What Are Interpersonal Skills?
Interpersonal skills are sometimes called employability skills. The word “employability” is a tip-off about the importance of interpersonal skills: they’re so crucial that hiring managers really don’t want to hire candidates without them.
Many careers require consistent, if not constant, interaction with other people. This is true even for jobs that would seem to favor introverted personalities and independent work styles. For example, even if you’re a software engineer, writer, or statistician, you still need to be able to communicate and collaborate with your team.
Even if you excel at the technical aspects of your job, if you’re a disaster to work with, your presence in the office will not be well received.
Types of Interpersonal Skills
Communication
One of the most important interpersonal skills in any job is communication. Whether you work in IT, customer service, construction, or any other industry, you will need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively with others through both oral and written communications. Some jobs also require skills in effective public speaking.
- Nonverbal communication
- Public speaking
- Verbal communication
Conflict Management
Whether you are a manager or an employee, you will likely need to resolve conflicts at some point in your job. This might involve solving an issue between two staff members, between yourself and a colleague, or between a client and your company. You will need to be able to listen fairly to both sides and use creative problem-solving to arrive at a solution.
Empathy
Part of being a good manager, employee, or colleague is the ability to understand and show empathy for others. If a customer or colleague calls with a complaint, for example, you will need to listen thoughtfully to the person’s concerns and express compassion for their issue. Empathy is an important skill that will help you get along with everyone in the workplace.
- Caring
- Compassion
- Diplomacy
- Diversity
- Helping others
- Kindness
- Patience
- Respect
- Sensitivity
- Sympathy
Leadership
Even if you are not a manager, it is important to have some leadership experience and ability. Leadership requires being able to motivate and encourage others and help a team achieve success.
- Encouraging
- Inspiring trust
- Instructing
- Management
- Mentoring
- Motivation
- Positive reinforcement
Listening
Listening is a skill that goes hand in hand with good communication. While you need to be able to express your own ideas, you also need to thoughtfully listen to the ideas of others. This will help your clients, employers, colleagues, and employees feel respected and valued.
- Active listening
- Curiosity
- Focus
- Inquiry
Negotiation
Negotiation is an important skill for many positions. Depending on the specific job, it might involve creating formal agreements (or contracts) between clients or helping colleagues solve a problem and determine a solution. To be a good negotiator, you have to be able to listen to others, use creative problem-solving, and arrive at an outcome that satisfies everyone.
- Negotiating
- Persuasion
- Research
Positive Attitude
Employers want to hire employees who make the office a brighter place. They want people with a friendly, positive demeanour. This doesn’t mean you have to be the most social person in the office, but you have to be willing to develop some sort of a positive rapport with your colleagues.
- Behavioral skills
- Developing rapport
- Friendliness
- Humor
- Networking
- Social skills
Teamwork
Even if your job involves a lot of independent work, you still need to be able to collaborate with others. Teamwork involves a number of the skills already mentioned: you need to be able to listen to others, communicate your own goals, motivate your team, and resolve any conflicts that may arise.
- Collaboration
- Group facilitating
- Team-building
- Teamwork
Showcase Your Interpersonal Skills
Match your qualifications to the job. Review the job description and make a list of the characteristics the employer is looking for. Then match your qualifications to the job by making connections between their requirements and your skills and abilities.
List your skills in your resume, particularly if your resume features a summary at the top or if your work history section is formatted with paragraphs rather than bullet points. This way you’re showing what you accomplished rather than what you did.
Share your skills during the interview. Be prepared to answer interview questions about your interpersonal skills. Like in your cover letter and resume, provide an anecdote about a time you demonstrated a particular skill in the workplace and how you used that skill to add value to the company.
Use your interpersonal skills to impress. Remember, actions speak louder than words, so you’ll want to be sure that you successfully embody any traits you claim to have when you’re interacting with your interviewer. For example, if you emphasize how your friendly demeanour has brought you success in the workplace, make sure you appear warm and approachable during the interview.
Source: The Balance Careers
