The soft skills employers look for (including examples)

Employers value soft skills and want to see evidence of them in job applications and the interview process. But how can you show employers you’ve got them if you don’t know what they are?

The good news is you’ve already got soft skills even if you don’t realise. By breaking down what soft skills are, we’ll explain how to use them, improve them and show them to potential employers.

We’ll cover:

• What are soft skills?
• The soft skills employers are looking for
• Soft skills training
• How to include soft skills on your CV
• How to include soft skills in a cover letter
• Soft skills interview questions

Soft skills are personality traits and non-technical capabilities. Sometimes, they’re called core skills or common skills. Examples include teamwork, communication and organisation – all transferable skills that help you get a job done.

Like hard skills (eg. carpentry or coding), it’s possible to learn soft skills – but it will take time. People develop soft skills through education, work, extra-curricular activities and everyday life. For example, lots develop skills through sports. If you’ve got limited working experience, it’s great to talk about the different places you’ve learned skills (such as clubs and societies) in interviews. Plus, having examples outside of work and academia helps you show employers that you’re well-rounded.

Employers value all soft skills. To help you focus on what matters the most, we’ve compiled a list of the key soft skills that employers are looking for. So, take note and show these skills in your job applications and interviews. All the skills listed below are valuable in any job. We’ve also included some industry-specific examples to show some of your career options.

We’ll define:

• Communication
• Teamwork
• Problem-solving
• Leadership
• Time management
• Organisation
• Conflict resolution
• Adaptability
• Confidence
• Ability to work independently
• Attention to detail
• Positivity
• Taking responsibility
• Creativity
• Motivation
• Multitasking
• Willingness to learn
• Curiosity
• Critical thinking
• Patience

Communication is arguably the most sought-after soft skill. It’s the ability to share and take on board ideas and information. It’s a crucial skill when working in teams and with others.

Communication skills include verbal, non-verbal, visual and written communication and listening. All jobs need communication skills, but they’re particularly important for client and customer-facing roles. Negotiation and persuasion skills are crucial in commercial roles or if you’re working to become a lawyer.

Teamwork helps you work alongside others. As a good team player, you’ll contribute your ideas and compromise by taking on others' thoughts. Listening to others’ views and having empathy is important for teamwork. Lots of sectors thrive on teamwork, including HR, consulting and PR.

Problem-solving skills involve producing solutions to issues and planning how you’ll reach goals.

Methodical problem-solvers are particularly in demand for jobs in technology and IT. Many other STEM careers value problem-solving skills, so look into these sectors if you enjoy tackling puzzles.

Being able to lead people is relevant to entry-level roles and management roles as you never know when you’ll need to take ownership of a project. Roles in business, supply chain management and finance require strong leadership skills.

Time management is the ability to organise and control your work to fit into your time constraints. Time management combines organisation, efficiency and discipline. All jobs with a high workload require time management skills. It’s extra important if you’re managing a team as you’ll need to balance your workload with keeping an eye on others.

Organisation is the ability to plan and order your tasks in an efficient way. Organisational skills are crucial in many aspects of work and personal life. Maintaining good organisation involves lots of communication and good time management. Working in logistics and events requires strong organisation as it’s essential that the right thing happens at the right time – every time.

Conflict resolution is how disagreements are understood and sorted. At work, conflicts generally occur when there’s a disagreement between at least two parties (internal or external).

Resolving conflicts involves compromise and communication. Being able to do this is crucial when working within and between teams. When you work with multiple people, there’ll always be different opinions. So, conflict resolution is essential to keep everyone happy.

Adaptability involves adjusting to change, ie. being flexible and learning new processes and skills quickly. It’s particularly valuable when working for a smaller company as you’ll have to take on different tasks when you’ve only got a small team. Fast growth environments also require adaptability as you’ll need to manage shifting pressures as a company grows.

Confidence helps with decision-making, public speaking and teamwork. Being confident makes it easier to build credibility for yourself. Confidence is often displayed by clear, calm and charismatic speaking.

Not feeling confident? Work on your self-belief by encouraging positive self-thoughts and practising public speaking.

Of course, teamwork is important but don’t forget the value of being proactive. Self-motivation improves your ability to get work done by yourself. Even when working alone, communication is still important as you’ll likely have to report to your manager.

Do you like working independently? Consider a career in consulting.

Having good attention to detail means you’ll complete every part of a task to the highest standard. It’s important to maintain this thoroughness while ensuring efficiency so that you meet your deadlines.

If you’ve got great attention to detail, think about a career in finance or data analytics.

Displaying a positive attitude helps with career progression. Enthusiasm is sought after by employers. It’s important to balance believing that anything is possible with being realistic with workloads. So, don’t take on more work than you’re able to deliver by being too eager.

It’s impossible to be successful if you don’t take responsibility for your work. After all, if you don’t take responsibility then you can’t get the credit.

Taking responsibility involves having ownership over projects that are your own, as well as your company’s wider goals and objectives. You must take the initiative to complete tasks, accept responsibility and form solutions if things go wrong. To improve your responsibility skills, volunteer to take ownership of a new initiative.

Creativity is useful beyond creative roles and industries. It’s essential for generating new ideas in all sectors. Creative people approach tasks in innovative ways that save companies time and money, which employers love.

Creativity is a valuable skill in marketing, media and PR roles and other sectors, such as HR where you need to come up with ideas to produce the most effective workforce.

Motivation is essential for any workplace. It’s having the drive to always work well without monitoring. Motivation is shown through positivity, commitment and taking initiative. This skill is valuable in every sector and job type. It’s particularly important to display motivation when you’re in a temporary role that you’d like to become permanent. So, if you’re hoping for a contract extension, show that you’ve got what it takes to excel in your job.

Balancing multiple tasks over a singular period is essential when managing a heavy workload. Efficient multitasking is the ability to keep progressing on one set of tasks while focusing on something else. Strong multitasking skills are important for productivity and prioritisation. You need to maintain a balance here. If you’re doing various tasks, make sure you aren’t spreading yourself too thin and that you’re still doing your work to a high standard.

Being eager to learn is a great way to show your passion for a role or company. It’s an attractive skill to employers. It shows that you pick things up quickly and are committed to personal growth. To show that you’ve got this skill in an interview, talk about other skills you’ve learned and why you chose to learn them.

Curiosity is the desire to seek out new information and ask questions, so you’re equipped with the knowledge to perform as well as possible. Curiosity is particularly important when working in a new role or industry as there’ll be a lot of new concepts that you’ll need to learn. Team members will also be keener to collaborate if you’re inquisitive.

Critical thinking is the analysis of a situation and coming to an informed decision or solution. Critical thinking ensures you cover all bases and have resolutions for every issue. It requires observation, problem-solving and inference. Lots of job sectors value strong critical thinking skills, including accountancy.

Patience is the ability to accept delays without worry or frustration. It’s an important skill that you need to balance with proactivity. Don’t be too laid-back as you still have to make sure everything’s completed in a timely manner.

Patience is essential for any role where there’s a lot of interaction with people. For example, working with customers or clients as you’ll be working to others' schedules.

Want to brush up on your soft skills? Small changes in your everyday life will make a difference, such as striving to be a better listener with your friends. Soft skills training is available though to take things even further.

Professional training develops your soft skills which will help when applying for jobs and work experience. Soft skills training involves support with communication, organisation, leadership and many other skills. Sometimes, schools offer this type of training so look out for it. Alternatively, there are courses you’ll find online and in-person – some of which are free.

Soft skills have become increasingly important as companies are focusing more on transferable soft skills than technical skills. So, take up any training opportunities that come your way.

Having soft skills is one thing. Making sure an employer knows you’ve got them is another. To show what you’ve got, you need to include your soft skills on your CV.

When writing a CV, prove your soft skills when talking about employment and other achievements. For example, if you discuss leading a sports team to win a final, mention your communication, confidence and adaptability. Adding soft skills into experience sections is a good way to display them without having to list them all out.

When applying for jobs, look at the soft skills listed in the job description and check you’ve shown that you’ve got them. Consider creating a list of scenarios where you’ve used your soft skills and select the most relevant ones for each role. It’s always a good idea to tailor your CV to suit each application.

Ready to use your soft skills to improve your CV? See how to write a CV.

A cover letter is another great way to show you’ve got the skills the job role requires. Use the cover letter to explain why you’d be an asset to the company. Be sure to connect examples of when you’ve used your soft skills to the role you’re applying for. It’s great to include figures as evidence of how well something worked.

Ready to add your soft skills to your next cover letter? Read our article on how to write a good cover letter.

If your CV and cover letter impress an employer, the next step is a job interview. An interviewer will ask you about your soft skills.

Example questions about soft skills are:

• How do you prioritise tasks when you’ve got deadlines to meet?
• What’s the most significant problem you’ve solved in the workplace?
• Can you discuss a time you managed a team through a difficult situation?
• How do you explain new topics to colleagues unfamiliar with them?
• Describe a situation where results were below expectations. How did you adapt to this change?
• How would you act if someone disagreed with you in the working environment?
• Discuss a situation where you had to make a decision without supervision. How did you approach the situation?
• Describe a time when you did a task for the first time. What did you do? How did it go?
• Explain your biggest achievement and how you got there.
• Discuss a time when you took the initiative to solve a problem.

Whenever you’re asked to talk about a past scenario, form your answers with the STAR technique – ie. describe the Situation and the Task you were faced with, the Action you took and the Result from this action.

Soft skills are essential to any job as they’re the tools you need to succeed. Employers often value these as much or sometimes more than technical skills, particularly in early career employment. They’re a great thing to talk about if you’ve got limited work experience as you learn these skills in many different environments. So, you’ll have plenty of soft skills even if you’re going for your first-ever job.

Want to learn even more skills? Visit our key graduate career skills guide.