Is Your Resume Soft Enough?

I know you have them and I know you use them every single day of the week, but yet you haven't even added them to your resume yet. Well I am here to tell you that Soft Skills are becomingly increasingly important in job search and career progression and I want to show you how to infuse your resume with your valuable soft skills.

Back in the day, long ago, jobs were very specialized. If you wanted a job as a stone cutter, you needed to have hard stone cutting skills. If you wanted a job as an administrative assistant, you needed to type a certain amount of words per minute. Jobs were so specialized that hard skills outweighed any?number of soft skills. In fact, hiring managers may have balked in your face if you even?tried?to present?soft skills.?

"Hey Amelia Bedelia, we have no use for creative thinking, not in this?factory. Good day!"?

Soft Skills Matter at Work

Research conducted with Fortune 500 CEOs?by Stanford Research Institute International and the Carnegie Melon Foundation found that 75% percent of long-term job success depends on people skills (aka soft skills), while only 25% depended on technical knowledge (aka hard skills or technical skills.) If you like statistics, you'll also love to hear that?67% of HR managers?and recruiters said they would hire a candidate with strong soft skills even if hard skills were lacking.?

Soft skills have long been the underdog, often dismissed as a little too "fluffy" , too "flaky" and too "flimsy". However, I am willing to bet that you can pinpoint a specific failure or problem at work that could have been avoided or ameliorated by a good set of soft skills.?

The best part about soft skills? We all have?some.

Our soft skills are almost inborn, we can work to improve and strengthen them. The ones we don't have, we can also work to improve. You can thoughtfully add your soft skills to?your resume and use your soft skills to showcase what makes you.

Showcase what makes you—well, actually you.

How to Identify Your Own Soft Skill Sets?

It's time to honestly identify your soft skill sets. There are some skills?you can qualify almost immediately. For example, under the?communication umbrella of soft skills, you might immediately identify yourself as excellent at written communication—but maybe your verbal communication is a little lacking.?

Step 1. Make a List (or Three)?

To get started, create a three-column list. In the 1st column, list the skills you're pretty dang sure you have mastered. In the 2nd column, list the skills you have but you'd like to develop more. In the 3rd column,?list the?skills you need to start from scratch to work on improving.?

Step 2. Phone a Friend (or Colleague)?

Remember the last time you sat down to?update your resume? Even worse, have you ever been asked to write a biography of yourself from the third-person point of view??

Thinking about yourself, writing about yourself, or qualifying your skills can be extremely difficult. That's why my second tip in identifying your soft skill sets is to phone a friend. We are often one our own worst enemies and don't recognize our super powers and can be a little too modest for our own good.

It's always great to get an opinion from someone close to you—whether it's your mom, your partner, or your coworker. Because, here's the deal—some soft skill sets are so incredibly inborn, we might not even notice them ourselves. You might be excellent at?really constructive feedback?without knowing it. Why? Because you're someone who naturally has a knack for being helpful,?empathetic, and communicative. There, right there, are three amazing sets of soft skills.?

Once you have created your three-column list, take it to a trusted friend, family member, or colleague. See how their insights fall in line, differ from or complement yours.?Is it time to level up at your company, look for a new job, or?change careers altogether? For any of these bold career moves, you'll want to boast about your soft skills—exactly where they're applicable for the job.?

How to Identify the Best Soft Skills for the Job?

Scour the Job Post or Job Description?

Yes, I am talking about keywords! Every?job post has a little hidden language?and it's our job to decode it. The thing is, it's not that hard to do it—and it only takes a few minutes.?

Some job postings are going to list soft skills that are easy to identify. The job post might ask for someone who is?detail-oriented, someone who has a proven record of excellent written communication, or someone who is extremely organized. Look for these call-outs and highlight them.?

Other job posts will be a little more cagey or use more flowery language—when what they're really asking for is skill sets. For example, we found a job posting for a content writer that requested, "Help to educate, inform and energize investors." This request doesn't detail a step-by-step "need list." Instead, it's asking for a writer who might have creative soft skills, problem-solving soft skills, and?interpersonal soft skills.?

• Creativity:?Writing to "energize" investors will likely require a good deal of creativity.?
• Problem-solving:?The mere fact that investors are brought into this job post story hints that they are a constant challenge, so problem-solving skills will likely come in?pretty?handy.?
• Interpersonal:?You can balk at this, but hear me out. Yes, a writing job typically requires that an employee spend long hours in research and solitude, However, at this particular position, this writer is being asked to "educate and inform." So what does this actually mean? This job requires someone that can listen and understand their problems, have sensitivity towards them and probably a little humor (that always helps).

Consider taking a few sentences from your next job post or job description. Deconstruct the problems you will be asked to address. Then, reconstruct them with your natural skillsets.

I know that this might seem labor-intensive, but if you want to take your job search to the next level, you need to start thoughtfully applying for a job. This means, taking the time to imagine yourself in the role working hard and expanding your experiences—you are learning more about yourself, your strengths, and?your weaknesses.

How to Insert Soft Skills Into Your Resume

So, we made some lists, checked them twice, and deconstructed an entire job post. We have picked it apart, line by line, and now we actually need to write this ding-dang resume.?

Add Soft Skills to Your Resume?

A?big mistake I see in resumes?is the "list." This is when an applicant simply uses a little real estate—perhaps on the right or left border—to list out soft skills they believe to have. Here's the problem with the "list". It doesn't provide context for the skills—and how you actually apply them in your work.?

By now, you have made a list of soft skills—hopefully with the help of a?trusted mentor or friend. Once you have done this, scour through your past experiences and add the soft skills in there.?

Perhaps you were an administrative assistant who has great communication skills and a legit?attention to detail. Rather than "showing" this by simply listing "attention to detail," tell it. Under your administrative assistant experience at X company, tell the hiring manager all about your communication prowess. Did you implement a project management system that communicated a hierarchy at the office? Did you single-handedly close deals while taking over written communication for your manager??

Learn to tell a story wherever—and whenever—you can. Not only does it inform and color your soft skillsets, but it also makes for an interesting read!

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