Soft Skills Recruiter
1 soft skill that recruiters should look for is the ability to communicate well in person. Many of our clients today operate in team-oriented environments, and candidates need to be able to communicate well in order to convincingly explain their work or their opinions to their coworkers.
When I first began my job search, I had no clue what I was doing.
- It is the one skill recruiters are actively seeking, and this blog will demonstrate 6 ways you can showcase those skills. Employees must look for a balance of both soft skills and hard skills when considering a potential hire. Hard skills are easily measured and proven, but soft skills.
- That is the soft skills that human beings can bring to the table. So today what we are going to do is look at soft skills and how they can impact both your career and your company. We are also going to look at how these skills can be recruited for. What are soft skills? This is a term that has been touted about for a while.
- These Are The Five Soft Skills Recruiters Want Most Things like time management and organization aren’t typically taught in school, but they are increasingly important in order to be competitive.
- The Most In-Demand Hard and Soft Skills of 2020 Recruiters have a front-row seat to the ever-changing mix of skills most prized by the business world. Understanding what those skills are early on.
All I knew was that I wanted to leave academia.
I was tired of feeling unsupported, stuck, and depressed.
I looked at job boards for openings in my specific field.
But, there were very few openings in my field.
My PhD had been rather specific, and I had a limited number of technical skills to offer any employer.
I applied for the few jobs I seemed qualified for, but I never heard anything back.
If I couldn’t even get the jobs I had all the skills for, how would I ever get hired?
I was lost.
It wasn’t until I reached out to my mentor group for help that I realized where I was going wrong.
I learned my technical skills were not the most important things I learned during my PhD studies.
It was the transferable skills I learned during my PhD that employers were most interested in.
I had no idea what a transferable skill was.
I learned that transferable skills are things like problem-solving, team work, product and market knowledge, etc.
Throughout my studies, I developed many of these skills.
It was just a matter of leveraging my transferable skills to convince potential employers that I was the best candidate.
Why Transferable Skills Are Essential To PhDs’ Success In Industry Careers
Transferable skills are your soft skills — your interpersonal skills.
These might not seem that important to your PhD-level job search.
The most important thing is to have the required technical skills, right?
Wrong.
As a PhD, you have spent years developing your technical skills.
You are an expert in your field (there is no doubt about that), but you must have certain transferable skills to succeed in industry.
And, believe it or not, you already have many of these “soft skills”.
A recent study, published in PLOS, found that graduate school equips PhDs with the transferable skills they need to succeed in industry.
The PLOS study asked PhDs already working in industry to identify if they had gained particular transferable skills in graduate school.
The majority of respondents said they gained many transferable skills as a PhD student, including: discipline-specific knowledge, ability to gather and interpret information, ability to analyze data, oral communication skills, ability to make decisions and solve problems, written communication skills, ability to learn quickly, ability to manage a project, and creativity/innovative thinking.
That is just a small snapshot of the many transferable skills you gain as a PhD student.
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And, these transferable skills are key to being successful in an industry position.
A report recently released by LinkedIn showed that in a survey of 2,000 business leaders, 57% of respondents identified soft skills as more important than hard skills.
That means not only are your transferable skills important, they are MORE important than your technical skills.
This is true no matter what type of industry position you are interested in.
Both research-based and non-research based industry careers require you to have transferable skills to be successful.
And, no matter what type of industry you go into, your PhD training will lead to a fulfilling career.
In the same PLOS study, the authors found that the majority of respondents were highly satisfied with their careers, regardless of whether they chose a research-based career or a non-research based career.
Your PhD gives you the skills, both technical and transferable, to do meaningful, fulfilling work in whatever industry area you choose.
Top 7 Transferable Skills For PhDs In Both Research And Non-Research Industry Positions
PhDs can thrive in a variety of industry positions.
Both research and non-research positions offer high job satisfaction and high pay to PhDs.
But, to be as successful as possible in these careers, you must identify and develop the required transferable skills.
Here are the top 7 transferable skills for PhDs interested in both research and non-research industry positions, according to the recent article published in PLOS…
1. Time management skills.
Time is money.
Industry employers do not want employees who don’t understand this concept.
In industry, every moment spent unfocused, or spent on a frivolous task, is a waste of money.
While this may not be exactly how time management is viewed in academia, as a PhD you have tons of experience with time management.
If you manage your time poorly as a PhD student, it will take you longer to complete your project and graduate.
This is a waste of years of your life.
That is some serious motivation to develop excellent time management skills.
Plus, many PhD programs have instituted a time limit for the length of PhD projects.
This means that you must be able to manage your time in order to complete a multipart, several-year long project on time.
Bottom line, as a PhD, you have time management skills.
But, this skill can always be improved upon.
Identify ways that you can improve your time management skills.
Then, when you are pitching yourself to potential employers, be sure to highlight that you value time management and demonstrate the results you were able to achieve by implementing your great time management skills.
2. Written communication skills.
Being able to communicate well is essential to succeeding in industry.
You will need to communicate with people within your team, outside your team, with people with a science background, without a science background, clients, customers, executives… the list goes on.
This is slightly different from the academic environment, where you are often writing for an academic audience with the same technical expertise as you.
You should practice writing about your science for people who are not scientists.
Or, try to view your project from the perspective of an investor.
Wwe 12 wii direct download. What would you need to write about in order to convince someone to invest in your research project?
This is similar to writing grants.
As a PhD, you have ample writing experience from writing papers, proposals, and grants consistently throughout your time in academia.
Not to mention the monster of a written document that is a dissertation.
You know how to write.
But, a skill that many PhDs need to focus on developing is the ability to write for a variety of audiences.
Being able to clearly write for any audience is a skill that will aid you greatly in your industry career.
3. Ability to gather and interpret information.
Industry needs employees who can do more than regurgitate information.
They need you to interpret information, and then move the field forward.
As a PhD, you are comfortable at the edge of what is known, and you thrive on asking innovative questions.
You know how to read up about a subject, analyze the information for what is important, and then use that information to make a decision.
PhDs know where to look to find reputable information.
You know the signs of a quality study, and one where conclusions are not well supported by evidence.
Being a part of a journal club will help you develop your ability to gather and interpret even further.
This gives you the ability to interpret a range of information and produce the best interpretation possible.
4. Decision-making and problem-solving skills.
As a PhD, you are unrivaled in your ability to troubleshoot.
You have a PhD in a specific discipline, but you are also a doctor of problem-solving.
Your PhD project almost certainly had roadblocks and bumps along the way that you had to overcome.
Discovering a problem during your PhD was not a sign that you should quit, it was an opportunity to discover something new.
This is especially true because, as a PhD, you are working right at the edge of known information.
Working at the edge of a field means that you must exercise creative problem-solving, because you are encountering brand new problems.
PhDs are natural, creative innovators and offer immense value to industry companies.
You are not afraid of solving problems and are comfortable making decisions.
5. Oral communication skills.
Having excellent verbal communication skills is important to your ability to succeed in all areas of industry.
Oral communication impacts your ability to work well with others, and your ability to be understood
As a PhD, you have already developed this transferable skill.
You are constantly communicating with the people in your group, with any collaborators you may have, with other staff at your university, and with students you teach.
You know how to verbally communicate with different types of people, and this is a valuable skill in industry.
You also know how to orally communicate complex ideas in a way that can be understood.
All PhDs have given presentations and know how important it is to speak in a way that allows others to understand your ideas.
By practicing and giving lots of presentations throughout your PhD studies, you have become an excellent verbal communicator.
Make sure you leverage this experience when applying for industry positions, so that potential employers realize how valuable you could be for their organization.
6. Ability to learn quickly.
There are very few people who can rival a PhD’s ability to learn quickly.
This is easily demonstrated by your ability to read a new research paper, understand what the paper’s conclusions are and then, if relevant, implement those new findings into your own research.
That whole process can happen in a matter of hours.
That is quick.
This skill is very valuable in industry.
In industry, if the project you are working on becomes irrelevant, or not profitable, it will be scrapped.
This means you will likely have to switch to a completely new project, very quickly.
You need to be able to learn about this new project, which could be in a different field.
As a PhD, your ability to learn quickly means that you will be able to keep up with the changing priorities of industry.
7. Project management skills.
Project management is a key transferable skill that industry is looking for in job candidates.
And, it should come as no surprise that, as a PhD, you are an expert in project management.
You have seen a several-year project through from beginning to end, where you were often the sole driving force behind this project.
You had to budget your funds so that they lasted.
You planned experiments and executed them.
You managed other graduate students and undergrads, that worked on your project, to make sure everything went smoothly.
You had a vision for the project, you planned a path to achieve that vision, and then you managed the day-to-day activities to make that vision a reality.
You are a project manager.
This is a highly sought-after skill in industry.
When speaking and writing about your experiences as a PhD student, highlight this skill to demonstrate that you are a top job candidate.
In industry, your interpersonal skills (your transferable skills) are the most important assets you have to offer. Merely having the technical skills is not enough. You must demonstrate that you have the required transferable skills. Some of the most important transferable skills PhDs need to transition into industry are time management skills, written communication skills, the ability to gather and interpret information, decision-making and problem-solving skills, oral communication skills, the ability to learn quickly, and project management skills. As a PhD, you have already developed these skills. It’s up to you to leverage them, as you transition from academia to industry.
To learn more about the 7 Transferable Skills That Recruiters Are Looking For, including instant access to our exclusive training videos, case studies, industry insider documents, transition plan, and private online network, get on the wait list for theCheeky Scientist Association.
Welcome to Recruiter Q&A, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you’d like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter Q&A!
Today’s Question: What soft skills and personality traits should recruiters be looking for in today’s candidates – and why?
1. Adaptability
Adaptability is today’s key skill in a modern, technology-driven workplace. New
employees need to be able to learn on the job. Learning is the new training.
— Chris Russell, CareerCloud, LLC
2. Conscientiousness
Research using the five-factor model of personality has shown that conscientiousness is highly correlated with positive job performance. Extraversion, as a personality factor, is also great for job performance, but only if it is paired with high conscientiousness, so conscientiousness is the key.
Soft Skills Required For Accounting
Conscientiousness is valuable in an employee because conscientious employees are more likely to set goals and create plans for achieving them. They are also much less likely to give up on those goals when the going gets tough. They are generally organized individuals and tend to have high impulse control. Conscientious individuals have higher levels of grit, too, a factor that researcher Angela Duckworth has found to be integral to success.
— Katherine Street, People Flourishing
3. Enthusiasm
Soft Skills Required For Registered Nurse
The single leading indicator of a great candidate is their enthusiasm. If someone is genuinely excited and passionate about a role, they will work harder than anyone else. Everyone wants loyal, engaged employees, but recruiters too often look only at credentials or experience. Many recent studies have come to the conclusion that the only thing that truly matters for someone to be successful in a particular position is that the person is enthusiastic about the role. You can take the most credentialed and educated person, and they can still be a terrible choice for a position if they do not have the passion and drive to succeed in that role.
— Joshua Evans, Enthusiastic You!
4. Positivity
If someone has an optimistic attitude and the ability to work through the “stuff” that happens in everyday work life, they will be more endearing to their teams. They will keep moving forward, instead of getting bogged down by road blocks. Plus, your customers will enjoy them more. Most importantly, positive people are just more fun to work with.
I don’t mean “Pollyanna positivity” where everything is rainbows and butterflies all the time. I’m talking about someone who is genuinely optimistic that things will work out – someone who is regularly smiling and improving the “weather” of the room, rather than making it more gloomy.
A lot of people say “Hire for attitude” or “Attitude is everything” – well that’s the soft skill we are talking about here.
— Kyle Bruss, Talent Plus
5. Flexibility
Flexibility is an important soft skill for any employee. At all levels we face novel situations, unforeseen circumstances, quickly shifting priorities, diverse clientele, and a variety of colleagues. Flexible employees are able to simultaneously adapt, think quickly on their feet, promote the company’s goals, learn new skills, and develop their careers. They are highly valuable and employable because they decrease turbulence and make all business interactions more fluid.
— Olga Mack, ClearSlide
6. Accountability
If you hire for one skill and one skill alone, let it be personal accountability. People without personal accountability are most at risk of quickly and irreparably falling into a victim’s mindset. Once stuck in that negative loop of self-pitying thinking, it is very difficult for the mind to rewire. ‘
The person who has a highly developed sense of personal accountability believes failures are temporary states of being. They are adept at picking themselves back up after mistakes or downturns, reworking their thinking or behavior, and moving on in a positive direction.
— Bill J. Bonnstetter, TTI Success Insights
7. Communication
The No. 1 soft skill that recruiters should look for is the ability to communicate well in person. Many of our clients today operate in team-oriented environments, and candidates need to be able to communicate well in order to convincingly explain their work or their opinions to their coworkers. Digital communications, like texts and emails, now play an important role in the way we communicate, but it’s still important to have great face-to-face communication capabilities.
— Jeanine Hamilton, Hire Partnership
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