Six Soft Skills Everyone Needs More Than Technical Qualifications Needed to Move Ahead in Your Career By Larry

Buhl, for Yahoo! HotJobs In a 2008 survey of more than 2,000 businesses in the state of Washington, employers said entry-level workers in a variety of professions were lacking in several areas, including problem solving, conflict resolution and critical observation. You'll likely see these "soft skills" popping up in job descriptions, next to demands for technical qualifications. Employment experts agree that tech skills may get you an interview, but these soft skills will get you the job -and help you keep it: Communication Skills

Be prepared for the "how did you solve a problem?" interview question with several examples, advises Ann Spoor, managing director of Cave Creek Partners. "Think of specific examples where you solved a tough business problem or participated in the solution. Be able to explain what you did, how you approached the problem, how you involved others and what the outcome was -- in real, measurable results." Critical Observation

It's not enough to be able to collect data and manipulate it. You must also be able to analyze and interpret it. What story does the data tell? What questions are raised? Are there different ways to interpret the data? "Instead of handing your boss a spreadsheet, give them

This doesn't mean you have to be a brilliant orator or writer. It does mean you have to express yourself well, whether it's writing a coherent memo, persuading others with a presentation or just being able to calmly explain to a team member what you need. Teamwork and Collaboration

a business summary and highlight the key areas for attention, and suggest possible next steps," Sarikas advises. Conflict Resolution

The ability to persuade, negotiate and resolve conflicts is crucial if you plan to move up. "You need to have the

Employers want employees who play well with others -who can effectively work as part of a team. "That means sometimes being a leader, sometimes being a good follower, monitoring the progress, meeting deadlines and working with others across the organization to achieve a common goal," says Lynne Sarikas, the MBA Career Center Director at Northeastern University. Adaptability

skill to develop mutually beneficial relationships in the organization so you can influence and persuade people," Sarikas says. "You need to be able to negotiate win-win solutions to serve the best interests of the company and the individuals involved." When It Comes to Soft Skills, Show -- Don't Tell

How do you prove you're proficient at, say, critical observation? Demonstrating these soft skills may be

This is especially important for more-seasoned professionals to demonstrate, to counter the (often erroneous) opinion that older workers are too set in their ways. "To succeed in most organizations, you need to have a passion for learning and the ability to continue to grow and stretch your skills to adapt to the changing needs of the organization," Sarikas says. "On your resume, on your cover letter and in your interview, explain the ways you've continued to learn and grow throughout your career." Problem Solving

more difficult than listing concrete accomplishments like $2 million in sales or a professional certification. But it is possible to persuade hiring managers that you have what they need. To demonstrate communication skills, for example, start with the obvious. Make sure there are no typos in your resume or cover letter. Beyond that, enhance your communication credibility by writing an accomplishment statement on your resume or cover letter, says Cheryl E. Palmer, president of Call to Career. "Instead of stating, 'great oral and written communication skills,' say, 'conducted presentation for C-level executives that

persuaded them to open a new line of business that became profitable within eight months.'" Learn Soft Skills

BAG000030) Description

Reservation Sales Agent The good news is that, like any skill, soft skills can be learned. The better news? Boosting your soft skills not only gives you a leg up on a new job or a promotion, but these skills also have obvious applications in all areas of a person's life, both professional and personal. Take a Course: Some colleges are mixing technology with areas such as effective written and verbal communication, teamwork, cultural understanding and psychology. Take a writing or public speaking course to boost your communication skills. Look for a conflictresolution course or "leadership skills" class at your local community college. Job: Call Centre Operations Schedule: Full Time JOB DESCRIPTION

What's your passion? Whether you're into tennis, shopping or kar our guests at the heart of everything they do. And we're looking fo

InterContinental Hotels Group is the world's largest hotel com Hotels and Resorts, Even Hotels and Candlewood Suites. In B

The role of Reservation Sales Agents is to represent the company

Seek Mentors: Be as specific as you can about your target skill, and when you're approaching a potential mentor, compliment that person with a specific example in which you've seen him practice that skill, advises Ed Muzio, the author of Make Work Great. "Then ask whether that person would be willing to share ideas with you about how you might achieve the same level of capability," he says. "Maybe it will grow into a long mentoring relationship, or maybe you'll just pick the person's brain for a few minutes."

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: Responsible in following assigned process in accordance Maintain a consistent, high quality customer-focused orien service cannot be provided. Respond to individuals in ma anticipate problems or questions. Coordinate all aspects of reservations by serving as the p Perform a variety of administrative support duties as assig act as a liaison between assigned work area and internal documents in an accurate and timely manner. May review Qualifications

Must be able to work on rotating shifts, holidays and week Demonstrates clear and effective verbal and written skills Must have good organization skills required in maintaining Good working knowledge in MS office Demonstrates ability to determine what is required and ta Act under consistent and direct supervision, generally foll Maintain a high level of knowledge pertaining to policy an Is proactive, exudes confidence in dealing with clients, an Possesses excellent work ethics and values. Goal-oriented and strives for continuous improvement.

Volunteer: Working with nonprofit organizations gives you the opportunity to build soft skills. And listing high-profile volunteer work on your resume gives you an excuse to point out what you gained there. For example, "As chair of the environmental committee, planned and carried out a citywide park cleanup campaign. Utilized team-building, decision-making and cooperative skills. Extensive report writing and public speaking."

Job : Call Centre Operations Primary Location : AA_Sth_East-Philippines-BEN-Baguio City 03/Mar/13 Schedule : Full Time Privacy of Employment Information InterContinental Hotels Group offers online services for individuals who wish to be considered for employment at corporate and hotel locations throughout the world. These online services are provided by third parties who specialize in employment databases and tools. Third party service providers are prohibited from using the information provided for any purpose other than collecting it on our behalf. Information collected is accessible and confidential to InterContinental Hotels Group for the purpose of determining qualifications of a

Job Description Reservation Sales Agent ( Job Number:

candidate for potential employment. Information supplied by individuals is kept on file for a minimum of three years. Information Disclosure Except as described in this privacy policy, we do not use or disclose to any outside parties, and personal information that you provide, such as your name, e-mail address, telephone number and employment information except when we are permitted or required by law. We do not sell, rent or exchange lists of job seekers or employers with other companies. When you sign up to use a service of this website we may use that information to administer and build your account, to provide the services that you have requested, to understand the needs of our candidates and to ensure a high standard of service to our candidates. We may make this information available to our Talent Management and Resourcing teams to make you aware of additional news and services that may be of interest to you. Visitor Information InterContinental Hotels Group monitors our website visitor information, such as which pages you visit most frequently and which site referred you. This data does not include any personally identifying information. We use this information in order to optimize our website and to assess its usage. We may provide such information to our website contractors for these purposes. Resumes To help you find or apply to jobs, InterContinental Hotels Group gives you the option of putting your resume in our database. If you store your resume in our database it will be searchable by all Talent Management & Resourcing Managers in each of our hotels and corporate offices around the world. Please know that we use our best efforts to grant access to our resume database only to recruiters employed in our hotel and corporate offices, but cannot guarnatee that other parties will not, without our consent, gain access to this database. You may remove your resume at any time, but must know that anyone authorized or unauthorized) who has had access to our database may have retained a copy of your resume. Please know that we are not responsible for the retention, use, or privacy of resumes in these instances, or for the use or privacy of resumes by any of such parties while the resumes are in the database. To Update Your Account To update your personal information at any time on the InterContinental Hotels Group candidate database, please log into your account and edit your information where needed. Cookies Cookies are small files that your Web browser places on your computer's hard drive. Cookies enable us to understand how our site is used and to make improvements. You have the option to set your browser to reject cookes, but this will negatively impact on your experience on our site.

Children InterContinental Hotels Group does not collect information about children and further believes that children should get their parents' consent before giving out personal information. If you are concerned about this, we encourage you to use web filtering technology to supervise your children's access to the site. Changes to our Privacy Policy Any changes to our Privacy Policy will be posted here and will be effective upon posting. General We cannot guarantee the confidentiality or security of any information sent by you to us via this website. This privacy policy consitutes and contains the entire agreement between you and InterContinental Hotels Group with respect to its subject matter and supersedes any prior oral or written agreements. If any provision of this privacy policy is helt to be illegal or unenforceable, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that this privacy policy will othersie remaining full force and effect and enforceable. Reservation Sales Agent (Job Number: BAG000030) Summary relevant section. My Personal Information |Edit Personal Information Karen AstudilloLoakan Road278 Purok Magsaysay, Loakan ProperBaguio City, 2600PhilippinesCordillera Administrative Region (CAR)Baguio Citykaren_astudillo29@yahoo.com.ph Prefix

Preferred First Name

Primary Number

Contact Number

Mobile/Cellular Number

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I am currently employed by InterContinental Hotels Group Source Tracking Source Type Source

Source Detail Job Posting Notification Send an email notification whenever a new position matching this profile is posted. Yes Questionnaire |Edit Questionnaire Can you speak, read and write English fluently? Do you have one or more years experience in a hotel or in the travel industry? Have you worked for a major international hotel chain before? If so, at which companies did you work? In what type of hotel property have you gained the majority of your experience? Have you worked in a call center environment before? If so, for how long? How many years of experiences do you have in sales function? Are you willing to work on rotating shifts, holidays and weekends? It's important to us that your last employer gives you a positive reference about the time that you worked with them. Are you happy for us to contact your most recent employer to discuss your work performance? My Experience |Edit Work Experience Current Job Yes Employer Job Title Start Date End Date Achievements Education Institution

Newspaper = Baguio Midland Courier Recommended by a friend Relevant Files File Name Date Yes KLA resume.docx 16/Feb/2013

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How to improve your soft skills at work n a previous article we listed 60 soft skills, which if practised at the workplace, could boost your professional life. Yes, Speak, read and write Subjects like financial management, marketing management, HR management can be taught in the No classroom and can be studied at home. But not soft skills. Soft skills are acquired and experienced on the spot and cannot be developed by merely reading No, I have textbooks. not worked for any of the companies below. The soft skills you gain will equip you to excel in your None of the above professional life and in your personal life. It is a continuous learning process. No, I've never worked in a call center. The 60 soft skills mentioned can be classified into corporate skills, employability skills and life skills. In 1-3 some parts of the world like in USA and Australia, soft skills ate also known as world skills. Yes Corporate skills These are generally CEO level skills, but if you are familiar with them you will be in a position to guide your boss towards success ie working together for a common goal as a team. You can become a courageous follower as mentioned by Ira Chaleff in his award-winning book Courageous Follower: Standing Up To and For Our Leaders. These skills include:

Yes

~ Political sensitivity. ~ Business and commercial awareness. Self-employed ~ Strategic awareness. ~ Understanding funding streams and mechanisms. Information management. Private Online English~Tutor ~ Organisation and control. ~ Team building. ~ Communication and persuasion. /Sep/08 ~ Networking and public relations. ~ Leading change. Must-read: Annoying your colleagues at work?

Employability skills These have to be mastered by employable graduates and freshers include communication, team working, University of Baguio leadership, initiative, problem solving, flexibility and enthusiasm. Bachelor of Science in Commerce Major in Management Every skill helps us to learn one more as they overlap each other. Bachelor's Degree To quote an example, leadership encompasses a

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number of other skills including cooperating with others, planning and organising, making decisions and verbal communication. Verbal communication itself involves various means of communication, some of which you may find easier than others -- talking over the phone, making a presentation to a group, explaining something

to a person with a more limited understanding of the topic for example. By improving one skill, you may also improve a number of others. In the context of your career planning and development, they are called career management skills Life skills These skills are related to the head, heart, hands and health ie highly personal and behavioural skills which reflects our personality and naturally helps in personality development. Source: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/learningandlivi ng/main/tlsmodel.html We manage and think with our head. Resilience, keeping records, making wise use of resources, planning/organising and goal setting are 'head' related managerial functions. Service learning, Critical thinking, problem solving, decision making and learning to learn were related to our thinking processes, which we manage with our head. Functions of the heart are relating to people and caring. How do we relate to people? We relate to people by accepting differences, conflict resolutions, social skills, cooperation and communication. The second function we do through our heart is caring. We care through nurturing relationships, sharing, empathy and concern for others. We give and work through our hands. Community service, volunteering, leadership, responsible citizenship and contributions to group effort -- are our way giving back to society. We work through our marketable skills, teamwork and self-motivation to get the things done. Living and being comes under the functions of health. Healthy lifestyle choices, stress management, disease prevention and personal safety are our prime concerns for better living. Self-esteem, self-responsibility, character, managing feelings and self-discipline must be practiced without fail for our well-being. In a nutshell, the essence of life skills is share well, care well and fare well. Things to do everyday Follow these ten golden rules and enjoy every moment of living. ~ Greet your family members first thing in the morning. If you are not used to this, they will be surprised with your sudden and nice gesture. ~ Greet your peers, subordinates and boss once you enter the office. Smile at even the 'security' personnel standing at the gate, who takes care of your safety. ~ Greet your friends along the way and do not ignore them. ~ Continously reciprocate to breed communication. If you do not reciprocate at least with a 'thanks' when you get information or a source on your online network or your offline network, you will not be remembered for a long time. If you are not remembered, you are out of your network. ~ Be a proactive listener and empathise with others to command respect.

~ While talking to others, your voice, tone and tenor must be audible and soothing. It should not be aggressive or in a shouting mode. ~ Dress well to suit your profession and to create positive vibes in your workplace. If you are a sales representative, do not go out with printed shirts and jeans, which may turn down your customer. ~ Political and religious comments must be avoided at all costs in the workplace, when you are in a group. ~ Your communication should not provoke others. ~ Do not speak ill of others if you can help it. The author is a certified trainer and facilitator (CAMI, USA) and is a career management consultant and corporate trainer by profession. The author can be reached at challaramaphani@rediffmail.com.

Top 60 soft skills The Workforce Profile defined about 60 "soft skills", which employers seek. They are applicable to any field of work, according to the study, and are the "personal traits and skills that employers state are the most important when selecting employees for jobs of any type." 1. Math. 2. Safety. 3. Courtesy. 4. Honesty. 5. Grammar. 6. Reliability. 7. Flexibility. 8. Team skills. 9. Eye contact. 10. Cooperation. 11. Adaptability. 12. Follow rules. 13. Self-directed. 14 Good attitude. 15. Writing skills. 16. Driver's license. 17. Dependability. 18. Advanced math. 19. Self-supervising. 20. Good references. 21. Being drug free. 22. Good attendance. 23. Personal energy. 24. Work experience. 25. Ability to measure. 26. Personal integrity. 27. Good work history. 28. Positive work ethic. 29. Interpersonal skills. 30. Motivational skills. 31. Valuing education.

32. Personal chemistry. 33. Willingness to learn. 34. Common sense. 35. Critical thinking skills. 36. Knowledge of fractions. 37. Reporting to work on time. 38. Use of rulers and calculators. 39. Good personal appearance. 40. Wanting to do a good job. 41. Basic spelling and grammar. 42. Reading and comprehension. 43. Ability to follow regulations. 44. Willingness to be accountable. 45. Ability to fill out a job application. 46. Ability to make production quotas. 47. Basic manufacturing skills training. 48. Awareness of how business works. 49. Staying on the job until it is finished. 50. Ability to read and follow instructions. 51. Willingness to work second and third shifts. 52. Caring about seeing the company succeed. 53. Understanding what the world is all about. 54. Ability to listen and document what you have heard. 55. Commitment to continued training and learning. 56. Willingness to take instruction and responsibility. 57. Ability to relate to coworkers in a close environment. 58. Not expecting to become a supervisor in the first six months. 59. Willingness to be a good worker and go beyond the traditional eight-hour day. 60. Communication skills with public, fellow employees, supervisors, and customers. How many soft skills do you possess?

Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual's interactions, job performance and career prospects. Unlike hard skills, which are about a person's skill set and ability to perform a certain type of task or activity, soft skills are interpersonal and broadly applicable. Soft skills are often described by using terms often associated with personality traits, such as: optimism common sense responsibility a sense of humor integrity and abilities that can be practiced (but require the individual to genuinely like other people) such as: empathy teamwork leadership communication good manners negotiation sociability the ability to teach. It's often said that hard skills will get you an interview but you need soft skills to get (and keep) the job. Kaizen, also known as continuous improvement, is a long-term approach to work that systematically seeks to achieve small, incremental changes in processes in order to improve efficiency and quality. Kaizen can be

applied to any kind of work, but it is perhaps best known for being used in lean manufacturing and lean programming. If a work environment practices kaizen, continuous improvement is the responsibility of every worker, not just a selected few. Kaizen can be roughly translated from Japanese to mean "good change." The philosophy behind kaizen is often credited to Dr. W. Edwards Deming. Dr. Demming was invited by Japanese industrial leaders and engineers to help rebuild Japan after World War II. He was honored for his contributions by Emperor Hirohito and the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers. In his book "Out of the Crisis," Dr. Deming shared his philosophy of continuous improvement: 1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim to become competitive and to stay in business and to provide jobs. 2. Adopt the new philosophy. 3. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place. 4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. 5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service to improve quality and productivity and thus constantly decrease costs. 6. Institute training on the job. 7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. 8. Drive out fear so that everyone may work effectively for the company. 9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales and production must work as a team to foresee problems of production and use of the product or service. 10. Eliminate asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force. 11. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. 12. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. 13. Institute a vigorous program of education and selfimprovement. 14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job. In Western civilization, kaizen is often broken down into four steps: assess, plan, implement and evaluate. In Western workplaces, a "kaizen blitz" is synonymous with a concentrated effort to make quick changes that will help achieve a short-term goal. Lean programming is a concept that emphasizes optimizing efficiency and minimizing waste in the development of a computer program. The concept is that efficiencies can be applied and waste managed at all levels: each individual, every department, interdepartmental operations, the organization as a whole, and the relationships of the organization with customers and suppliers. Lean programming is based on rules that were developed by several corporations in the 1980s. The rules have an upbeat and positive tenor. For example,

waste and intermediate artifacts should be kept to a minimum. Documentation should be concise, and should cover generalities without getting lost in details. Individual workers, as well as customers, should be consulted frequently, and their views and opinions taken seriously. A primary goal is continuous improvement at all levels and in all phases of the operation.