Job Skills

Many employers value workers with soft skills – interpersonal and thinking skills needed to interact successfully with people and to perform efficiently and effectively in the workplace.

Social Skills

• Coordination
  • Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
• Instructing
  • Teaching others how to do something.
• Negotiation
  • Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.
• Persuasion
  • Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.
• Service Orientation
  • Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Social Perceptiveness
  • Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

Thinking Skills

• Active Learning
  • Understanding the implications of new information for current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
• Active Listening
  • Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Complex Problem Solving
  • Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Critical Thinking
  • Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
• Judgment and Decision Making
  • Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions and choosing the most appropriate one.
• Learning Strategies
  • Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.
• Monitoring
  • Monitoring/Assessing the performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Time Management
  • Managing one's own time and the time of others.

Source: O-Net Online, https://www.onetonline.org/skills/soft/
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