What Are Soft Skills?

Soft skills are attributes and personal qualities that define how a person interacts and works with others. This includes factors such as your ability to be empathetic and your work ethic. Are you optimistic? Do you demonstrate skills of professionalism?

Soft skills define how well you can work within an environment. That’s critical in hands-on jobs where you’ll likely be spending a lot of time working closely with others on your team. It makes sense that hiring managers are going to spend a good amount of time looking for applicants who can demonstrate solid soft skills.

The Most Important Soft Skills for Hands-on Jobs

The top soft skills needed in hands-on jobs can range somewhat, based on your position. These skills are consistently ranked as some of the most important to hiring managers when considering applicants. In other words, these are the skills you need to have on your resume, demonstrating the type of worker you’ll be.

Good Communication Skills

There may not be any other skill more important to a hiring manager than your ability to communicate. That’s a two-way street. Communication means listening to instructions and clearly expressing yourself. Good communication also means being able to speak to customers, clients, vendors, and others in a professional manner. Good communication means you’re willing to work through issues to find resolutions.

To prove you have good communication skills, demonstrate how you communicate. Here are some examples:

• Are you good at breaking down complex topics into simple explanations? Perhaps you consistently work with clients to teach them how to use their technology.
• Show that you are an active listener by demonstrating your ability to relay critical information from one person to the next.
• Do you ask questions or just go with the flow? A good communicator will question what doesn’t seem right, ask for clarification, and help avoid difficult situations. If that sounds like you, provide an example of how you’ve done this in the past.

Good communication also centers on your ability to use nonverbal cues, such as nodding and making eye contact, and your ability to be respectful to others. Show that you’re focused on listening, adapting your message to your customer’s needs, and how you solve problems as a result.

Reliability

Being reliable is always an important soft skill in all industries and often more so in hands-on jobs where work cannot be done if you’re not there to do it. When hiring, managers look at reliability from several points of view. Reliability can, for example, be defined by being trustworthy. You do what you say you are going to do. It also means meeting your commitments and standing by your promises.

To prove you’re reliable, consider the following examples:

• Show that you don’t miss work and put the time into the job. That doesn’t mean working overtime, but showing that you are reliable in being where you’re supposed to be.
• Show that you follow through and honor your commitments, even when it gets hard, such as completing tasks on time or working until a project is finished, even if it may go off track.
• Show that you’re conscientious, in that you always put forth your best effort. That could mean that you complete assignments as promised, but also that you care about the quality and workmanship of what you do.

Being reliable helps employers see that you’re someone they can trust to do what they need. That includes aspects of being punctual and prepared for the day as well.

Safety-Minded

Depending on the work you do, your ability to operate safely could be a matter of life or death for someone on your team. Hiring managers need every person who works for them to be focused on meeting safety standards. You can show your employer you’re safety-minded in several ways:

• Communicate your knowledge of critical safety skills related to the work you do. If you work as an electrician, demonstrate the steps you take to mitigate risks on every job.
• Being adaptable is another way to be safe. When there’s a concern, the best team members are those who can overcome that limitation or challenge without putting the safety of themselves or others at risk.
• Demonstrate that you don’t take shortcuts but that you value integrity in the work you do. Demonstrate what your ethical principles are and how you meet those expectations on a daily basis.

Being safety-minded also means demonstrating leadership skills, paying attention to detail, and being a pro at conflict resolution.

Other Top Soft Skills Hiring Managers Expect You to Have

Before you get started on your resume, there are a few more soft skills you need in a hands-on job that should be included, with examples, on your application if they apply to you. Think about your skills in the following areas:

• Emotional intelligence: Can you stay calm under pressure? How so?
• Problem solving: Do you see a problem as a reason to give up or seek help, or do you find a way to resolve it with your skills?
• Adaptability: Are you able to change quickly when the employer needs you to do so, or will that make it hard to get work done?
• Self-motivation: Demonstrate that you’re more than willing to achieve goals and don’t need a lot of hands-on support to do so.
• Time management: Time matters in every job, and that’s even more true in this field. Show you manage your time well.

Make sure your resume shines with these soft skills. It could be exactly what you need to get your application recognized.