What five technical skills are employers seeking? What five soft skills put you on top

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When it comes to getting hired, employers seek out employees with two kinds of skill sets: technical skills and soft skills. Technical skills are skills or abilities that a person learns via education, work experience, getting a degree in a specific field, etc. Some examples may include having proficiency in a certain language, coding programs, machine operation, and much more. These skills are the ones listed on your resume that draw attention from potential employees. Soft skills are “people skills”. These skills show how you interact with others, these are basically known as social skills. Flaherty (2014) says some examples of social skills include smiling or being nice, being sincere, having a pleasant demeanor when presenting yourself whilst still maintaining a serious work ethic. So in the next couple of paragraphs, we will explore the top five technical skills pertaining to the field of IT and the top five soft skills.

One of the top technical skills a person could have in the field of IT is programming/application development. These people are the most sought-after people in the field of IT for obvious reasons and they also have one of the lowest employment rates at 1.8% according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The second technical skill that looks good on a resume is help desk/technical support. The people with this skill set help increase the technology infrastructure. A help desk person communicates with the customer about potential problems a customer might be running into. Third technical skill set employers seek out is network administration. This person is responsible for maintaining the computer hardware and software systems that make up the computer network. Fourth technical skill that looks good on a resume is mobile applications and device management. With mobile devices becoming so common amongst people, it is no surprise that mobile application is another sought-after skill. The fifth technical skill is project management. This skill is a highly sought-after skill because it demonstrates a person’s leadership. A project manager watches over the entire project and is responsible for talking to developers about technology and he needs to be able to prioritize needs so the project stays on track  and doesn’t fail.

Soft skills can be applied to any field so that is why we are not going to limit them to the field of IT. One of the top soft skills is communication. This skill comes in use when presenting a project, interacting with customers, etc. This skill is a must for help desk listed above. Second soft skill to have is teamwork and collaboration. Employers want people who play well with others and this skill is especially useful when it comes to IT jobs because a lot of these jobs develop projects using Agile methodology. Third soft skill that employers seek is adaptability. We live in such a fast-paced environment that adaptability is a must for any job. Fourth soft skill to have on your resume is problem solving. With any job, problems will arise and you need to be able to deal with them in a profession manner. The last soft skill to have is conflict resolution. The ability to persuade, negotiate,  solve conflicts amongst others is crucial if you want to move up in the job industry. You need to be able to negotiate in such a way that it is a win-win situation for both the company and the customers.

Works Cited:

Secondary: Brandel, M. (2013, September 23). 8 hot IT skills for 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2014.

Buhl, L. (n.d.). Six Soft Skills Everyone Needs. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://career-advice.monster.com/career-development/getting-promoted/six-soft-skills-everyone-needs-hot-jobs/article.aspx

Doyle, A. (n.d.). Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills. Retrieved November 10, 2014, from http://jobsearch.about.com/od/skills/qt/hard-soft-skills.htm

Primary: Flaherty, K. (2014). Soft Skills: The Critical Accompaniment to Technical Skills. AMWA Journal: American Medical Writers Association Journal, 29(2), 70-72.