What will make you most valuable and have the most impact at a company is a combination of your core, personal, and intangible (soft) skills.
Here are six intangible skills that can get you hired today and certainly again in the future:
1. Adaptability
The "relentlessly changing" world we live in requires its workers to be able to flow with change, adapt to change, and navigate change with a can-do attitude. Those who can adapt the best to personal, policy, and leadership change will be valuable assets to their work teams and workplace.
2. Team Player
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The most successful sports franchises all have a balance of veteran, experienced, and rookie players. Working together with people of different generations, cultures, and demographics is a coveted intangible skill that will become more and more important as the workplace becomes more culturally diverse.
Your "human relations" skills—be it developing rapport, listening, motivating others, or delegating with respect—will be what makes you an important part of any team.
3. Leadership
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Owning the job you have and making things better and more effective, instead of just showing up daily to do the same thing, is an intangible that will make you stand out. You don't have to be the "owner," president, manager, or CEO to show leadership.
Just look at all the employees honored for their work in the awesome program "Undercover Boss." Most of these workers just have a strong sense of personal pride and work ethic, regardless of their personal lives of showing up to do a great job and making a difference every day.
4. Multi-Tasker
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This is pretty simple. The workplace requires people to do more tasks and take on more responsibility than ever before. Expect it and get prepared for it.
Certainly, this should have realistic boundaries. It's important for you to find work-life balance in whatever position you land. You don't want to experience career burnout.
5. Open-Mindedness
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Being open and flexible to learning new skills and approaches, interacting with new people, and trying new ways of doing things shows resilience and perseverance to do whatever it takes to do the job and get it done.
Nobody wants to hire someone who's stuck in their ways. In the interview process, it's important to come across as open-minded and coachable, especially if the company values a dynamic work environment.
6. Positivity
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"Whistle while you work." Nothing is more attractive and powerful than someone who is a bright spot in anyone's day and shows up with a positive attitude of gratitude. Leave the personal, heavy stuff at home and come to work ready to greet colleagues and customers and make their day brighter.
You can talk about your intangibles through specific personal stories that demonstrate how you used them. Nothing beats a great, real story that gets people to relate to you. This can be a huge competitive advantage in addition to documenting achievement and accomplishment in your core skills.
If you need some help discovering some of your intangibles, think about three jobs where you took on a project, made it your own, and were successful. Ask some of your current or past colleagues to tell you what they think your intangible skills are. If you need to practice, volunteer outside of work or ask your boss to give you a small project that can stretch you!
In today's job-seeking world, there are your core skills, personal skills, and intangible (soft) skills. More often, if it comes down to you and someone else, the person who has the intangibles usually wins! What are the intangible skills that have impacted your jobs?
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This article was originally published at an earlier date.
