How do you differentiate yourself from someone with the exact same GPA and credentials as you? Contrary to popular belief, real life doesn’t revolve around your results in school. It’s been talked about a million times, and in a million ways – and yet, soft skills are still slept on.
Here are some soft skills that you should have (and even show off) during an interview:
Decision Making Skills
It’s more than just being able to decide what to have for lunch within a group of friends. It’s making difficult decisions that’ll ultimately affect the company and the people in it. Making good decisions are also seen as a leadership trait as you might sometimes need to step up, in the absence of a superior.
Give examples of how you’ve taken charge in times of challenges and turmoil in your group projects or even during your previous internships. You could even mention what you’ve learnt from the situation and how you’d be able to apply it to similar situations in the future.
Creativity
The ability to think ‘outside the box’ is one that is highly looked for across all types of industries. This doesn’t mean to come up with the most impractical idea, it’s understanding the audience’s needs, barriers to obtain those needs, and understanding what’s trending in the industry. Relevancy is very important when it comes to creativity.
Share how you had creatively solved a problem through unconventional means, and the success of it based on the audience. These could be examples from school events, your part-time job, or even a family event.
Time Management
Quite possibly one of the most important skills to have. Employers are constantly looking for someone with the ability to balance several projects (it’s time and cost efficient!) at the same time. The skill also includes the ability to prioritise, meet deadlines and multitask. This skill ensures that deliverables and projects are always completed on time.
To best demonstrate this skill, be on time! You could also be more specific when sharing a project timeline that you’ve faced in school or during your internship.
Adaptability
As the world progresses and is constantly changing, the ability to adapt becomes highly important as well. Employers seek people who are able to learn and adapt efficiently to their new working environment.
When adaptability questions come your way, tell them about how you took on new ideas from new people in completely new environments. It could be those you encountered on a school exchange programme or during a CIP trip. You could also share what you’ve learnt from those experiences.
Customer Care
In the age of Social Media, complaints and reviews are taken very seriously by consumers – they could even make or break a company. Employers look for people with excellent customer care skills. This means being able to handle difficult clients, have a high level of patience, and also being extra attentive and careful. This not only applies to consumer-facing jobs, it is also relevant when dealing with internal suppliers or vendors.
You may be asked about this through several scenario-based questions. Your best bet would be to mention help from colleagues and to remember that you’re not serving the consumers alone.