How To Bag Your Dream Job

I’m often asked this question by jobseekers desperate to take the next step in their career and land their perfect job. I’ve been in business for 30 years and still, my answer to the question always comes as a surprise. In reality, it’s not just about qualifications, having a 1st class degree from Cambridge or Oxford isn’t everything. Of course, being well educated is always a huge advantage and I will always advocate the importance of a good education but I also find so many people underestimate the other contributing factors – your soft skills.

I left school at 16 and couldn’t rely on my academic qualifications to get me to where I needed to be so always knew I had to rely on my soft skills. I started my first business without a university degree and without a foot in the door. What I did have however was an ability to communicate effectively and make decisions, a great sense of time management, an inherent eagerness to take responsibility and be part of a happy, integrated team.

These are all soft skills and without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

For the first time it has been revealed that soft skills are worth ￡88 billion to the UK economy yet bizarrely, a survey of over 2,000 employees revealed 1 in 5 people wouldn’t feel confident describing them to an employer and over half have never included it in a CV.

If this sounds like you, pay attention! Here are my top 5 soft skills that are guaranteed to get you noticed.

Communication

This may sound obvious but possessing good communication skills is essential in any role, and even more so at the interview stage. Being able to communicate appropriately, maintain good eye contact, demonstrate a varied vocabulary, tailor your language to your audience, listen and present your ideas effectively can be the difference between getting the job or not. Your communications skills are what ultimately make the lasting impression.

Teamwork

As an employer, one of the first things I ask myself when interviewing somebody is, ‘do they fit in?’ and I bet that’s the same for any other employer. Culture is crucial to any business’ success and an employer will want to make sure you have something to add.

Sharing a time you worked well as part of a team illustrates your sociability, willingness to support and contribution to creating new ideas and making things happen.

Decision making

This is about having the confidence to make the right choices, and not being afraid to take the initiative. What important decisions have you made at work or at college that have made a difference? Make sure you flag these! Remember, confidence is key. ‘A decision’ is better than ‘no decision’ as far as I’m concerned!

Taking responsibility

Have you ever stuck your hand up and volunteered for something? Taking responsibility is a great way of emphasising how you can follow and manage a process from start to finish. Not only this, it also proves that you can work alone as well as part of a team which is critical when measuring success.

Time management

Time management is an important quality and should never be underestimated; helping employees meet tight deadlines, working within a project timeframe and arriving on time to external meetings or perhaps in this case, an interview, are all absolutely essential and can make or break a first impression.

If there is one thing I want you to take away from this it’s, if you’ve got it, flaunt it! I am absolutely certain that soft skills are set to be a hiring game changer and it’s time for employers, government, educators, parents – everyone – to take action to recognise, promote and improve them. Don’t get left behind, become part of the movement, put your soft skills on your CV now and you’ll be one step closer to bagging your dream job.

For more advice, you can tune in to my new business show on LBC every Thursday 9-10pm!