If you want to apply for a new job, you should know very well the requirements of the job you will be applying for. The skills required for any job are divided into two types: technical skills related to the job itself, which differ according to the nature of each job; and personal skills, which are called soft skills. Soft skills are among the very important requirements that all business owners look for in their employees, as they ensure a better workflow and achieve harmony and cooperation between employees to ensure increased employee production efficiency.

We may hear a lot about a person who applied for a specific job and was well acquainted with the job’s requirements and all the information and technical skills required for it, but he did not get the job and was rejected, and in return another person whose level is lower in terms of his knowledge of the technical skills and information related to the job may be accepted. You may wonder why this happens and how employers reject those who are more deserving of the work and who are familiar with its requirements and appoint those who are less qualified. In fact, the person you see as less competent may have something else that is lacking in those who are better in terms of technical skills, which is soft skills, which we will discuss in detail in our article today.

What are soft skills?

Soft skills are simply a set of personal skills that are not directly related to job tasks but are very important and necessary to achieve the best possible results at work. For example, one of the basic skills required for the e-marketer’s job is the ability to analyze data, and without this skill, the e-marketer will not be able to perform the required job tasks.

But it is also important for the e-marketer to have soft skills such as communication, leadership, and teamwork; these are not directly related to performing tasks, but they are very important skills to achieve the desired results. It is worth noting that in some jobs and practical specializations, some soft skills are considered basic skills and are directly related to work performance, such as the communication skill for the customer service function.

Soft skills is a term that has spread widely in recent times, and all company owners are looking forward to having all the people they work with possess these skills. Soft skills are very important skills that each of us needs to acquire and that make it easier to communicate and get along when working with others. A study conducted by Harvard University proved that 85% of success in any job depends on soft skills and that only 15% of success depends on technical skills. This shows us the great importance of soft skills and that it is something that we cannot underestimate or neglect. Now let’s talk about the most important soft skills and learn how we can acquire them.

The most important soft skills

Communication skill
Negotiation skill
Emotional intelligence skill.
Driving skill
Problem-solving skills
Teamwork skill
Flexibility and adaptability to changes
Time management skill

1. Communication skill

There is no doubt that communication skills are among the most important skills that a person can acquire in his life and find their impact clearly and quickly on his life and his relationships with those around him. Rather, it is the origin of all skills. We deal with different types of people all the time, whether at work or in our personal lives, and it is very important that we know how to communicate with them correctly to ensure the success of the relationship and the achievement of its goal. If there is no appropriate way to communicate between people in any workplace, the atmosphere will certainly be full of disagreements and conflicts, which will significantly and clearly affect the workflow and cooperation between team members, and thus production will be affected. Therefore, it is one of the very important soft skills that company owners look for in employees.

How to acquire communication skills
In order to acquire the communication skill, you must be well aware that it is a very large skill under which smaller skills fall and that if you can acquire it, communication will be at its highest level. Let’s go over these skills in detail:

1. Listening skill

Being a good listener is one of the best ways to become a good communicator with others. It is very important in any communication process to know exactly what the person in front of you wants in order for the purpose of this communication to be achieved, and this will only happen through active listening. Let me tell you how to do it:

You have to listen carefully to the other person’s speech and give them your full attention, then ask clarifying questions and paraphrase what the person is saying to ensure that what you understand is exactly what the other party intended. For example, use sentences such as “So what you mean is…” This shows that you understand well what the other party wants, and therefore, you do what is required of you correctly.

2. Non-verbal communication

And what is meant by non-verbal communication is your body language, eye contact, hand gestures, tone of voice, and the position of your body when you are standing or sitting; all of these things affect the message that you are trying to communicate to those in front of you. Your relaxed, open stance with arms spread and legs relaxed and a friendly tone of voice will make you approachable and make others want to talk to you. And do not forget to make eye contact with your interlocutor, as it is very important. You must look into the eyes of the person you are speaking with to show your interest in talking to him and your respect for him. However, you must be careful not to stare at him for a long time, so that you make him feel uncomfortable, and not to ignore looking at him completely, so that he will feel disinterested and disrespected.

And you have to pay attention to the non-verbal signals of the person in front of you, as they often explain how he feels while talking to you, and also pay attention to your own non-verbal signals, as you may err in them, so you convey a meaning that you do not intend to the other party. For more understanding about non-verbal signals, you can read body language.

3. Clarity and brevity

Good verbal communication consists in saying just enough, so do not prolong the speech more than necessary, so that the listener becomes bored and distanced from the important matter in the subject, and do not speak less than you should, providing incomplete and unclear information. Say what you want straight and clear no matter what method of communication you use, whether you’re talking to the other person face-to-face, via email, or on the phone. Think carefully about what you would like to say before you speak in order to make sure that the speech will be clear and to avoid excessive talking and confusing the listener.

4. Openness

It is very important in your communication with others to be open to all opinions. You listen to every opinion, accept it, and respect it even if you disagree with it. You have to think about the opinions you hear impartially, without bias or intolerance toward a particular opinion. Be flexible with all opinions and focus more on understanding the other person’s point of view than on communicating and sticking to your opinion, so you will be able to have more productive and honest conversations.

2. Negotiation skills

Negotiation skills are very important skills that business owners are looking for. Being a successful negotiator means knowing how to persuade and how to reach a compromise that satisfies all parties to agreements or disputes so that everyone comes out as a winner.

How to acquire negotiation skills
The skill of negotiation requires simple abilities such as communication, persuasion, planning, cooperation, and strategizing. Possession of these abilities makes you a successful negotiator.

1. Contact

Through correct communication, you can avoid misunderstandings that may prevent you from reaching a compromise that satisfies all parties. Correct communication occurs when you pay attention to non-verbal signals during the conversation, such as body language, tone of voice, etc., as well as express yourself in a clear way so that you can reach the intended goal behind the conversation. Active listening skills, asking for feedback, and making sure you understand the other party correctly through questions are also key.

2. Persuasion

Your ability to persuade and influence others makes you a successful negotiator, and I mean positively influencing, not controlling, them. And it helps you to know well the reasons why the solution you offer is beneficial to all parties and to know how to explain those reasons to others, communicate your idea well, and thus get the support of others for your point of view.

3. Planning

It is critical to plan any agreement or negotiation in order to understand the long-term implications for all parties.In addition to developing a plan for how to implement the agreement and the steps required from all parties, and setting the agreed principles and laws for the implementation of this agreement.

4. Strategize

For any successful negotiator, making backup plans before any negotiation is essential. It is important that you plan for all expected scenarios and develop strategies that make you prepared for all possible outcomes. It is important to prepare your strategies before you enter into any negotiation so that you can get out of it with the largest possible gain and the fewest possible losses.

3. Emotional intelligence skills

The skill of emotional intelligence is represented in two aspects that are related to each other: your ability to understand and manage your own feelings well, in addition to your understanding of the feelings of others.
According to statistics, people with emotional intelligence are more able to be productive at work, solve problems, make decisions, work in a team, and also lead successfully, which means that they succeed in work and reach higher positions quickly.

We are only human beings, and it is a mass of different feelings that move us and control our actions greatly, so if we understand those feelings in ourselves and those around us, and learn how to deal with them and manage them positively, this will greatly affect our success at work and in life as a whole, and this is emotional intelligence .

How to acquire the skill of emotional intelligence
There are five main skills that help you acquire emotional intelligence.

1. Self-awareness

You have to know yourself and your feelings well by observing yourself and your actions in different situations and analyzing the feelings behind those actions. You also have to tell those around you what you want because they will not know it on their own. So you have to tell them kindly what bothers you or makes you angry and what comforts and pleases you so that they deal with you in the way you prefer.

2. Emotional control

Learn how to manage your emotions positively so that you control them instead of them controlling you and your actions. It always comes down to your interpretation of the different situations. You experience feelings based on your interpretation. If your interpretation is positive, your feelings are positive. If your interpretation of the situation is negative, you will definitely have negative feelings.

3. Self-stimulation

It is very important that you have the ability to motivate yourself, and do not make the mistake of sitting and waiting for someone else to come to motivate you, because that will not happen, and if it happens once, you will not find it every time. Put your goals in front of you and then set goals or small steps that will lead you to each big goal, and it is very important to set specific goals for a specific period of time.

4. Being aware of other people’s feelings

Your awareness of other people’s feelings begins with your understanding of their feelings and your vision of things from their perspective. Each of us has his own angle from which he sees things according to the nature of his personality, lifestyle, and feelings. It is very important to understand and respect the feelings of others, and if you do not understand them or are convinced of them, each of us has our own point of view in life, so always try to help others direct their feelings towards positivity.

5. Relationship management

Through your awareness of your feelings, the feelings of others, and your ability to manage these feelings, you take a very important step toward managing relationships, which is simply to use with each person you deal with the appropriate method for him. Each of us has a different nature, different feelings, and a different outlook on life, so it is very important to deal with each person in a manner appropriate to his nature in order to reach a successful relationship and achieve the desired goals with ease.

4. Leadership skills

Those with a strong leadership skill are the ones who are able to inspire and motivate team members and lead them to success, and this is what makes it a highly sought-after skill.

It is not about managing and controlling people, but it is related to your knowledge of the members of the team that you lead well and your knowledge of the skills and capabilities that each member of the team possesses. And then assign tasks to them based on their abilities to achieve the best possible results and bring out the creativity inherent in each of them.
Leadership is not only important for managers or people aspiring to be managers; it is important for all of us because you must first lead yourself before you can lead anyone else.

Also, life may put you in different situations where you need to be a leader, even for a very short period of time; it could be for a few minutes, so you must pass this test.

How to acquire driving skills
There are four main qualities that you must have in order to acquire the skill of leadership: listening, empathy, emotional intelligence, and creativity.

1. Listen

It may surprise you that our idea of leadership is always related to giving orders and directives all the time, but one of the most important tasks of the leader is also making decisions, and no person, regardless of his level of experience, can make decisions alone all the time and have these decisions be correct every time. Therefore, it is very important for the leader to listen to all opinions objectively and think about them well without any bias towards his own opinion in order to reach the best opinion at the end, which is the opinion of the whole group and not one individual.

Also, listening requires you to look at and understand what the other person needs, not just your own. Before you think about how the person in front of you can help you, think about what that person is trying to communicate to you and how you can help them so that together you can help the organization as a whole.

2. Empathy

Empathy means being able to discern the other person’s needs, knowing how their feelings affect their thoughts, being able to respect and understand those feelings, and seeing things from the other person’s perspective, not just your own. Empathy creates more cohesive, understanding, and effective teamwork as it makes the leader able to put himself in the other person’s shoes and see the problem more clearly so that he can help team members with the challenges they may face as well as give them more experience.

3. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence depends on understanding and managing different emotions. Emotional intelligence helps leaders create a safe environment in which team members can freely exchange information and opinions and suggest ideas without fear, which greatly helps the organization.

4. Creativity

Creativity cannot be underestimated as a necessary characteristic of a successful leader. The job market has now become competitive to the first degree, so your creativity in work and in management methods puts you in a privileged position. Creativity is about finding new ways to take advantage of the available resources, and this is very important and beneficial for employers.

5. Problem-solving skills

It is normal for a problem to occur in the work environment at any time, and it may affect the workflow suddenly, so it is necessary to be ready for any problem before it occurs in order to be able to solve it quickly and avoid wasting time, effort, and money.

How to acquire problem-solving skills
In order to acquire the problem-solving skill, you must know that you must follow a scientific method and take deliberate steps to reach a solution to any problem. Here are the steps you need to follow to solve any problem:

1. Define the problem.

The first and most important step is realizing that there is a problem and then defining what the problem is and its exact size. It is important to understand all the dimensions of the problem well in order to be able to explain it to others.

2. Structuring the problem

This stage includes collecting more information about the problem, making sure it is well understood, and identifying the causes of the problem and all its elements.

3. Find possible solutions.

After conducting research and gathering information about the problem and its causes, we search for solutions. This step often takes place in a meeting that includes team members to collect the largest number of possible solutions.

It is very important at this stage to accept all opinions and not belittle or ridicule any idea. At the beginning of the meeting, we must raise the slogan “All opinions are acceptable, and it is forbidden to ridicule any opinion.” Each of us has his own experience and expertise, which is important and will certainly be beneficial to all.

4. Decision-making

At this stage, the solutions presented in the previous steps are analyzed to reach the best solution. After you find the best solution, try to imagine different scenarios for that solution, predict the consequences that may result from it, and prepare for it.

5. Implementation

After reaching the appropriate solution, making sure that it is really the best, and making the decision, it is time for implementation. Be aware that in the implementation phase, new problems may appear to you that were not taken into account before, so be prepared for that.

6. Notice the results.

After implementation, it is necessary to observe the results of the implemented solution over time, as well as to hear the opinions and observations of others, so that you can quickly realize and respond in the event of any new problems arising from the implemented solution. All of this feedback will be an important learning experience for you and your team in case any similar issues occur.

6. Team work skills

And the leadership skill is a very important skill. It is also important that you have the ability to work within a team, as this is considered one of the most important soft skills.

Teamwork is the ability of an individual to work within a group to achieve a goal.

In any business where you work within a team to achieve a specific goal, it is smart to know when to be a leader and when to be a follower within the team. Teamwork within a team requires cooperation and good communication between all members of the team, as they are similar to the members of a football team. The members of the football team cannot play each other alone, and if that happened, the entire team would be severely defeated. Each player has a role that he is required to play in addition to linking his role and connecting it with the roles of the rest of the team members, so communication and cooperation are very important.

The person who has the skill of teamwork is the person who is able to work with different types of personalities, no matter how different they are from him, and has the ability to help the team members around him do the work required of them.

How to acquire the skill of teamwork

To acquire the skill of teamwork, there are several skills called “teamwork skills,” which employers are looking for in employees and which you must develop and emphasize in employment interviews and your resume.

1. Communication

It is represented in your ability to communicate information and ideas to others well, and you must be able to communicate information with all available means of communication and not neglect the elements of non-verbal communication.

2. Conflict management

It is very important in teamwork to be able to solve problems that arise between team members. You must negotiate with team members to resolve any disputes and make sure that everyone is satisfied.

3. Listen

A very important part of working in a team is your ability to listen to all the ideas and concerns of your fellow team members and to show your interest in and understanding of their concerns and ideas in order to be an effective member of your team.

4. Respect

People will be more likely and willing to talk to you if you show respect for them and their ideas, no matter how different they are, in addition to making them feel appreciated when you listen to them and use eye contact while talking to them.

7. The ability to be flexible and adapt to changes

Resilience is how you accept the changes that occur in your life. You should be well aware that the only constant in our lives is change.All things and circumstances, as well as the people around us, are constantly changing. A flexible person is one who is able to accept changes and adapt to them, and he is truly a successful person with an open and distinguished mind. How to acquire the skills of flexibility and adaptation to variables There are some methods that you should follow in order to become more flexible:

1. Keep your mind open.

Try to accept all differences and changes; it will be easier to deal with the situation and manage it if you look at it from a different perspective, try to have a holistic and non-superficial view of things, and accustom yourself to accepting the difference.

2. Develop your skills constantly.

Investing your time and effort in developing your skills will undoubtedly benefit you greatly. It is important that you make an effort to learn new skills and build on your existing ones, as this will make you highly prepared for the changes that occur suddenly.

3. Be optimistic.

Some people may think that it is difficult to stay positive all the time, but it takes practice and gets easier with time. Focusing on the bright side and looking at the positive makes you more resilient.

4. He kept calm.

When things change suddenly, some people may get tense, anxious, and frustrated, but in this way, you will lose focus and will not be able to act properly. But restoring your calm increases your focus and makes you think better, so you can reach a sound decision in the end.

5. Plan ahead.

You can make plans for the future and anticipate the changes that may appear in the future while making plans about the necessary actions to avoid these changes or deal with them properly.

8. Time management skills

Time management is one of the most important soft skills for anyone, and it is always one of the characteristics of successful people. The beginning of the road to success is organizing time and managing it well.
Organizing your time makes you more productive and helps you achieve your goals; it also relieves stress from job tasks, whereas wasting time makes you feel dissatisfied and lack achievement. How to acquire the skill of time management

To acquire the skill of time management, you must follow the following tips:

Watch your time to know what is wasted, and write down everything you do in your day.
Define your goals clearly, divide them into long-term and short-term goals, and write down all the goals.
Create a daily plan for the tasks that you have to do in your day, and whenever you accomplish a task, mark it, as this method makes you feel accomplished. Accept the idea that you will not finish all the required tasks in the day, as this is normal and possible, and do not let it lower your resolve.
Do not do two important things at the same time, because this greatly wastes time and makes you lose focus and motivation.
If you are doing important work, set aside a period of time to focus solely on it and do nothing else during that time; for example, thirty minutes to focus on it, then five minutes to rest, then thirty minutes to work again, and so on.

Conclusion

You must be well aware of the importance of soft skills in your working life and your personal life as well, as they determine the extent of your success in your relationships and your daily dealings with the people around you. It also results in whether or not you get the job you want, and it also depends on the extent of your success and distinction in your work and your access to the higher ranks that you aspire to. It is important to know that soft skills can be acquired, but their acquisition does not happen only by knowing information about them and knowing the steps to acquire them; it requires practice, and this is the critical step in the whole matter.
You need to practice these soft skills in your daily life and dealings with the people around you, learn from your mistakes every time, and correct these mistakes until you finally reach the stage of mastery of these skills.