Soft Skills You Must Have

When you appear for a job interview, it is not only your qualifications and experience that is assessed. More that "what you know" and "what you did", potential employers want to know "what you can do". To assess what you can do, they evaluate you on 5 important criteria. These are 5 essential soft skills, that every employee must exhibit for a successful career.

5 Essential Soft Skills For A  Successful Career

Your superiors and other corporate honchos would have you believe that top executives are made up of gold. But they aren't, really. What sets apart top executives from the riff raff, is a set of soft skills and personality traits. What are these traits?

1. Communication Skills

Having good communication skills is essential in the modern corporate environment. From writing memos to chalking out instructions to your team, as a manager you are expected to clearly express your thoughts and ideas in oral/written format. Good communication skills require qualities like listening ability, empathy, understanding and emotional connection with your audience. A good manager always displays superior communication skills, besides great language skills.

2. Conflict Management

Managers confront conflict every now and then. From a whining subordinate to an overbearing superior, conflict can appear in many forms. What sets you apart from others is how you handle conflicts. Do you allow a conflict to scare you, or do you get overtly emotional, violent or insensitive? A good manager will use conflicts to his/her advantage and always be in control.

3. Adaptability

Being flexible and open to change is the hallmark of a good manager. As a manager you will be exposed to constant change. The business environment changes, people change, your team changes, sometimes your functions change. In short, everything can change. How well you adapt to changes and new circumstances is a good way of judging your worth as a manager.

4. Being A Team Player

Good employees and managers work great in a team. Companies consider an employee as meritworthy only if he/she values the team's success more than individual success. Such team work is aptly rewarded by most companies in the form of group incentives. Do you gel well with your team? Are you a team player?

5. Respect Others

Often interviewers ask the support staff (peon, receptionist) for advice when selecting a candidate. This is to judge whether a prospective employee/candidate respects people below him. It is very important to treat everyone with respect, no matter what their position is in the corporate setup. You would probably not find a CEO who screams at the office boy every ow and then. See the point?

These are the soft skills that you must cultivate if you are looking at building a successful career in the corporate world. You can cultivate these skills with practice and patience.