What soft skills are?
Soft skills refer to an individual’s human and behavioral abilities, in contrast to hard skills, which are typically technical skills acquired through formal education and professional experiences.
Regardless of the position or job being targeted, these interpersonal abilities are becoming increasingly important to recruiters. Therefore, it is expected to find them on a resume.
How to choose and highlight soft skills on a resume
Choosing the right soft skills and highlighting them on your resume can clearly show how you work, your ability to integrate into a new team or company.
The recruitment process will be successful by matching your personal profile to the targeted position but also by matching your know-how and the company culture.
Generally, you will find in soft skills: team spirit, negotiation skills, management, problem-solving, emotional intelligence, stress resistance, customer service, flexibility, critical thinking, decision making, creativity…
Of course, only the soft skills that match your profile will be relevant.
How to integrate soft skills on a resume?
There are several ways to present and integrate soft skills on a resume:
- In professional experiences, in addition to each factual aspect, you can indicate which skills have been monopolized and/or developed.
- In the teaser – the introduction paragraph of your resume – each adjective related to your human qualities will complement your professional skills.
- As content of a whole section, named “skills” or “other skills.” In this case, it naturally follows a section containing your “hard skills.”
Last but not least, your behavioral qualities will also be part of your argument in cover letters.