The Impact of Soft Skills in the Dutch Labor Market

The Era?of Soft Skills

?The age where a diploma guaranteeing the finest work chances appears to becoming to an end.

64% of Dutch enterprises no longer require a certificate from new workers.This is obvious from the Lepaya Skills Index, which is based on publicly available job descriptions from the Netherlands' 100 fastest growing enterprises.While 13% stated that they are still looking for a certain degree of thinking that is appropriate for a specific sort of education, they no longer request the diploma itself.

?Soft skills are increasingly taking the lead in the search for new employees. Despite the fact that it is a candidate-led job market, many corporate clients in the Netherlands have stated that technical skills are now the minimum requirement for the IT contractors they hire; they are really looking for candidates with the personal attributes that enable them to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people and the business. In summary, soft skills are becoming increasingly important.?

This might be because a constant aspect of any IT contractor's work is to swiftly integrate themselves into new teams and projects so they can make an instant effect. Indeed, respondents perceived enhanced efficiency and productivity (78%) as a connected advantage of effective communication skills.

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?Soft Skills definition

Soft skills refer to a person's personality qualities or high degree of devotion at work that distinguishes him from others with similar education, experiences, and formal qualifications. They are intangible, non-technical, and non-specialized talents that may be applied horizontally in multiple industries, areas, or work situations.??Hard skills are technical or administrative procedures that can be quantified and assessed We can understand this term more clear by making?a comparison between soft and hard skills with software and hardware, stating that software controls hardware.

Moreover, hard skills allow a person to perform a career, but soft skills operate in one direction, allowing the individual to go beyond the strict framework of his job. ?

Soft skills as initiative factor

Dutch employers frequently employ and promote individuals who consistently display motivation and initiative.Positivity and creativity might demonstrate to companies that a person has the drive to create up new ideas and solve difficulties on his own.Soft skills may also helping put?ideas into action by using motivation to turn brainstorming sessions into actionable tasks. Emphasizing?soft skills?to demonstrate to employers that an employee plans to gets improved and inspire others via his concentration and desire.

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The Key Soft Skills Required in Today’s Dutch workplace environment

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1.Communication

Communication skills are needed to speak appropriately with a wide variety of people whilst maintaining good eye contact, demonstrate a varied vocabulary and tailor your language to your audience, listen effectively, present your ideas appropriately, write clearly and concisely, and work well in a group. Many of these are essential skills that most employers seek.

Communication, at its simplest, is the act of transferring information from one place to another. It may be vocally (using voice), written (using printed or digital media such as books, magazines, websites or emails), visually (using logos, maps, charts or graphs) or non-verbally (using body language, gestures and the tone and pitch of voice). In practice, it is often a combination of several of these.

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2.Teamwork

Teamwork skills are the abilities that allow someone to collaborate effectively with others.

Employers want candidates with outstanding teamwork abilities for a variety of reasons, including leadership, cooperation, and good communication.

Employers want workers to work well with others.

Almost every sector, from business solutions to information technology to culinary services, need teamwork.

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3.Problem-Solving Skills?

The capacity to detect issues, create and assess ideas, and execute the best solutions is referred to as problem-solving abilities.

A problem-solving employee is both a self-starter and a collaborative teammate; they are proactive in discovering the core of an issue and collaborate with others to evaluate a variety of alternatives before determining how to proceed.

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4.Flexibility/Adaptability

The ability to cope with change, or respond well to change, is extremely important in the workplace. Situations, circumstances or workplaces can change extremely quickly, and if individuals, and therefore organisations, cannot adapt to changes quickly, they are likely to be left behind.

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5.Interpersonal skills

Includes generating rapport, cultivating and sustaining connections, and employing diplomacy

It also entails providing and receiving constructive criticism, being patient and respectful of others' points of view, and empathizing with them.

This is one of the most significant soft skills examples since it is essential for establishing trust and accountability in teams.

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Significance

Communication skills, problem-solving orientation, and independence are among the most sought-after personal characteristics among the fastest-growing Dutch organizations. The existence of a set of interpersonal and intrapersonal skills justifies?personal and professional development and success, as well as happiness and social participation.?

That means in a Dutch workplace environment one of the most significant soft skills is communication and that must be applied properly between the members of the workforce. Before making a decision, everyone's perspectives should be heard, which tends to make talks honest and agreeable. Managers frequently request feedback from their teams. They are often willing to receive constructive criticism. As far as it concerns decision making , most choices in?business culture in the Netherlands, and even social life must be decided by agreement. The fact that suggestions from all workers are accepted reflects Dutch equality.

All in all, the results confirm that employers in The Netherlands are?as aware of the importance of soft skills and that is the reason they demand them at that extent.It appears that there will be fertile ground for further study, utilization,assessment and training regarding soft skills into the dutch workplace environment.