As a college graduate, you’re equipped with a degree and the knowledge that comes with it. But is it enough? While the experience and information that your education provided is crucial to starting your career, the soft skills that employers want to see shouldn’t be ignored. In this blog, we’ll go over five of the most important soft skills that hiring managers use to determine a college graduate’s readiness for the job.

1 - Teamwork

After you graduate, you’ll more than likely get a job where you’re a member of a team. Hiring managers will want to see if your capable of collaborating, delegating and taking direction. To show this, talk about your experiences in your previous work environments or class projects and how you’ve fit into those groups and the success you’ve had. They’ll want to know if you can mesh with the different personalities of an office and play off your co-workers’ strengths and weaknesses.

2 - Critical Thinking/Problem Solving

In a survey conducted by the National Association of College and Employers, critical thinking and problem solving skills are just as important to hiring managers as teamwork. While you can mention these skills in your resume and cover letters, the best platform to showcase this will be in the interview. Many employers will use behavioral-based interview questions such as “give me an example…” or “tell of a time when…” to get you to think on your feet and recall relevant information. These may be tough to answer with minimal experience, but that’s the purpose. They want you to problem solve, so do your best to provide a solid answer.

3 - Communication

Communication, both verbal and written, will always be an important skill to have mastered when you graduate. From your resume to your cover letter to your interview, your communication will need to be great throughout the entire process to land the job. Employers want their employees to be able to articulate their thoughts and ideas and share them with the appropriate people because in a business, very little will get done unless information is communicated clearly to everyone involved.

4 - Leadership

This skill can be the toughest to show when your experience is limited. If you had any leadership experience in college, highlight it on your resume and/or cover letter. Whether it is a formal role in a school organization or an informal one in a group project, talk about it with the hiring manager. Related to teamwork, leveraging the strengths of the group to achieve a common goal will be crucial to success in any work environment you find yourself in. If you’re looking to develop this skill, check one of our previous blogs on the topic here.

5 - Professionalism

Once you land the job, you’ll need to be committed to your job responsibilities and show it on a daily basis. Demonstrating personal accountability and effective work habits such as showing up on time and managing your workload is important, especially when first starting the job.

Now that you know which attributes to highlight during the hiring process, it’s time to get out there. Find your dream job today by contacting your local QPS branch or viewing our current openings!