What skills do you have?  Do you know how to present them during an interview or on your resume?  Do you know what employers are looking for?

Here's the scoop. Employers are looking for 2 types of skills.

1. Work content or HARD skills that are unique to the occupation, i.e., a Carpenter has specific skills that are very different from an Accountant. Carpenters measure, cut, build. Accountants calculate, audit, analyze.  You get the idea right?
2. Self-management or SOFT skills are in greater demand than job seekers believe, i.e., teamwork, communication, attitude, reliability. Every employer wants employees to have these skills, and they make hiring decisions based on you having them!  If you ignore them, you will not get hired.

Portable or TRANSFERABLE skills are those HARD and SOFT skills that relate to many occupations, i.e., proficiency with MS Office Suite applications, or the ability to manage time using Outlook, etc.  Some skills are more transferable than others so you need to determine how your skills relate to each new job opportunity.  The challenge is to calculate the degree in which your HARD and SOFT skills transfer.

Task:  Compare your customized resume with the job announcement and see how they match up...do your HARD and SOFT skills transfer?  How many of them relate to the requirements listed in the job announcement?  20% 50%  100%?  The higher the percentage of matching transferable skills, the higher the likelihood of you getting called for an interview!

Senior Moment:  For many 50+ workers, it's not your age that hinders your job search, it's you lacking current skills (which are often computer related) that keeps you from being a top contender for an open position.  This makes it crucial that you research what skills are needed and where you can obtain the training prior to entering the job market.

Here's a must-read article about "soft skills" by Lynda Reeves, Counselor at our North City Campus.

ARE YOUR SOFT SKILLS HARD? ARE YOUR HARD SKILLS SOFT?

Say what? Let’s start by defining some terms. According to Wikipedia, soft skills refer to the “cluster of personality traits, social graces, and facility with language, personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that mark people to varying degrees.” Simply put, soft skills can be “likeability” or “how well you fit in” factors. Some folks call them “people skills” and others simply think it’s all about attitude. And, whether you like it or not, soft skills are probably going to make or break you in your next job. So then, what are hard skills? These can be the self-taught or acquired, technical skills learned in school, on-the-job, or elsewhere that produce immediate, measurable results. In the first week of the Web Server Maintenance & Security Certificate (WSMS) Program, students learned to integrate new computers into an existing network. That’s a hard skill. It was learned and mastered, and it can be slapped on a resume to “wow” potential employers.

*Rewirement. That’s right, rewirement, not retirement. That is the term a baby-boomer used to describe what many in his generation are considering doing when they reach the traditional retirement age. Many are considering continuing employment, albeit with more flexible arrangements, or with engaging in volunteering or other activities. (From innovault.com) So what’s with all the talk about soft skills? Dave Almos, newly-rewired* Cymer Information Technology (IT) Director, UCSD Lecturer, and recent guest speaker in the WSMS class, referred to “soft skills” no less than three times in 30 minutes while discussing future IT hiring trends. If a job seeker’s resume is chock full of hard skills yet they’re having a tough time getting or keeping a job, soft skills could very well be to blame. And, according to Beverly Garcia, San Diego Continuing Education’s Professional Development Coordinator, most employers agree that soft skills can be hard to find. Might you want to pay as much attention to these skills as your technical skills? ABSOLUTELY! According to the cover story in IT PEOPLE, Rajneesh De Mumbai states, “Long-term job success depends 75% on people skills and 25% on technical knowledge.” He added, “Harvard University had even more startling results—85% of jobs and promotions happened because of the candidate’s attitude and only 15% due to the facts and figures he packed under his belt.” Almos and Garcia both suggested every job seeker make it a priority to conduct a self “soft-skills assessment.” Thinking carefully and candidly about soft-skills improvement could very well be the determining factor in future employment and advancement opportunities.

What are Soft Skills? Exactly what are soft skills? Here’s a partial list taken from “The Top 60 Soft Skills at Work” offered by Challa Ram Phan, a certified trainer, facilitator, and career management consultant:

In the Informational Technology field, perhaps these should top the list:

• Personal chemistry
• Commitment to life-long learning
• Relating to co-workers in a close environment
• Being friendly with fellow employees, supervisors, and customers

Might Some of Your “Soft Skills” Need Softening? The answer is probably yes. Obtaining and/or strengthening soft skills takes on a completely different approach than learning hard skills. Reading books, newspaper articles/ trade journals, and attending conferences/networking mixers will definitely point you in the right direction. Another great place to get started is by mastering material in workshops offered by the Metro and/or South Metro Career Centers such as:

• Interviewing
• Salary negotiations
• Workplace accountability
• Employee performance reviews
• Informational interviewing
• Research strategies

For the super-achievers, joining a local Toastmasters group could be the ticket. Not only will you be guaranteed to strengthen your public speaking skills by leaps and bounds, you’ll also get an instant “networking” group of ~20 new contacts. If joining a Toastmaster’s Club is not up your alley, perusing their website (www.toastmasters.org) may pack just the punch you need. Here you’ll find success stories such as the man who turned his hobby and love for wine into a successful teaching job; tips for public speaking; biggest public speaking mistakes; how visual aids & PowerPoint presentations can best be utilized; what to do when things go wrong; and how to aptly apply humor. For just about all of us, these are definitely learned, not innate skills. According to Jim Clemmer, leadership consultant and author, “Learning the nuances of public speaking is one of the best ways to improve your soft skills. The ability to verbalize, persuade, and influence are tightly interwoven in the work of influencing or relating to others.”

Practice Makes Perfect As with anything in life, a little bit of practice may go a long way. Here are some quick and easy ways to massage and/or keep your soft skills soft: 1. Greet co-workers and/or fellow classmates & instructor by name each day. 2. Show up on time. Return promptly from break. 3. Try to understand and embrace the differences in people most unlike you. Most folks enjoy sharing their cultural background. Ask if they might share. 4. Make someone smile today. 5. Learn the names of everyone in your class. 6. Do something different at your break. Hang out with someone you don’t know. 7. Strike up a conversation with a stranger. 8. Attend a variety of soft-skills strengthening workshops like the ones listed above. 9. Introduce yourself to someone from another class on campus. 10. Join a User’s Group. Good luck in softening up those soft skills. By staying in class, you’ll definitely harden up your hard ones!

by Lynda Reeves