4 soft-skills that all employers value

For a specialist who is looking for a job, having only one skill will always be not enough. If everything is more or less clear with the hard skill (they are indicated for each specialty), then everything is not so obvious with the soft skill.

Soft skills is a topic that the current labor market perceives as an unnecessary philosophy. But, fortunately, everything is changing and there is an understanding that the success of the project depends on how the interaction in the team will be, how the deadlines will be met and how the finished project will be presented, etc. After all, you can be an impeccable professional in your field, but if you don't have soft skills, you won't be able to work in a team. Tough skills can be developed, and in order to become a team player, you need to make every effort, but not everyone is ready to work on themselves.

Human development is a natural process necessary to maintain vital activity. Therefore, it is important to develop not only professional skills, but also soft skills that help to adapt to various changes in the surrounding world. It is necessary to develop adaptability, critical thinking, self-learning skills and sociability.

When experts from different fields talk about the modern world, they increasingly use the term VUCA. This is an acronym for the words volatility, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity — instability, uncertainty, complexity, ambiguity. Today, this term is used to describe the conditions in which a business operates.

To succeed in these conditions, you need to learn how to change with the world: quickly navigate in unforeseen circumstances, take into account different reaction options and choose the most optimal one.

Adaptability has become a new trend in flexible skills. This quality helps not only to quickly navigate in various situations, but also to initiate processes that will lead to positive changes. Adaptability is especially appreciated by managers, since an employee who knows how to monitor the development of the situation, adjust plans and develop new strategies wins against the background of others.

Critical thinking allows you to look at work tasks from different angles and avoid mistakes related to inaccuracy or insufficiency of data. However, critical thinking is important not only in work. A person faces a huge amount of information every day. It is important to be able to analyze it and draw reasonable conclusions. Critical thinking is linked to creativity. It makes a person more open to new ideas and solutions that can go beyond the boundaries of stereotypes. The ability to think critically allows you not to get stuck in broken schemes, and if necessary, change your approach and find a more effective solution in a difficult situation.

Communication is the transfer of information, the exchange of knowledge between interlocutors. Professional communication is different from everyday communication. In a conversation with a friend, you can share emotions about any events, do not choose words, joke a lot and exchange memes. But if you send a client the same letter as you could write to a friend, most likely it will cause surprise. The communication skill includes the ability to conduct business communication - correspondence and negotiations with colleagues, clients and the boss. You also need to master oratory, that is, be able to convey your thoughts clearly and clearly.

I think many will agree that the community plays a significant role in the IT environment: experienced developers help colleagues and willingly share expertise. Nevertheless, there is a stereotype that it is normal for a programmer to be closed. However, it is difficult to interact with a closed person, since he almost never offers ideas and is not inclined to discuss current processes. Therefore, more and more companies are paying attention to whether a specialist is able to work in a team, whether he understands colleagues as well as the project itself, whether he is able to give and receive feedback.

Also, the ability to convince can be attributed to the communication skill. That is, to present your idea, give arguments and tell a story so that listeners are carried away. This is necessary not only for those who constantly communicate with customers. It is this skill that will help to defend your point of view, inspire like-minded people. And in order for colleagues to listen to you not out of politeness, but attentively and intently, it is highly desirable to make your story not only convincing, but also interesting.

Soft skills in the IT environment are by no means more important than hard skills, but they are important for professional success. You can have very deep knowledge, but the lack of "soft skills" levels them. Soft skills are also important because now is the time for team development, not single development, and in a team you need to be able to justify your decisions, resolve conflicts and communicate banally. In addition to developing "soft skills", they also help to solve life tasks, which is why it is so important to develop them.