Professional skills in a resume: examples of skills and knowledge. Examples of professional skills and abilities in the resume

You can interest the employer if you immediately write in your resume about what you can do. This will help him determine how quickly you can adapt and understand the nuances of the work. To understand how to properly write about your skills, you can look at an example of professional skills on your resume. Just be sure to make allowances for your personal experience, employer's requirements and the specifics of the future position.

Possible professional skills

It should be understood that in this section of the resume, you need to indicate your basic skills. If you do not have work experience yet, then you can enter the results of undergraduate practice. Almost all resumes can include the following skills:

work with a PC;
knowledge of foreign languages (indicating your level) - this can be fluency, the ability to perceive written information and translate it with a dictionary;
ability to analyze documents;
work planning and organization of the work process;
ability to make decisions quickly.

But they should be used in cases where you do not have practical experience and any achievements.

Skills for communication professions

When sending a resume to a new vacancy for a sales assistant, you need to describe your experience and indicate what you can do. The professional skills of a salesperson may include the following:

experience of communication and direct sales;
the ability to adapt and look for an approach to the client;
the ability to work in stressful situations, under pressure;
willingness to communicate politely, without imposing one's own position;
the ability to move away, but at the same time fulfill their duties;
the ability to solve problems without involving the administration.

You need to convince the employer that you can communicate with people and sell products.

But for a psychologist there will be other requirements. He can be shown what he has worked with and what he can do best. He may have the following professional skills:

diagnostics of personality, relationships;
solving problems in a team and a family;
conducting tests and interpreting their results;
conducting trainings;
solutions to personal growth problems;
listening, empathy, calming;
search for approaches to each client;
the implementation of psychological rehabilitation measures;
work with phobias, shocks, stresses.

Skills of narrow specialists

The selection of candidates begins with the assessment of the resume. If you want to be scheduled for an interview, then list your basic skills, not hoping that a couple of general phrases will be enough. You can see an example of professional knowledge for a sysadmin resume to understand what needs to be specified. The following skills can be distinguished:

practical experience in laying and diagnosing networks;
providing technical support and working with clients;
diagnostics of failures and malfunctions;
experience with servers, their installation and setting for specific tasks;
monitoring the operation of systems;
risk planning and development of IT structure recovery schemes;
ability to work with Windows programs;
knowledge of technical English;
installation of equipment, adjustment of its work;
control of the appropriate level of information security;
work with technical documents.

Don't go overboard with listing! Too many programs announced may raise doubts about your level of proficiency in each of them. After all, real competence is acquired not even in one month.

But the professional skills in the accountant's resume may look like this:

maintaining tax and accounting records;
knowledge of relevant legislation;
ability to work with accounting entries;
inventory taking skills;
ability to manage primary documents;
knowledge of the principles of calculating sick leave pay, payroll;
skills in drawing up and submitting reports;
knowledge of the "Client-Bank" system, profile accounting programs;
the ability to carry out mutual settlements, acts of reconciliation.

Don't write skills that you don't have. After all, this can be identified at an interview or on the first working day.

For an employee or head of the legal department, you need to be able to work with documents and look for the necessary information.

For a lawyer, the following professional skills are generally expected:

the ability to draw up and analyze the submitted contracts;
Negotiation;
representation in courts;
implementation of claim activities;
drafting legal documents;
support of the company's activities;
legal support for the work of the organization;
representation of the company in government agencies and various authorities;
the ability to work with legal documents and legislative frameworks presented in electronic form.

Having indicated such skills, be ready to confirm them in the interview. An employer may ask for specific examples or a practical task that requires these skills.

A good resume should have a focused, presentable, and concise body of skills, knowledge, and skill. This block has at least one important purpose.

Why write about professional skills on your resume

Your skills are a squeeze of your experience. You may have several jobs, serious seniority and experience description may take more than one A4 page. This is a large amount of information and the HR manager will have to study it for a long time in order to understand whether you are suitable for the requirements of the vacancy or not.

Help the HR manager, do this analytical work for him. This will increase your chances of getting an interview invitation.

The main purpose of the skill list is to show that you are the perfect fit for the job requirements. This is the principle I adhere to when I write a “selling” resume.

What professional skills to indicate in the resume

How to show that you are suitable for the job? There are three rules for describing professional skills and knowledge in a resume:

Compliance with the requirements of the vacancy.
Presentability.
Laconicism.

Eligibility for the vacancy

This is the most important rule to follow when writing a resume.

Firstly, position yourself at the level of "executive-leader"... Having looked at your resume and skills, it should be immediately clear who you are.

In the course of my work, I often have to delete or reformulate many "executive" phrases from the resume of managers and directors. Correct positioning is an important task.

Secondly, analyze the requirements and responsibilities of vacancies, see the style of phrases and expressions and other nuances. This will help you write your professional skills and competencies correctly on your resume. To carry out such an analysis, you just need to find 5-7 interesting vacancies and carefully study them. Good wording from job descriptions can be easily copied into your resume.

Presentability

Your skills should sound nice and strong. They have to sell you, and clear and simple words, facts, numbers, professional vocabulary or even jargon will help you with this.

Here are some examples of professional resume skills.

Basically, you just need to flesh out some skills. Facts are more credible, vocabulary shows your expertise, clarifications describe you better.

Conciseness

If you write a little of your skills, it will feel like you are not an expert.
If you write a lot, it will be difficult to read the resume, and there is also a risk of falling under the "overqualified" filter.

A common mistake

Very often I see a completely wild and impersonal list of qualities in my resume:

Effectiveness.
Purposefulness.
Sociability.
Stress resistance.
Learnability.
Initiative.
Etc.

The sad thing is that almost everyone writes it. Such a set of qualities, alas, does not guarantee an invitation for an interview and does not make you more valuable in the eyes of HR specialists.

There are two ways to present yourself better.:

Delete this entire list and leave only basic job skills.
Choose one (strongest) skill of yours and describe it in more detail. If you decide to choose learning ability, write what exactly you mastered quickly - learned Japanese in 6 months, mastered Axapta CRM over the weekend, completed a BMW car repair course in two weeks and passed the exam at 98%. Specificity and facts are important!

Examples of skill descriptions

Below I will provide some examples of professional skills and abilities in the resume. I have selected several positions at different levels for this.

accountant

Experience in accounting and management accounting - 6 years (areas - wholesale, logistics).
Experience in setting up accounting and tax accounting from scratch.
Successful experience in passing tax and audit audits.
Experience in obtaining loans for a company.
Knowledge of taxation, currency legislation, Tax and Civil Code, RAS, IFRS, INCOTERMS 2000.
Knowledge of PC (Office, 1C 7.7, 8.2, 8.3).

An example of a description of professional skills sales assistant

Consulting and customer service in the sales area.
Registration and delivery of goods for an online store.
Checking the health of goods.
Reception and display of goods.
Handling claims (returns, acceptance of goods for warranty repair).
Reporting.

An example of a description of the professional skills of a driver

Driving license category B, D.
Driving experience - 17 years.
Excellent knowledge of the city and suburbs of Moscow.
Experience in minor car repairs.
Experience of traveling to the European Union, knowledge of rules, laws, paperwork.
No bad habits (I don't smoke, I don't drink).
Russian citizenship.

An example of a description of the professional skills of a lawyer

Experience in legal support of the company (7 years in the field of production).
Experience in litigating disputes and protecting the interests of the company.
Experience in pre-trial settlement of disputes.
Knowledge of legal documents (contracts, statements of claim, claims, powers of attorney ...).
Ability to communicate with government agencies and authorities.
Ability to work with clients.
Knowledge of the current legislation of the Russian Federation.
English is fluent.

An example of a description of professional skills head (director)

Higher education in economics + EMBA.
Production management experience - 14 years (wood processing and furniture manufacturing).
Personnel management skills (teams up to 220 people).
Thorough knowledge of warehouse logistics and supply.
Skills of interaction with regulatory authorities (certification, licensing and other tasks).
Knowledge of laws, rules and regulations of safety, labor protection and ecology.
English language - Upper Intermediate.
Excellent knowledge of PC (from specifics - knowledge of SAP).

Professional skills for a resume is an integral part of a document, most often a separately formed block. According to them, the employer determines the capabilities of the applicant in the role of an employee of the company. You need to choose them carefully in order to attract a recruiter with whom further conversation will take place.

What is - Professional Resume Skills

Professional qualities are a combination of personal qualities and skills that a specialist acquired when. They help to improve in the future, to benefit the organization.

Quite often the resume reveals qualities that are only conditionally professional. For example, a developed sense of humor. If a recruiter is looking for a person for the vacancy of a lawyer, he will not rate this quality highly. But for a leading corporate event, he can be considered professional.

Before delving into the definition of professional skills, we recommend that all applicants, or those who are just going to find a new promising job, to get acquainted with the Internet course: "New job: strategy, preparation, search." In three days, you will be taught to represent yourself in the best possible way.

What professional skills to indicate in the resume

Basic 3 rules of resume writing

To describe professional knowledge and skills in a selling resume, simply follow three principles:

Conciseness... If you write a little information, doubts will appear about With an excessive number of paragraphs, it will be difficult to read the resume. It is better to choose an average number of skills - 6-9;
Compliance with the requirements specific vacancy. It is necessary to position yourself at the level of "executive-manager" so that when looking at a resume, the recruiter immediately understands who he is dealing with;
Presentability... The information in the resume should sound strong and beautiful. It should be written specifically. For example, sales experience (5 years in the wholesale department). If you have experience in personnel management, you need to indicate in the document how many people were in the team.

General skills

The employer will definitely appreciate the ability to establish contact with counterparties in writing and orally, achievements in the service sector, organization of the work process, oratorical experience and other abilities. But in any field, employees with high motivation for results, initiative, energy in solving issues, competent speech, speed in decision-making, responsibility are valued. This is what will help

Directions in career development will be indicated to you by the consultation of specialists "Career Vector". Experts will guide and support your actions to reach new levels.

Job seekers often indicate that the candidate must have:

Technical skills;
Leadership qualities;
Marketing ability;
Experience in organizing and managing processes.

The modern labor market requires new knowledge of modern technologies. To get a demanded internet profession often requires additional training.

Special skills

There are special skills that professionals have. The list is generalized and is not suitable for every specialty.

The professional skills in the resume are as follows:

(specific language and level);
Knowledge of programming languages;
Business communication skills (written and oral);
Efficiency in finding information;
Planning;
Purchasing experience;
Sales analysis;
Negotiation experience;
Experience with objections;
Carefulness when preparing reports;
Willingness to work in a team;
Independence in decision making;
Ability to use methods of persuasion;
Experience with programs (1C, Word, Excel);
Ability to handle office equipment;
Experience in telephone sales ("cold", "hot" calls);
Collection and preparation of statistical data;
Direct selling experience;
Work with commercial offers;
Merchandising experience;
Motivation and training of employees.

Each profession requires certain abilities. It is imperative that they be indicated in the appropriate section of the resume. Among the listed skills, you can find those suitable for a specific specialty.

To determine your professional abilities take the test for "Career guidance"

The optimal number of skills in a resume is 6-9

Examples of skill descriptions

It is important to understand that the list of professional skills in the resume must be coordinated with the requirements for a specific position. For example, accuracy can hardly be called an obligatory professional quality of a top manager. But for the secretary it will be a tangible merit. Therefore, when writing a resume, you should consider how relevant the skill is for your profession.

You can see the standards and examples of the most successful resumes in the book by Vladimir Yakub. A certified MBA teacher and teacher, one of the best headhunters in Russia shares his experience and examples in his book “A winning resume. 1: 0 in your favor! " Buy the book, sell yourself and have a successful career!

An example of describing the professional skills of a sales assistant

The position of sales assistant attracts many. But not everyone stays in this role for long. For hot-tempered and conflicted people, the profession is not suitable. Sanguine and phlegmatic people usually achieve great results in it.

Essential skills for a sales assistant resume:

Ability to interest buyers;
Ability to work with objections, conflict prevention;
Knowledge about the goods in a particular store (clothes, equipment);
An individual approach to the buyer, determination of his needs and assistance in choosing.

An example of a description of the professional skills of an accountant

Consider what qualities an accountant needs for a resume:

Punctuality;
Organization;
Diligence;
Accuracy.

Skills that need to be indicated in the document:

Registration of primary documents;
Working with large amounts of information;
Knowledge of the Civil Code, TC and Tax Code of the Russian Federation;
Knowledge of the rules and experience in accounting and tax accounting.

An example of a description of the professional skills of a driver

Key resume skills can be as follows:

Driving experience (15 years);
Knowledge of Moscow and the Moscow region;
Neat driving style;
Polite communication with clients;
License category C, driving experience without accidents - 7 years.

An example of a description of the professional skills of a lawyer

Professional skills and abilities in a lawyer's resume:

Knowledge of the programs "Consultant Plus" and "1C";
Knowledge of contractual, labor and business law;
Experience in using the services "My Arbitrator", "Card File of Arbitration Cases";
Competent preparation of procedural and legal documentation.

An example of a description of the professional skills of a manager (director)

Skills for a resume for a managerial position:

Creation from "0" of an effective commercial service (marketing, sales)
Experience in personnel management for up to 1,000 people (motivation, training, selection and dismissal);
Market research (analysis of the competitiveness of the organization and customer requests);
Forecast and implementation of the sales plan.

An example of a description of the professional skills of a secretary

Essential skills for a secretary:

English proficiency (level);
Knowledge of the basics of office work;
Experience in using MS Office programs;
Possession of office equipment.

Online resume writing

Dozens and hundreds of candidates count on one place, so it is important to stand out. It is impossible to draw attention to oneself with personal charm at this stage. Therefore, in order to write professional skills outside the box and correctly, you should use the original services for writing a resume online:

Zerply... This social network has received high praise among developers and designers, as it will be possible to publish a portfolio there;
CVmaker... The service is suitable for creating a standard, but stylishly done resume. It provides six free templates in a classic style.
For each, their own skills are important, which must be taken into account. After writing your resume, you should imagine yourself in the role of a manager who needs an employee for your position. Changes should be made until the moment you are satisfied with the result. You don't have to make a very long list or your resume will be put aside.

When you are looking for a job, it is very important to understand what skills you have. It is also important to ensure that the employer has a correct understanding of your skills. Many people have problems with this. A huge number of job seekers, especially women, often underestimate or overestimate their capabilities. This reduces their chances of finding a decent job. After all, they cannot properly present themselves at the interview. Annette Richmond, founder and editor-in-chief career-intelligence.com, compiled a kind of cheat sheet on all the skills that you may need for successful employment.

What skills are there?

Skill is the ability to perform certain actions. There are 3 types of skills: innate, acquired, and specialized.

Inborn skills- these are the traits of our character. We use them in all areas of our life. If you ask your friends to say who you are, then the adjectives they will use will be your innate skills, for example: punctual, honest, organized, friendly, and so on. Yes, you can force yourself to be punctual, but people who turn off the annoying alarm clock several times in the morning will find it much more difficult than those who find it easy to wake up early in the morning.

Many job seekers do not attach importance to these skills, although they are very important to the employer. Many people cannot stay with one employer for long because they are not doing their job. According to a study by Robert Half & Associates among HR directors: “The most common problems we face are lies and dishonesty (14%), absenteeism and lateness (12%), arrogance and overconfidence (12%), lack of desire to work (6%) ...

Acquired skills you get over time, moving from one job to another. Skills such as effective communication techniques are easy for some people and more difficult for others. But usually the skills of this group are acquired and transformed over time. Some more: written and verbal communication, leadership skills, negotiation skills, problem-solving skills, and the ability to complete work on time.

If you can discover the skills of this group, you should definitely tell your potential employer about them. After all, this will give you a number of advantages for the following reasons: each company has its own specifics of work, but a person who can motivate employees is needed by each of them. Even if you change your profession, you will always need communication skills.

Specialized skills usually acquired in a specific position. As a rule, when people are asked what skills they have, they answer the first thing that comes to their mind: computer programming, aircraft control, the ability to use special computer applications, professional video shooting skills, the ability to type a certain number of characters per minute.

This group of skills is very important and many people cannot get another position due to the lack of certain skills. For example, a secretary looking for a managerial position will focus on her innate and acquired interview skills. And the most important thing for a human resources employee will be to know about her communication skills and ability to resolve problem situations. The last thing the HR department will care about is how many characters per minute this secretary used to print.

It is very important to determine what skill set you have before starting your job search. This information will come in very handy when writing a resume. Also, before the interview, you will need to determine which three to five most important skills you would like to declare to the employer. Be prepared to provide specific examples of the use of these skills. For example, when talking about your ability to work in a team, talk about a specific collaborative project that you have completed.

Of course, many are under stress when looking for work. It's one thing when you just change jobs, but if a person changes profession? In any case, having a complete understanding of your skills will be your first step towards success!

Work on yourself

Are you ready to evaluate your skills? Take a piece of paper and list them all. Then evaluate which skills you have the most and which ones would be useful to you in another job that you would like to get. Now take a look at the top ten skills on your list. These are the ones you will need to indicate on your resume. Choose 3-5 skills that you will focus on during the interview. Be prepared to provide specific examples.

The following are examples of skills for each skill type: innate, acquired, and specialized. Some skills can be of several types. For example, the ability to be collected, organized, can be considered both innate and as an acquired skill. It all depends on yourself.

Inborn skills

the ability to take criticism	creativity	honesty
persistence	easy character	purposefulness
conscientiousness	full of enthusiasm	patience
tact	helpfulness	the ability to draw people along
energy	loyalty	rarely take time off
friendliness	organization, composure	a responsibility
erudition	ability to easily solve problems	you can be trusted
openness to everything new	fast learner	well-developed sense of intuition
persistence	stubbornness	understanding what they want from you
punctuality	diversified	self confidence
you can be relied on	ambition	developed sense of understanding
reliability	the ability to adapt to a new environment	rationality
competence	willingness to meet	quick wits

Acquired skills

take responsibility	know how to think logically	are good at analyzing information
creativity	can be the link	collect information well
develop goals	can motivate others	focused on customer service
appreciate ideas	planning well	easily maintain relationships with people
know how to listen to others	have a good meeting	friendly
you can instruct other people	good budget	do the job right on time
negotiate well	know how to speak in front of an audience	good at sales
good speaker	you can provide psychological counseling	know how to properly assign duties
good at editing written material	result oriented	conduct good interviews
manage the project well	teach others well	organize information well
do your research well	have excellent writing skills

Specialized skills

Build your list of specialized skills based on past work experience, and be sure to include the skills you possess that are required to get the job you desire. For example, you know how to use a graphic design program or how to handle an X-ray machine.

Based on materialscareer- intelligence. com

Photo in the announcement:pixabay.com

For some reason, most people still think that success depends on the level of professionalism in the profession. It depends on how well you are versed in your direct work, whether you are an engineer, programmer, marketer or seamstress. I have a very good friend who once said that a good specialist is a public specialist. If you are a professional, but no one knows about it and no one works with you - what's the point? If you are an excellent specialist, but you cannot convince others of this, show yourself on the market, publicly convey your ideas to others, then why should others perceive you as successful? Often, people who want to realize themselves in society do not lack professionalism, but the ability to be an effective leader both in relation to others - to lead themselves, and in relation to themselves - to behave and manage their effectiveness.

If you begin to study the topic of leadership in a little more detail, you will find out that instead of a high level of IQ, real leaders have a high level of EQ - emotional intelligence. These people may not be able to perform the work of the performer, but they are able to delegate, take responsibility for the result and make decisions. Of course, you have to be a professional in your field, but without the proper soft-skills, this will often not scale your success.

In any case, each of us would always like to speak so well, speak, convince, plan and earn so that there are no competitors for you. Unfortunately, during our studies at schools and universities, we did not acquire the skill of self-education at all, but did what we were told to do. Do you remember at least one subject in which the teacher collected expectations from a group of students from a particular seminar and really focused on your needs? In general, the education system is built in such a way that a person does not need to think too much, but just teach, not make mistakes - this is a fact that has long been known to everyone. By the way, this is the most dangerous thing: the existing educational system teaches you to be afraid to learn, to be afraid to make mistakes, to be afraid to do something wrong, differently than others. As a result, most of the population is afraid or does not know how to defend their position and rights, make clear and balanced decisions, analyze the situation (before doing something), or, at the other extreme, do it, and not think for years about what would be worth changing in my life. As a result, many people find that learning is a burden for them.

In reality, training is an interesting and integral process in the life of every person who wants to make a career and become the best professional in their industry or in their market. In many Russian companies, unlike Western ones, managers still devote two-thirds of their working time to anything other than personnel development. Successful companies have long ago implemented a training and development system, and mentoring is the most important function of any leader. Without personal development, there will be no career development.

As a leader, entrepreneur or employee, this book will help you understand how to achieve results and your goals faster through continuous professional, personal and personal growth.

What makes it possible to accelerate your development?

By consciously choosing certain areas of development, you begin to pay more attention to situations and actions related to the achievement of your chosen development goals. You purposefully try to get exactly the experience that is necessary in order to develop in the direction you need. Thus, you do not go with the flow of life, but move where you want, using both planned steps and new opportunities arising in your professional activity.

What prevents people from developing:

Ignorance of where, why and how to develop, vague and unrealistic plans;
Lack of willingness to change something in your current job and life in general; at the end of the training (webinar / master class / lecture), forget everything that happened an hour ago and endure only an emotional state rather than something constructive;
Doing only what works well and fear of taking on other new tasks and projects;
Lack of desire to seek and find time to think about their actions and their results;
Lack of interest in feedback on the success of their actions.

I have a good friend, let's call him conditionally "Ivan". Ivan for 4 years constantly comes to all my master classes, trainings and webinars. Of course, he also attends classes in other projects. A kind of training vampire - a freeloader. For four years he has been walking - in four years nothing in his life has changed. Eternal student. A good example, reflecting that it is pointless to just go to educational events. There are such acquaintances or you saw yourself in some of the points, then do not worry - this is normal: much of the above is easily corrected and it is enough to just take a little more meaningful attitude to personal development.

And what, in fact, is all of the above dangerous? You spend your time, energy, energy on anything, just not on increasing your own efficiency. I call this approach "Let's sprinkle and pray" - people subject themselves to all the trainings in a row indiscriminately - "Maybe I'll learn something." Someone stands still for a long time and loses this very time. Someone is simply afraid to believe in something more than he has now. Someone simply does not believe that he will succeed. Some people spend their time blaming anyone other than themselves (for example, a teacher, speaker, or mentor) for their growth. In any case, each person has a huge number of different kinds of problems that prevent him from accelerating his growth (up the career ladder, in business, or wherever else). And as soon as a person realizes what it is that slows him down, he begins to believe in himself, allows himself to desire more, takes responsibility for his movement in this life - he immediately begins to notice how he himself begins to jump, as it seemed to him earlier, above your head.

And when someone hears, when I say, “This is what prevents you from developing and growing further. If you implement such a tool, you can get what you want! ", People are divided into two clans:" Forget it "and" What can I do about it or how to implement it? " As you understand in this case, the correct and adequate reaction of a person with common sense is to ask the question "How can I implement this and what do I really need from this." This is an old story about the fact that the world is ruled by those who ask themselves the question not “Why?”, But “How?”. How can I achieve more? How can I learn to get what I want? How can I accelerate my growth? How can i do this?

Here is a very important thought, perhaps the most important one in this book: learn the skill (or strengthen it) in posing the question to yourself "How can I achieve a goal and solve a problem?" or "How can I increase the effect of what I am doing now?"

Let's see when development takes place:

You strive to develop, gain new experience, grow professionally;
You have an idea of your development goals and a specific development plan;
You are ready to leave the "comfort zone" and try not only what is good for you, but also something new, to take risks;
You analyze your actions and their results, look for the reasons for success and failure in your actions, and not in external circumstances;
You seek to receive feedback on the success of your actions from colleagues, subordinates, managers or experts from the open market.

Thus, you need to understand one simple truth: if you really want to develop, you really know what and why you are going (and formulated it), you understand what skills you need to develop and what tools you will use for this, then the results will not force you wait.

Top most essential Soft-Skills competencies

You already have a question: "So why should I develop something in the end?" Let's get to the fun part - an overview of the essential skill portfolio for a business person. In this application, I decided to present you the most popular and well-known skills that are required to increase the level of personal effectiveness (corporate team, manager, entrepreneur, civil servant).

There are two types of skills: soft-skills and hard-skills. The first are social and psychological skills that will be useful to you in most life situations: communication, leadership, team, public, "thinking" and others. The second is professional knowledge and skills: you will need them at work and in performing business processes. To develop skills, you need to choose the right tools (and not one, but two or three). Later in the book, I will describe in some detail how to use this or that development tool, be it training, reading literature, attending webinars or communicating with a mentor.

There is also a third side of the issue - personality. In this case, I mean the totality of your personality traits and attitudes in relation to the world around you, people, success, defeats, goals, and so on. In this version of the book, we will not dwell on this issue in detail, but know that no skill will save you if you do not have a prepared personality. For example, if you do not respect and love your employees, then you will not be able to develop motivation skills until you change your attitude towards employees. You also can't learn to sell if you don't have respect for your customers, people, and your product. Primary is your attitude to things and attitudes, and skills are secondary.

You can find many different classifications of skills, but here, for ease of perception, I decided to divide the competencies into four main areas:

Basic communication skills that help you develop relationships with people, maintain a conversation, and effectively handle critical situations when communicating with others. Everyone needs these skills.
Self-management skills: help to effectively control your condition, time, processes.
Effective thinking skills: managing the processes in the head that help make life and work more systematic.
Management skills that people need at the stage when they become leaders of any business processes and entrepreneurs.

Communication:

the ability to listen
persuasion and reasoning
networking: building and maintaining business relationships
Negotiation
producing a presentation
basic sales skills
self-presentation
public performance
teamwork
focus on results
business letter
customer focus

Self-management:

emotion management
stress management
managing your own development
planning and goal setting
time management
Energy / Enthusiasm / Initiative / Perseverance
Reflection
Using feedback

Thinking:

systems thinking
creative thinking
structural thinking
logical thinking
search and analysis of information
development and decision making
design thinking
tactical and strategic thinking (for managers)

Management skills:

execution control
planning
setting tasks for employees
motivation
control over the implementation of tasks
mentoring (employee development) - mentoring, coaching
situational leadership and leadership
conducting meetings
giving feedback
project management
change management
delegation

Entrepreneurial Skills:

While compiling this list, I came up with the idea to add the "Entrepreneurial Skills" as well. This can, of course, include skills such as business planning, financial modeling, understanding of marketing processes, business promotion and reputation management skills. But since we are mainly talking about soft-skills, I came to this decision: an entrepreneur has (ideally, of course) all of the above skills. It may seem to you that in this case he lacks only X-ray vision and the ability to fly, and perhaps you will be right. In this model, the entrepreneur is the perfect example of a super-human, pumped up with the most essential skills. Without them, he will stumble at different stages of business development. If you teach an entrepreneur to promote on the Internet, but not teach how to sell and negotiate, everything will end in disaster. He simply will not be able to build communication with clients, and perhaps even with partners and colleagues. Most businesses do not collapse because the entrepreneur did not find an idea (ideas do not cost anything - most of the ideas for business have long been invented), but could not implement it due to a lack of personal competencies.

General development rules

Make your learning and development a continuous process: gain new experience, meet new professionals, take on more difficult tasks, use new tools in life and, most importantly, do it constantly.
Learn to plan and organize your development effectively.
Take a comprehensive approach to your own development: use different formats of development and training.
Treat the surrounding information with curiosity: study the business processes around you, constantly learn about new trends, be interested in achievements in your areas of interest. Curious and inquisitive people - interesting, successful, exciting, mesmerizing and open-minded!
Build your skills gradually: Choose the areas that will truly help you succeed in your work, school, or business.
Make it a habit to read the literature and information resources in your field every day, constantly building up your level of expertise. Build it up not only in professional areas, but also in the area of personal and personal effectiveness.
Develop your personal and professional skills while on the job, constantly taking on new tasks and projects;
Find people you want to learn from and who you would like to follow (both personally and professionally).
Learn to effectively use the feedback you receive (the reaction of others to your actions or inactions) and determine its value.
Use the possibilities of organizations of alternative education in your city to the maximum: attend all events that are useful and interesting for you: master classes, trainings, seminars. Determine in advance their quality and the level of speakers.

Individual development plan

In general, people are quite chaotic in many ways. Often they take steps without ordering, without understanding the system as a whole, simply using individual elements and tools. For example, they go to different events, but cannot form a single picture. Or they try to follow the rules of a healthy lifestyle, but very partially: they eat healthy food, but do not use aerobic activity; try to learn something, but do not quite understand how to continue to live with it, and in general, what it was all for.

In order for training to be truly effective (as well as any other activity, project management, for example), you need to effectively set a goal and plan the process. I will briefly explain how to do this.

Most importantly, take responsibility for your own development. Do not shift the responsibility to university professors, trainers in the training center, and speakers in business incubators.

Make your development plan for three months, six months, a year. Look at your development with a focus on your future goals in life, business or career.
In your plan, identify the three most important items:
- What will you develop in - goals (for this, analyze all the barriers to your life or business goals, ask for feedback from authoritative and reference people);
- What you will develop - competencies / skills (select the skills necessary to achieve your goals);
- How you will develop - development tools (choose the right development tools);
Find a reference person who can give you constructive feedback on the IPR: he will be able to confirm the skills and help with the choice of developmental actions.
Clearly document how you will measure the results for each instrument and for each goal. Plan your goal against an accessible and well-known SMART system. When you have formulated your goal, ask yourself the following questions, which you should definitely be able to answer: “Is my goal specific? Do I understand what it is expressed in? "," How will I understand if I have reached the goal? How will I measure the result? "," Is the goal adequate? Will I really be able to achieve it within the specified time frame? ”,“ Do I really need to achieve this goal? ”,“ When do I want to get a result? (year, month, day).
Be sure to plan various developmental activities (they will be described in detail later in the book): trainings and master classes, development in the workplace (or on projects), self-development and reading literature, mentworking: learning from others, and others.
Understand clearly what needs to be done and when: set a precise framework for completing all the tasks that you will perform, all the development activities that you will attend.
Select points of intermediate control in order to regularly (at least once every 3-4 weeks) monitor the results and (if necessary) adjust your IPR.
Keep your plan always in the nearest access so that you can refer to it at least once a week.
Build the process of mastering new skills so that you have the opportunity to work out each of them. Do not move on to the next element until the previous one is not mastered enough. Only one element of a complex skill or behavior can be learned at a time.

Skills development methods

Moscow was not built in a day. As well as your results for the skills you want to learn. Below I have described how to use development methods effectively. Trainings and seminars - mastering models of successful behavior in the process of various kinds of training events.

Self-study- independent study of information about models of successful behavior. This includes reading literature, and independent study of various materials (articles, blogs, training manuals), listening to webinars.

Feedback search- receiving feedback from colleagues, managers, mentors and experts from the open market about the success of their behavior in terms of a particular skill.

Learning from the experience of others and mentworking- identification of models of successful behavior in the work of a person with a high level of development of this competence and work with a mentor.

Special assignments (background trainings)- independent exercises that develop certain competencies, cultivate selected personal qualities in you, or, conversely, utilize bad habits.

Development in the process of work- search and development of more effective models of behavior when solving problems that are part of your professional functionality.

Be sure to strike a balance: you need to develop professional knowledge and skills, but do not forget that most of the success in the market depends on who you are, and not only on how well you know something or are able in the professional field. There are people - excellent professionals and masters of their craft, but either no one knows about this, or no one wants to admit it.
Select specific skills (a list of the four categories above) that you need to develop in the near future (one month - three months).
In order to do this effectively, be sure to assess your level of possession of this or that skill (just be honest with yourself) before you say exactly something from the series: "This is what I need!"
Reinforce a maximum of 2-3 skills and clearly understand what results you want to achieve.
For each skill, choose not one, but at least 2-3 development tools. Always combine ways of developing skills: collect feedback, take on new challenges and step out of your comfort zone, read books. Combining skills will allow you to achieve results faster and better.
If you notice that developmental actions are not having the desired effect, you analyze why this is happening and make the necessary changes either to the plan or to your way of implementing it.
You are not canceling developmental activities completely. If their implementation is impossible, you replace them with equivalent ones.
If you have no idea about a skill, but somehow understood that it is exactly what you need, then first find out in as much detail as possible (books, trainings and master classes, articles, blogs) about what exactly it is and is expressed. After that, start using other methods of its development.

Use this method:
- if you need basic knowledge and skills that you will further develop and use in life and work;
- if you understand the need to streamline the knowledge that you already possess.
Trainers and experts do not always provide new information, but often you can significantly increase the level of awareness of what and how you are doing, and, therefore, you can learn to predict the results of using a particular tool.
If you want to get new expert information for yourself on a skill you are interested in, be sure to check with the organizers and the trainer (expert) before the training if it will say what you need to know and what level of participants the lesson is designed for. Very often, a situation may arise when you come to a training for beginners (already having some kind of expertise on the topic) and in this case you do not get much benefit for yourself, and many are trying to show their dissatisfaction or extreme outrage at what is happening. By the way, in such a situation, if you find yourself in it, I recommend spending time with benefit and pleasure: share your experience with other participants, gain reference, trust and get new contacts.
In the case opposite to the previous point - when we got to an event with strong and already experienced participants - I recommend getting involved in the process as much as possible, not being shy, remembering that training is needed in order to make mistakes and learn new things. You must focus and include maximum curiosity and interest in what you do not understand.
When attending trainings and workshops, set specific learning goals during and before the program. Be sure to answer the questions: "What do you want to start doing better after the training?", "What do you want to know and what do you want to practice?"
Do not expect the training to develop a skill. You can learn, organize, or practice and gain skill. You will acquire a skill only when you put into practice what was said at the training.
Take an active position: the trainer's task is to help in the course of mastering the skill, to correct what is not immediately possible, but not to form the skill for you.
Observe a learning culture: Don't shout to the whole audience that you are the smartest. At each training and master class there is an opportunity to learn new things, learn new things, structure the old, and update the portfolio of knowledge. Find benefits for yourself.
Try new actions in various practical situations outside of training. Ask the trainer questions if something did not work out for you in your work practice. When the training is over, it will be harder to ask.
When attending trainings, remember that the work is carried out in artificial situations, specially selected for training. The problems that arise in real life are much more complex and versatile. However, try to simulate your behavior from real life and work during the training.
All the techniques learned at the training are not worth a penny without further practicing in real life.
Immediately after the training or master class, write down 2-3 points that you will apply in life from the moment you leave the hall.

Mentworking and learning from others

Always find people from whom you can learn something new or learn about something new. You may be quite competent in any subject, but remember that there is always something to learn. In Russia, people believe that education ends at the university and with age, a person's mind becomes more and more conservative and ossified, if he does not leave his comfort zone and does not seek to learn new things.
Find two types of mentors - mentors: who know that they are your mentors and who do not even know about it. Those who know: communicate with them periodically, ask difficult and interesting questions (you can check the simpler ones with colleagues and friends-experts in one direction or another). For those who do not know that they are your mentors: watch them, adopt their patterns of behavior, study their history, their ups and downs, their successes and mistakes, cases, improve your skills based on how they use theirs.
You can find mentors at professional events (among speakers and visitors of conferences, forums, round tables, trainings, master classes, workshops).
Be sure to study the success story of the chosen mentor: where he came from and what he came to.
There are different mentors: it may be a 60-year-old businessman from the United States, or it may be a 28-year-old entrepreneur who has achieved certain success where you are now developing. Don't hesitate to learn from young experts.
Don't expect the mentor to do the work for you.
If you need something, ask for it. If you need feedback, ask for it. If you need coaching, ask for it. If you need advice or guidance, tell me about it. Don't be offended if you've done a job or exercise and haven't received any feedback. Your development is your responsibility.
When observing an authority, try to observe what you like what and how he does: how he speaks, with what speed, in what tone, how he thinks. Try to understand why this is, and not in another way.
Quite a large part of everything I have learned - I learned by observing someone and copying certain elements of their behavior. Trust me - it helps.
Interact and collaborate as often as possible with more competent colleagues and partners who have the qualities and skills that you seek to develop.
Consult with them in the course of the selected type of work, request specific recommendations.
Contact them with specific requests that match your development goals. Ask to tell how they do a specific job - with examples; what are their little practical secrets of success, know-how; where and how they learned to do it, which helped them learn.
Ask experts for advice on how to acquire the necessary skills.
Observe their work, for specific actions that they carry out in typical and critical situations. Write down valuable ideas and practical moves.
Identify, capture and try out the practical subtleties and techniques of work - in particular, those that are most effective for you.
You will be surprised, but: understand what you are more or less good at, and find yourself a ward. The most effective way to learn something is to start teaching others.

The parable of the bird and the sage

Once a sage bought a bird at the bazaar. Anticipating a delicious lunch, he headed home. Suddenly the bird spoke.

Don't kill me, she said. In exchange for your freedom, I will give you three valuable pieces of advice. After thinking, the old man agreed.

First tip: never believe what you think is bullshit. Second: soberly assess your strengths and never get down to business in which you have little chance of succeeding. And finally, the third piece of advice: never regret the good you have done.

Having heard the bird, the sage dismissed it. But, flying up the tree, she shouted:

You are a fool! Yesterday I swallowed a diamond, and if it were not for your gullibility, you would have got it, and you would have become rich!

Angry, the old man climbed a tree, but, unable to resist, fell and fell. The bird flew up to him.

You listened to my advice and seemed to even understand them, but when it came to the point, you acted in a completely different way. Well, tell me, why should I swallow a diamond? And did you not understand that at such a respectable age you cannot climb a tree? And you forgot about generosity as soon as greed began to speak in you. With these words, she flew away, leaving the sage lying on the ground.

Conclusion: many make this mistake every now and then. They consult with trusted experts to make the right choice, but in the end they listen to overly optimistic people with rich imaginations. Unreasonable optimism awakens greed, and this is too strong a feeling.

Self-development

Read literature on your chosen topic. Write down the most important ideas, especially those that relate to the development goal and the specifics of the work. Adjust your own development program based on them.
Try to master the basic skills of speed reading: this is a very useful tool that helps you read and perceive more literature in a short period of time.
Analyze your own life and professional experience in writing, relevant to the goal, highlighting trends and individual useful moves.
Consider similar and / or comparable situations that ended in success or, on the contrary, failure, specifically highlighting actions that led to success, actions that hindered its achievement.
Refuse to perform actions that lead to failure.
Apply new approaches, methods, ideas that you learned about in non-work situations for training.
There are a large number of different resources that allow you to get almost free access to all relevant business literature, for example, the bookmate application. Knowledge as such is discounted, with an endless number of webinars, online courses, and literature to be found on virtually every topic.
After reading each article or book useful in your opinion, be sure to either compile a mine map, or record the main useful conclusions and thoughts that you can immediately apply in practice.

Using feedback

Feedback (hereinafter referred to as OS) can be called a person's reaction to your actions or inaction. Recently, many have been waiting from others and requesting feedback, at the same time, referring to it or in the format "Wow, we must immediately implement it!" or “What are you talking about? Come with your feedback, I myself know how best. " As you understand, neither the first nor the second option will help you effectively implement the information received, or, conversely, refuse to implement it. Here's an important rule of thumb: Whether you accept or reject feedback is your responsibility. You can listen, or you can just say to the person "Thank you!" and put the information in the “bottom box”. Remember: any feedback is very subjective and the person giving it gives it through the prism of his experience and his picture of the world. It is clear that your worldview may differ.

Get feedback regularly.
Most importantly, collect both positive and negative feedback ("vector of development"). You become stronger by strengthening your strengths, not your weaknesses. If you only ask for negative feedback, but forget about what you get, then you are losing a huge opportunity to continue to do it consciously, and to strengthen your capabilities and potential. Still, ask to mark the areas that need further development.
Seek feedback from people who do a good job or really have the skill you are developing.
Make the most of the feedback from your mentor, but remember to get it from other professionals as well.
Agree with an expert prior to initiating an action / observation on what exactly you want to get feedback so that you can record the elements of behavior as the work progresses. For example, ask a coach or colleague before your performance to follow how you work with the audience on stage so that he can then give you feedback on this specific request.
Receive feedback on actions from different angles and points of view (from people performing different roles: subordinates, colleagues, management, clients; from people of different types: more or less critical, more or less similar to you, etc.) ...
Thank you for your feedback.
Don't argue with feedback. If you disagree with her, just say "Thank you, I heard and understood you." Remember that feedback is subjective and there is no room for self-justification in front of the person giving the OS.
If you do not really understand what the person who gives you the OS means, then ask him a few clarifying questions. For example, he says that you are too self-confident (or, on the contrary, insecure) behave. Ask him to give an example of situations where you showed (or did not) this quality. You can ask how exactly what he is talking about manifested itself in. In general, try to get OS according to your actions, and not abstractly according to your personality.
Consider the feedback you received, draw conclusions, and use them when completing the task next time. For example, you can record feedback on your public speaking and repeat it half an hour before your next speech.

Develop in the process of completing new tasks

Work in the "zone of proximal development": take part in projects that are by definition more difficult than those tasks for which you lack the competence.
Choose short-term projects as developing projects (no more than a year, and preferably up to 3 months).
Look for projects where the very qualities that you are trying to develop are critical for their successful implementation.
Reflect on developmental experiences in applying knowledge and skills that need to be further improved.
Do not be afraid of unexpected, atypical situations: they are the source of the most valuable developmental experience.
Do not use this development method on projects that are of high business value. In these cases, the cost of the error will be too high.
At the same time, the development project must be necessary and useful to the company, otherwise you will not have the motivation to spend time on it, seriously make efforts and overcome yourself.
Over time, and taking into account your capabilities, expand the range of tasks you solve.
Apply in the workplace new methods and ideas for you, obtained during training, self-study, feedback, learning from the experience of others and during participation in development projects. Do this regularly.
Try each new idea at least three times - this will allow you not to abandon a useful idea ahead of time.
Choose the safest situations to practice new techniques.
Think about what works and why, and what does not quite. Consider the conclusions made in the following attempts.
Try to find yourself a mentor within the company in the person of a leader or corporate coach - they will help organize the work if necessary, or provide solutions to problems that you would have received by spending more time.

Background jobs

There is also a great tool: background tasks. For a day or two or three you take on some duty to comply with a specific rule. For example, you want to form the image of a self-confident person: walk for two or three days with a high chin and a straight back. You get used, so to speak, in the role of a confident person. Or you found out that often during negotiations or ordinary communication with friends you start your conversation with the word "No", and this interferes with achieving goals in communication. Within two or three days, you start answering any person's question with the word “Yes,” even if you further express the opposite position to your interlocutor. And so on.

That is, your task is to find something that you want to develop in yourself (or what you want to get rid of), and for several days concentrate exclusively on this.

And here's an important point: if you broke the rule, then pay the person an amount (10-50-100 rubles - it doesn't matter). If you promised yourself not to say the word “No” all day, then pay 50 rubles to the one who was told “no” for each violation. If you promised yourself to walk all day with only a straight back, but broke your promise - 50 rubles. They promised themselves to formulate thoughts in a maximum of one or two sentences, and as a result, speak for half an hour - 50 rubles. Etc. I unlearned even the most bad habits within 3-4 days of doing a background job. It was rather unpleasant for me to lay out wasted money. Although it is better to take it as an investment.

What is important if you decide to work with this tool:

Be honest with yourself. If you woke up in the morning and made a commitment, be sure to keep it. Don't feel sorry for yourself or procrastinate and put it off.
Take background tasks when you have the time and opportunity to complete them. If you have very important negotiations scheduled for today, then you can cancel the task for a while, but then resume it again.
You can think of a background task yourself. How to do it? You take the quality that you want to get rid of or that you want to acquire. Then you think that you can stop doing (or, on the contrary, start) from the next morning until the moment you go to bed. How can you keep this rule, and what will you sacrifice when you break it?
When you realize that the task has become easy, complicate it. For example, if for several days you can start an argument with a person with consent, and then bend your line, then learn to follow your gestures and facial expressions: nod only positively, not negatively.
Find yourself someone who can help you follow the rules you have set in front of you. This could be a friend of yours, a good friend, or a colleague.

Every day we are faced with different tasks and problems that need to be addressed. Every day, month, quarter, year. Sometimes we seek help from people who either help us solve a problem with advice and recommendations, or people who help us solve a problem simply by asking in surveys (they know how to do this) and you yourself find solutions. The first are, rather, consultants. The second are coaches. Surely you came across a situation when you communicated with a person, spoke out about your problems, but while narrating this whole flow of information was structured and you suddenly (maybe with a couple of questions from the interlocutor) found a solution to the problem and as a result a feeling of lightness came: hurray, I came up with and figured out how to solve the problem. It was so?

You can be your own coaches. Self-coaching skill helps to competently ask yourself questions and solve problems yourself faster and more efficiently. This also applies to difficulties in business, and in a career, and in everyday life. This also applies to everyday questions and problems that have tormented for years. Sometimes 30 minutes of analysis is enough to solve a problem. In addition, unlike consulting, where the responsibility for the decision lies with the advisor, in coaching you take responsibility for the decision on yourself. Therefore, further, if you cannot solve the problem, then you will get a little angry, because you will not be able to shift the responsibility to others, to me, to the family, to the boss, to a partner or competitor.

And one more very interesting fact: you always already have a solution to any problem. If you know and remember this, then you simply have to find this solution in yourself.

Here are some questions to help you turn on your head:

What is the problem?
Why do I think this is a problem?
Why is this question important to me? What do I get by solving it?
How do I want it to be? How do I see the ideal result for myself?
What will the solution of this task / problem give me in the future?
How do I see the result of my actions or goals?
What can I do to achieve the goal?
Who or what can help me achieve my goal?
What have I not tried to achieve the goal yet?
How can I enhance my results?
What are the risks and what can I do about them? How can I get the most effective result?
What will I do tomorrow or today to achieve results?
Do I understand that it is my responsibility to implement these steps?

Ideally, of course, for the first time, you need a coach to help you. Even coaches have their own coaches - it helps a lot. The coach motivates and helps to find a solution. Find yourself a coach, meet with him once a week or three times a month: he will help you answer questions, plan further work on yourself or a project, direct your thinking in the right direction, help structure the available information in your head, and will support and sincerely believe in your success!

Examples of skills

In this part of the book, I will give examples of ideally developed soft-skills competencies so that you can evaluate yourself and understand which ones you need to develop and what to focus on. I will present to you the competencies that we are considering, study and practice in detail on the Open soft-skills program for career & business program, and I will give you a few examples of how they are manifested specifically. If you are asked to rate the sales or task-setting skill of an employee, then you will probably need time to think about what criteria you will use to evaluate the effectiveness and development of the skill. In the professional community, these manifestations of skill are called "behavioral indicators". How can you use this? Check out the skills of interest and rate your proficiency in them on a five-point scale.

I can help you a little: it's important not to overestimate or underestimate yourself. Try to answer yourself as honestly as possible - at what level do you have this or that competence. Then you can use this to most effectively draw up your individual development plan, which was mentioned above.

Basic communication

What is the meaning of the skill: you effectively provide a two-way exchange of information in your own interests and the interests of the interlocutor.

You always understand the purpose of each communication (both yours and the interlocutor)
Be attentive and interested in the interlocutor
You structure the information provided from general to specific, from problem to solution
Rely in communication on your interests and the interests of the interlocutor
Regulate your non-verbal manifestations during communication, understand the non-verbal feedback of the interlocutor and change the communication strategy depending on the information received
Adapt your communication style to the level of the interlocutor
During communication, maintain eye contact with the interlocutor
Interested in the interlocutors and involve them in the discussion of the proposed topic
Build a conversation according to the principle of dialogue: ask questions, listen to the interlocutor, comment.
Use active listening techniques effectively
Clearly and to the point formulate the answers to the questions of the interlocutors