Comments on: sharpen your soft skills

By: The Writer’s Coin » Blog Archive » Degrees are Important, but not THAT Important

Thu, 29 May 2008 12:07:52 +0000

[...] Blap had a nice post the other day (actually written by Patrick at Cash Money Life) about “soft skills.” [...]

By: Weekly Round-Up Announcing the Book Winner

Weekly Round-Up Announcing the Book Winner — Sun, 25 May 2008 13:52:16 +0000

[...] article at Brip Blap: Steve published a guest article that I wrote for his site: Sharpen Your Soft Skills. Soft skills are important in any work environment, and having strong soft skills increases your [...]

By: plonkee

plonkee — Tue, 20 May 2008 15:55:36 +0000

Skills like these are much better rewarded in your current job than in trying to get a new one. One thing I’ve noticed is that I’ve become somewhat known for my good editing/proofreading skills (which have improved a lot since I started blogging). This means that I get asked to proofread a lot of bids and things, which is great because I get a heads up on a lot of the strategy/business stuff that I wouldn’t normally get as a pleb. You never know where your soft skills might take you.

By: PamelaP

PamelaP — Tue, 20 May 2008 14:01:13 +0000

I am lucky to a certain point as in the retail world degrees are just not that important – we have people at 6 figures that only have a high school diploma but do have great customer service, leadership, etc. skills.

BUT, you are right that in most of the rest of the world you have to have a degree to back up the rest. I doubt I would have gotten the job I have now or been as successful if I didn’t have a Masters. Too bad more companies don’t look at potential.

By: advance career thank you | The Wisdom Journal

advance career thank you | The Wisdom Journal — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:01:58 +0000

[...] career and endear you to the hearts of your bosses, co-workers, and subordinates than many others. Saying them isn’t always enough. Consistently writing genuine thank you notes can help you build your professional success in [...]

By: Writer's Coin

Writer's Coin — Mon, 19 May 2008 23:29:18 +0000

This is a really good point that job seekers and currently employed people should keep in mind. But I also think that managers should pay special attention to this stuff. Why? Because many times these skills are ignored if they don’t come with a certification, diploma, or some other “credential” that backs it up. If someone is a really sharp writer, speaker or “communicator” but doesn’t have a diploma or degree in it, many times it will go ignored, which is a shame.

By: PamelaP

PamelaP — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:27:24 +0000

In my world (recruiting in a corporate setting) I am constantly amazed by how many people do not know how to adequately describe themselves or what their soft skills are – much less give coherent descriptions of examples of the skill. Since I run recruiting (that is more involved with strategy than talking to candidates) I pretty much only interview VP’s & a few director candidates and these are the ones I’m talking about!!

To recommend you on to my president or a VP, I need to feel confident that you have the leadership, teambuilding, negotiating and personal presentation style to make it worthwhile for them to spend the time talking to you. In this company, you also need leadership courage & a high level of problem solving ability.

Generally speaking I go through 8 to 10 interviews to present 1 to 2 candidates. At this level almost everyone has the hard skills to do the job, it’s the emotional intelligence I find lacking, and/or any concrete descriptions of how they have used the skills they profess to have.

I agree with Fathersez & FFB – we need to teach these skills (or keep teaching them) in all levels of school & family life. It definitely will help you move up faster, make more money & if you decide to chuck it all you will have the skills to find & keep clients.

By: Dividend Growth Investor

Dividend Growth Investor — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:37:08 +0000

Soft skills are super important in my opinion. That’s something I have always lacked and worked on improving.

By: FFB

FFB — Mon, 19 May 2008 16:23:14 +0000

These seem to be skills that are more readily acquired outside of class. Places I’ve learned these skills: Scouts, dojo, teams, work, life. It’s true that many people don’t have these skills in abundance. Sometimes having these soft skills can be more important than a job’s technical requirements (or at least you can go much farther if you have them). If you have the ability to listen and be a leader then you can figure out a problem easier.

Another possible one: the ability to get to the core of an issue. I find many run around a problem without understanding the basics of the issue. You need to get to the core and work from there.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Mon, 19 May 2008 13:58:49 +0000

Steve, Thanks for the kind words and posting my guest article on your site.

Fathersez, I agree with your statement – more schools should focus on teaching these skills to students. There are a lot of MBA programs that stress these skills, but there are many schools that completely ignore them.