The Hidden Step
www.necouncil.org/the
hidden
step
Let’s begin by listing our soft skills. When we are done
with our soft skills list, we are going to search them to
come up with a large list of hard skills employers value in
our locality.
For now, go to Exercise #1, the “Soft Skills list” on the next
page and list all of your soft skills.
What are Hard and Soft Skills?
Hard skills are those that you acquire through experience or education. e.g. Ac-
counting or Sales.
Soft skills
are those that complement your hard skills. e.g. People skills or Ne-
gotiations ability. An accountant may possess people skills but lack the ability to
negotiate. What makes you unique is when you combine your hard and soft skills
and communicate this uniqueness to an employer on your resume.
How would you respond to this question?
“What positions are you looking for?”
You no longer can respond to this question with something like, “Management” or “I
am open.” There was a time that this response turned you into an instant asset. Today it
is the quickest way to become irrelevant. The last time you were looking for employ-
ment, an employer placed an ad in the local paper that cost $1,200 and yielded about
twelve resumes. Getting more resumes was time-consuming and costly. Considering the
limited number of options, when the employer heard a job seeker say “I am open” at
the interview, the employer saw an opportunity. They could train this applicant for other
positions that didn’t draw many resumes. But today with access to thousands of people
around the world, from all walks of life and with a variety of skills, “open” really means
a non-match to the employer. “Management” means the same. You must be specifc.
Are your strengths in operations management, customer service management, produc-
tion management, service management, or sales management? The employer is already
receiving hundreds of focused resumes. A company looking for customer service man-
gers already receives more resumes than they can handle. Where should a hiring man-
ager categorize a person who is approaching the market with just “Management”?
achieving clarity empowers you
STEP TWO
Identify Your Career Path