6 Best Soft Skills to Highlight In A Job Interview

Jane Hurst

When you are going into an interview you normally practice questions and answers related to your formal education, job history, and skills. This is a part of the interview. Nowadays employers are looking for more than your education and formal job experience. They are looking for soft skills. Here are the six best soft skills to highlight in an interview.

 

1. Time management – Showing your future employer that you are capable of time management is a great way to help you land the job. Employers are looking for employees that can get their work done without stress and on time. Demonstrating great time management skills in your interview will be a plus to the hiring manager. You will want to stress time organization and delegation of tasks.
2. Communication – The best candidate for any position is one who is able to communicate with others in general speaking and writing. You need to show that you have both interpersonal communication skills and small group communication skills. You need to be able to get your ideas across in both writing and in person. Be able to be concise and direct. Do not ramble when you are answering your interview questions.
3. Positivity – When you are being interviewed you want to show a positive attitude. Show the interviewer that you are someone they want working with them by creating a positive image of yourself and your past experiences. Be sure to smile during the interview and stress how your positivity helped other coworkers at your previous job. You do not want to come across as boring during your interview. Smile and let them know you have a positive outlook on life.
4. Adaptability – People who are able to adapt to different situations are more likely to be hired. While you may be asked about this during your interview, you can also demonstrate adaptability in your resume. You can use online resume examples to show how to incorporate adaptability into your resume. You can talk about a time you had to do multiple tasks which had the same deadline. You can also show how many different jobs you were expected to take care of at one of your other positions. Being adaptable in today’s world is a soft skill that will be influential in your hiring decision.
5. Conflict resolution – Being able to handle conflict in the workplace is a skill that employers are looking for. If you have handled conflict in a previous job, let the interviewer know what happened and how you dealt with the conflict. Employers want you to be able to deal with conflict in the workplace. Let them know you are mature enough to handle conflict at work.
6. Teamwork – You need to be able to work well with others to get a job in today’s market. Right now the workforce is compiled of many different people with a multitude of backgrounds. Being able to work with people will be a bonus when it comes time for the interviewer to make a hiring decision. The goal of a business is to work together to create a product that their customers need. The only way to reach this goal is though teamwork.

Soft skills are more important now in businesses. If you have the degree or the experience but lack soft skills you will not have as good a chance at being hired. Let the interviewer know that you are part of the team and you will work your best with others to produce whatever the employer wants. The more flexible you are the better your chances of getting a job.

Byline:

Jane Hurst has been working in education for over 5 years as a teacher. She loves sharing her knowledge with students, is fascinated about edtech and loves reading, a lot. Follow Jane on Twitter.