The soft skills that help you work well in a team, manage a project or meet your deadlines are usually not taught at college or university, yet they often make up a larger part of your working day than the hard technical skills you learnt. "These kinds of skills can be learnt and nurtured. As the life span of hard skills become shorter, the importance of soft skills continues to grow as the career landscape evolves," says Lyndy van den Barselaar, the MD of ManpowerGroup SA, who has this advice: • Be clear about the skills you want to improve. Is it communication or running meetings? Once you have decided, you can work out how to develop them - with a mentor, for example; • Take on what you can cope with. Being able to use your time wisely and productively is essential to any job. This is also true for nurturing skills - set realistic, achievable goals and timeframes; • You might be really bad at meeting deadlines, so if this is what you want to improve, set measurable goals; and • I...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.