By: The Capella University Editorial Team
Reading time: 2 minutes
When making hiring decisions, employers may consider soft skills alongside core business skills.
Soft skills are workplace behaviors that help you apply technical knowledge in your work.
Employer priorities vary by company, but the following five skills come up often as essential traits in business candidates.
Proficient email, phone and in-person communication skills can help you explain ideas, collaborate with others and make a good first impression with employers. Demonstrate these skills by writing clear project updates, contributing to meetings and discussions and presenting recommendations to colleagues or supervisors.
Teamwork is the ability to work toward a shared goal by listening to others, communicating clearly and taking responsibility for your part of the work. In practice, that can look like contributing to group projects, incorporating your teammates’ input and helping present the team’s recommendations to stakeholders. This shows you can collaborate with colleagues and deliver results, not just complete tasks on your own.
Self-direction means prioritizing work, managing time and asking questions or escalating issues when needed. You’ll lean on this skill when you’re organizing competing deadlines, tracking progress and asking for guidance before a problem derails a project.
Technology skills in business include using workplace software and deciding how it can support a business goal. Learn job-specific applications and use them to improve a process, inform a decision or communicate results. For example, you might evaluate whether a team’s software meets its needs and use your findings to recommend an action.
Strategic thinking and analysis help business professionals evaluate a challenge and recommend an action backed by evidence. Maybe that means building a case for a new process. Maybe it’s arguing for a budget shift or making the call to change direction entirely. Whatever the challenge, connecting the evidence to the decision – and explaining it clearly – is what turns strategic thinking into action. Data storytelling is often the difference between a good idea and one that gets buy-in.
Capella degree programs incorporate both technical and soft skills. Technology proficiency supports business work, while strategic thinking helps you evaluate information and apply it to a business decision. Build and demonstrate both skill sets before pursuing a promotion or entering the job market.
We've received your message and will get back to you soon.
