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Soft skills, also known as transferable skills, are vital workplace skills that are not limited to a single industry. These skills increase your qualification on your resume and may score you some points when you are trying to shift from one career to the next. Unlike technical skills, soft skills are often evergreen. This means that there is no time frame for how long a certain soft skill will remain relevant.

Which Soft Skills Do You Need to Thrive in Today's Workplace? 

Below is a list of some of the most in-demand soft skills required by employers today:

Emotional Intelligence 

Emotional intelligence is a skill that every adult is supposed to learn if they want to thrive in their careers and build good relationships outside the workplace. However, it is not as straightforward as you would think. 

Emotional intelligence in the workplace requires a large degree of self-control that can only be attained through practice and experience. You should learn how to manage your emotions and facilitate positive interactions with your co-workers, clients, and anyone you come in contact with every day. There are several online courses that can help improve your interpersonal skills. 

Conflict Resolution 

An office or any other work environment is the worst place to get into a fight or any other form of an altercation. You will be expected to conduct yourself with decorum even during high-stress situations. However, conflict resolution is an entirely different skill that may give you an edge during job applications. 

Conflict resolution requires tact, emotional intelligence, and empathy. You should be able to diffuse potential conflicts before they escalate. Conflict resolution will also help you climb the career ladder and reach management positions early. 

Effective Communication 

Effective communication is another vital skill you should have to thrive in the workplace. You should know how to give and concisely receive information so that all the parties involved will understand. Effective communication goes beyond what you say and also includes nonverbal and digital communication. 

Digital communication is much more difficult than face-to-face communication because the risk of misunderstanding is high since observing a person's emotions will be more difficult. You should know how to use tools designed by software engineers for audio, written, and video communication in the workplace. 

Leadership

Not everyone has leadership skills, but they are something employers look out for when they are hiring. Most companies have a succession plan so they want to recruit people with exceptional leadership skills who can rise quickly, reach management positions, and take over sudden vacancies in the office. 

The best part about developing leadership skills is that you will also gain many other soft skills in the process. This is because a good leader must have empathy, must communicate effectively, display great interpersonal skills, emotional intelligence, and a host of others. According to Statista, the ability to have difficult conversations is one of the most important soft skills for employees to develop, and this is especially true if you are in a leadership role.

Teamwork 

Most jobs, from computer programmer to project manager, require teamwork and collaboration to a certain degree. Even if you enjoy working alone, you should be flexible enough to work with others on the same project without clashing with them about the best path for completing the project. 

To be good at teamwork, you need to acknowledge that different people will have different opinions and your contribution isn't superior to that of others. This requires a lot of humility and patience. You also need effective communication, interpersonal skills, and time management skills for collaboration. 

Time Management 

Everyone has the same 24 hours daily and it never seems to be enough when there are important tasks that need to be done. This is where time management plays a major role. Employers want workers who can meet and even exceed deadlines without compromising the quality of the task in question. 

You can improve your time management skills by scheduling tasks according to priority, setting quick breaks to manage stress and avoid exhaustion, creating short-term goals, and sticking to them. Having excellent time management skills will help you stand out in your workplace. 

Conclusion

Employers change their requirements for employees from time to time so you need to pay attention to trends if you want to stay relevant in your field. The soft skills listed in this article are currently trending and there is no evidence to suggest that they will become irrelevant anytime soon.