The Soft Skills Important to Hiring Managers Today

The term Soft Skills is increasingly popping up in hiring circles as well as fast becoming the go-to decider for choosing one candidate over another. What are Soft skills? How do they differ from the job-relevant capabilities, or namely hard skills that have traditionally reinforced the strength of a candidate for a given position?

Soft skills refer to those skills that demonstrate how you approach your work, particularly your ability to self-manage, handle emotions and people under pressure. No matter how elevated the hard skill expertise you have developed, your long-term career and leadership success can really hinge on your ability to master these important so-called soft skills.

Here are 5 essential soft skills that can help take your career to new levels:

1.    Work Ethic / Positive Attitude

It’s important to exude a positive attitude toward maintaining high standards in the workplace. Show that you take pride in your work, get to work and meetings on time, and manage your time efficiently. Show that you are resilient and can easily adapt to change, and that you can be counted on to get the job done as well as provide constructive support as part of a team. When you demonstrate that you care about the quality of every aspect of your work you distinguish your value to the company.

2.    Communication

Communication skills are on the top priority list for any company.  The ability to write and speak articulately in business situations is essential in developing and maintaining strong interpersonal relationships. Strong communication is also the key to standing out to management and facilitating your personal growth and success. 

3.    Confidence

When you align a positive mindset and work ethic with confidence you’ll soon see the benefits. Exuding confidence increases your visibility within the workplace and convinces management that you can run successful projects, teams and meetings as well as make good decisions for the company. It’s also the winning ticket to the promotion, new role and salary increase that you’ve set your sights on.

4.    Problem Solving

Creative and innovative problem solving is highly valued in the workplace. Big or small, if you can analyze, assess and provide successful solutions to business challenges, you immediately boost your personal worth within the company.

5.    Conflict Resolution

Managing conflict resolution in a positive way is a critical skill if you plan to move    up in your career. This requires the ability to influence, persuade, negotiate and resolve interpersonal conflicts both in the best interest of the company and the   relationships of the people involved.

Important for Job Candidates

If you don’t feel strong in any of these skills, make it your focus to learn. The time and investment in doing what it takes to improve in these areas will pay off greatly. Soft skills will not only help increase your work performance and build solid relationships, they can help take you all the way to the top of your career goals.

Important for Hiring Managers

The most important thing for hiring managers is to establish upfront what is the one most important thing that makes you believe that the employee is:

·      Invested In Their Job

·      Eager To Work

·      Committed To Get Things Done

Using this approach can help uncover which soft skills are priorities not only for any given position but also to ensure productive working relationships within the workplace culture.

The Importance Of Networking When You Have A Job

Networking tends to be the first point of thought if we find ourselves out of a job. Or it’s that piece of advice we’re given when starting out on our career path. Yet making the most out of networking when you have a job can be one of the most important investments of your time you’ll make. Networking doesn’t just help you find opportunities when you’re out of work, it can be vital to helping advance your career when you have a job. So don’t sit quietly at your desk all day long. Get up, get out and talk to people!

Build A Network Before You Need It

Simply put, networking increases your value at any stage of your career. Look to build your network and connections both within your company as well as outside the office within your industry circles. Being connected to a strong group of people allows you to increase your knowledge, learn new skills, and tap into useful resources. Importantly, you’ll have more direct access to new job opportunities or internal promotions with increased salary.

When you attend new events or start a new job, make an effort to meet new people. It can feel awkward at times yet the long term ROI on developing a wide network of relationships can be priceless. Imagine the next time you need a new position or job; you pick up the phone and get a referral to walk you through the door to a new opportunity. That definitely beats trying to stand out in a pile of resumes.

Give. Don’t Just Expect to Get

Don’t make your networking strategy a frantic pursuit of attending every industry event, picking up as many business cards as possible, and tossing them in a drawer until you need them. Nurture your network by being authentic in how you participate within your community. Find out what you have in common with people and how you can contribute to their personal success or the success of important projects.

One big point – enjoy networking and even have fun! Don’t think of it as an inconvenience that eats up your time; something that you feel forced to do only when you need something. Put the same attention and time to it as you would a valuable investment. Because that’s exactly what it is.

If you live in the Las Vegas or Nashville areas and would like to join us at some of our networking events, please contact kim@taureanconsulting.net (Nashville) or Sonia@taureanconsulting.net (Las Vegas).

How Women Can Tap The Massive Opportunities In Tech

There is no escaping the huge opportunity that tech-skilled positions present in today’s hiring marketplace. These high in-demand jobs are expanding at a rate faster than availability of talent, driving employers to develop more creative and substantial hiring packages to compete for these sought after candidates.

Despite the tech talent pool shortage, women continue to be under-represented at all levels in the tech industry. Diversity and addressing “women’s issues” has become the hot topic as many companies of all sizes have started taking action to overcome biases and improve hiring opportunities for women. It does not immediately fix the challenges that women face, but the good news is that women can take charge and be proactive in their approach to gain an edge, get hired and thrive in tech roles.

Choose a Tech Career Path

Women need to want and choose a tech career path. With today’s modern culture and economy dependent so much on software, the technology field represents a huge opportunity and females with technical skills can take advantage of this. A recent report from Cisco reveals one million job openings in 2016 for cyber-security alone. Demand is expected to rise to 6 million globally by 2019.

However, research by Harvey Mudd College identified three primary reasons why women did not choose to pursue roles in the tech industry:

• Young women did not consider a career in tech to be interesting.
• They doubted their ability to be successful at it.
• They did not believe that they would be working with people with whom they would feel comfortable.

The starting point is young women opting a tech-focused learning path. The jobs are out there for the taking, and women are in a great position to take advantage of getting trained to succeed in the tech scene.

Have a Job Search Strategy

Just as with any job search, having a plan goes a long way to finding the right company fit. For example, using online and social communities to discover or crowd-source advice prior to submitting a resume can help women address any preconceptions about the company’s culture, work environment, leadership, work-life balance, harassment, equal pay, etc.

Women can also ready themselves to enter male-dominated workplaces by setting their own tone. A critical challenge facing women is the way they can begin to feel, act, or are expected to act, when working with men. The key is for women to stay true to who they are and avoid comparing themselves to male counterparts. Everyone has their own unique progress and growth experience and women should avoid feeling that they need to take on the traits of men to advance in tech roles.

Joining a professional women’s tech-focused networking group is also a great way for aspiring female techies to get the insights, connections and mentorship to launch or advance their career.

Taurean Consulting is a 100% women-owned business and we work extra hard empowering our female tech candidates to excel in full time and contract placements. It doesn’t stop once they are hired; we remain active in providing opportunities for their continued development of in-demand skills. We also consult with hiring companies to establish how they can support and inspire the female techforce in their workplaces.