There are so many graduates today with the same degree as yours and almost similar experiences. As a job seeker, you have to make yourself stand out. You can do this by specifying your professional skills on your resume and cover letter.
Professional skills add value to any career. They are special soft skills required in addition to having academic qualifications. They are self-developed skills, qualities and behaviors that are not specific to an industry. Employers deem them valuable because they help determine if you will fit in with their company values and culture. They also show how you will perform once employed. They are intangible and help you interact and work better with others.
You can incorporate the professional skills in your resume and cover letter. Use them as you describe your qualification and work history. Show how you demonstrated these skills during previous employment in your resume. It would be best if you also showcased them during your interview. Read the job description carefully before applying for any job. It will give you an idea of what kind of skills the employer wants.
Here is a list of professional skills that will help you stand out:
1. Communication
Can you communicate effectively verbally, non-verbally and through the written word? How you interact with others can build or ruin relationships. Employers want to know that you will have a significant influence on their customers and other employees too.
It doesn’t matter what role you are applying for. Whether it’s a managerial position, a housekeeper or employee, excellent communication skills will help you:
2. Teamwork
Teamwork is the ability to work with others professionally to achieve specific goals. You need to be able to work well with others through effective communication, sharing in responsibilities and working towards a particular purpose.
Being a good team player means that you can:
3. Problem-solving
Problem-solving is the ability to identify problems, devise smart and effective ways to address them, implement the solutions identified, then test to see if they worked. Employers want someone who will not run away from problems. They want an employee who will solve the issue and effectively get the job done.
4. Leadership
You don’t have to be a leader to have leadership skills. It’s not all about telling others what to do or how to do it. Leaders can lead, inspire, create and motivate. Having leadership skills tells your employer that you can build a vision, gain trust, loyalty and get support from co-workers as you all strive to achieve the set vision.
Some of the abilities the employer will require from you include:
5. Flexibility
Flexibility allows you to be adaptable and effectively cope with changing environments and situations. Can you understand the different perspectives of an issue? Can you easily adjust your work depending on how the company is changing?
It also means the ability to be cognitively flexible. You can tailor conversations depending on those you are interacting with. There is a difference between how you communicate with your boss and your client. You must be able to customize your approach depending on the person you are handling. You can depict flexibility in:
6. Time management
Time management is the ability to use time wisely, ensuring you finish tasks by a given deadline without being overwhelmed. It shows that you have control over your time and life. You can effectively maintain work, family and personal balance. The ability to prioritize tasks depending on the amount of time they need, setting a fixed time to take breaks or go through your emails and having time to relax to avoid getting stressed out. It’s the ability to:
7. Decision-making skills
Decision-making is the ability to:
Decision makers know how and when they should apply solutions and when to re-evaluate them. If you are a good decision maker, then you know how to make decisions depending on:
It’s as simple as knowing what dress to wear to what marketing strategy is the best.
8. Organizational and planning skills
Can you design, plan and organize effectively? Can you implement tasks and projects within a given timeframe? The employer wants to know that you can divide large tasks into smaller manageable ones and complete them within a given timeframe. When given a project:
Being organized means that:
Being organized means lack of clutter, unreliable communication, inefficiencies, and procrastination.
9. Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills are skills that enable employees to work well with other staff members, managers, clients, customers and vendors and among other stakeholders. Personal skills together with other professional skills are essential for professional networking and managing career growth. These skills enable you to have attributes such as:
With the above skills, you can win over your future employer. This set of unique abilities will make employers want to hire you on the spot. All you have to do is demonstrate on the CV, cover letter and resume. You can do this by giving examples of how you employed these skills in your work.
Even though each employer is looking for specific skill sets for the job, the above skills are universal and are sought after by most employers. Technical skills and the ability to do your job are necessary, but the professional or soft skills put you ahead of the race.
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