Essentials of Business Communication 10th Edition by Dana Loewy,Mary Ellen Guffey

Exercise 29

When hiring future workers, employers look for hard skills, which are those we learn, such as mastery of software applications or accountancy procedures, as well as soft skills. Soft skills are personal characteristics, strengths, and other assets a person possesses.
Studies have divided soft skills into four categories:
Thinking and problem solving
Oral and written communication
Personal qualities and work ethic
Interpersonal and teamwork
Your Task. Using the preceding categories to guide you, identify your own soft skills, paying attention to attributes you think a potential employer would value. Prepare a list of at least four items for each of the four categories. For example, as evidence of problem solving, you might list a specific workplace or student problem you recognized and solved. You will want to weave these words and phrases into cover letters and résumés, which are covered in Chapter 13.