8 Special Abilities You Must Highlight in Your CV.

Hard and soft skills are equally important for employers. Here are 8 special abilities you must highlight in your CV.

The workplace has evolved over the years due to variations in company policy, cost considerations, and a shift in mentality. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has also had a major impact on work culture. 

Employers are now, not only interested in your hard skills but also your special abilities. 

Most young professionals now prefer working remotely. And working remotely means your boss has to trust that you will deliver results, unsupervised. 

Besides, an employee must demonstrate that they can do their jobs efficiently and effectively. 

A continuous survey by Wonderlic since 2016 finds that more than 95% of employers regard soft skills as equally essential as hard skills. If you are an engineer at a manufacturing firm, for example, you need to have an added proficiency in communication. 

Your success at the workplace does not entirely depend on your technical skills. Job success also comes from how you relate with the people around you. As a team member in a work project, how do you get people to agree with your ideas? 

Here are the top 8 of the most sought-after soft skills in the job market:

1. Flexibility

There is nothing as permanent as change, in every organization. How do you cope with that ever-nagging supervisor? 

They are always calling you to check on your progress and assign more tasks. At the same time, clients are sending emails to get information on their projects. The ability to suck under pressure must be one of your inherent skills. 

Your life at work can be made unbearable considering the myriad demands coming your way. But flexibility is not an event, it is a soft skill that you learn.

2. Communication

We’ve just mentioned communication as a soft skill you must have to make a good impact on your workmates. Communication is about building relationships with both your superiors and colleagues.

Communication is an important tool in everyday business

Employees must learn how to pass information effectively to team members. In times of disagreement, a good communicator will find polite and razor-sharp ideas on how to handle such situations. 

It also applies to how fast you answer your calls and emails. An ideal time range to respond to an email is within 12 hours.

Communication is also about your command of a particular language, in either written or oral form, or both. How do you pronounce your words?

A good listener is a good communicator too. If you are not ready to listen, then don’t speak also. Be ready to get instructions or ideas from others, too. Don’t impose your opinions on anyone. Communication is about knowing when to speak and when not to.

3. Analytical thinking

Employers are looking for people who can critically look at raw information presented to them and make sensible decisions around that. 

4. Customer service 

Customers bring in the money that you earn as an employee. How you handle the visitors that show up at your offices can have several outcomes for the company. 

Treat all your visitors as potential customers. The person you handle casually today may tomorrow turn out to be the client that gives your firm one of its biggest business deals.

5. Independence

How well and hard do you work when no one is watching? A robotic employee is extremely undesirable in the modern work environment. You should perform your duties as if your boss was right behind you, even when they are not looking. Independence as a soft skill is especially important in a remote work environment.

6. Time management

Make good use of the time allocated to you during your hours of work. If you can’t properly schedule your time, you won’t meet deadlines. 

Run away from the distractions of social media and such. At the end of the day, what you produce translates into whether you get a pay rise or demotion. 

7. Positivity

There is a lot of energy and synergy that comes with a positive attitude. Look around, the employee that is always cheerful and smiling tends to be more productive. They also pass this aura to their colleagues and the chain continues.

A negative attitude repels people and no one wants to be around you. You also give the impression that you are not willing to work. 

Despite the personal problems you could be going through, try to keep a level-headed approach to everyone you are working with. 

8. Imagination

How easily do you come up with solutions when approached with challenges at your desk? Employers are looking for professionals that can come up with new solutions in 2022. Your creativity levels also depend on your state of mind. A stressed mind can never be creative. Also, there are many exercises out here that you can take part in to add to your creative juices.

9. How do you include these soft skills in your resume?

When writing down your CV, highlight them either as an introduction or as part of your projects undertaken and accomplishments.