just see how knowing how to negotiate is important in any area of ​​expertise? It’s a personal skill that can benefit not only the company, but your own career in a particular way. To develop it, you need to sharpen your analytical skills , in addition to working on a good oratory and inciting your critical thinking.

3-Flexibility

The flexible working has never been required as now, with so many people need to adapt to new post-pandemic scenarios . It turns out that this was already one of the types of skills for resumes most sought after by the market lately.

This is because the flexible professional is able to be open to changes and new ideas , something that occurs with much greater frequency in the context of digital transformation of companies and society as a whole. This tendency to adapt is crucial for him to know how to follow the evolution of processes and reinvent himself (whenever necessary).

4-Communication

How to be an inspiring leader, with good negotiation skills and flexibility to deal with market trends without communicating properly? It’s not possible, is it? Therefore, one of the main skills is clear, efficient and humanized communication .

Regardless of the position or area, a successful professional will always know how to communicate with others, whether they are managers, teammates or clients. In addition to a good dose of interpersonal relationships , they will convey their ideas objectively, clearly and will express themselves in a language suitable for each context – without leaving aside active listening , that is, speaking, but also knowing how to listen and understand the other.

5-Self confidence

A person who doesn’t trust himself can’t expect much from recruiters or their superiors at work, would you? After all, without this self-confidence, even the trustworthiness passed on to others is shaken. Acting with that confidence is critical to showing the market that you know what you’re talking about (and what you’re doing).

This is a skill closely linked to self – esteem , so it’s interesting to develop this positive vision before worrying about other skills , combined? When one is self-confident, in fact, the professional can easily explore all the other skills mentioned so far.

6-Resilience

In addition to being flexible, a person who is resilient can not only adapt to new situations, but also overcome certain obstacles in a positive and productive way. So, no matter how difficult the challenges, she doesn’t feel defeated and makes the famous “back up”.

This behavior is essential in scenarios as fluctuating as the current ones, especially when we consider economic instability and dynamic changes in the world of work . In this sense, those who observe the moment, learn from their mistakes and try again , always reinventing themselves, are more likely to stand out.

7-Self knowledge

Talking about self-knowledge is something very broad. Regarding this ability to self-knowledge, we have other correlated skills, such as self-control and emotional intelligence .

When you know all your limits, strengths, flaws, and potential, everything becomes more practical to fit in—both in your career and in your personal life. Understanding, respecting and managing your emotions also makes for professionalism and less personal interference at work.

What are the soft skills of the future?

Given all the changes that the new coronavirus pandemic brought to the job market, professionals were forced to change together, acquiring more knowledge, technical skills and new behavioral skills. Check out some of the soft skills of the future below!

1-cultural intelligence

In times like the one we are living in, cultural intelligence is proving to be more and more necessary in the professional environment. With advances in globalization and technology, the world’s population is connected in countless ways to the four corners of the planet.

Furthermore, in this diverse world, we have countless cultures and different forms of artistic expression. Therefore, it is not necessary to go very far to understand the scale and impact this generates. Still, it is possible to see this diversity in our own country — from North to South, Brazil is full of different cultures and customs.

Therefore, knowing how to deal with such plurality is a skill that will become increasingly necessary in the future. Whether learning new languages, customs of other peoples and even their peculiarities. It is an opportunity to develop personally, considering social, moral and economic aspects.

2-Emotional intelligence

Here, a soft skill that becomes increasingly essential for the survival and prominence of a professional in the market: emotional intelligence.

Separating the staff from the professional is something of extreme necessity, which can often be a somewhat complicated task. With emotional intelligence, the individual is more empowered and feels confident to deal with unexpected feelings and emotions.

So, knowing how to balance the different emotions, inside and outside of work, is a characteristic that companies are increasingly looking for in professionals when hiring. Furthermore, the ability to know how to balance, compartmentalize and prioritize your emotions is also expected.

3-Time management

The third, but no less important behavioral skill, which becomes essential in a post-pandemic scenario, is time management.

In constant changes, technological advances and troubled work routines, the ability to know how to deal with time becomes a necessity for professionals working in companies.

Still, the accumulation of functions, tasks and responsibilities is a reality in the work routine. Therefore, it is extremely important that the professional knows how to manage his/her time. In this sense, prioritizing tasks and demands makes the employee stand out from the rest.

Ultimately, this skill is critical to a productive work routine that will yield more results. Furthermore, time management contributes to the individual’s quality of life, since stress and emotional and physical exhaustion will no longer be present in their reality.

Among these main types of skills, we can cite some relatively subjective, which fit as personal and behavioral — what we call soft skills . They are very important for professionals in any field, so it’s worth getting to know them and finding out how to develop them to build your competitive edge .