When private equity titan Blackstone brought in a CEO to lead a newly acquired real estate company, hiring executives thought they had found the perfect leader with impressive credentials, technical expertise, and years of experience. Two years later, that leader was gone.
The experience was an aha! moment for Blackstone’s head of talent, Courtney della Cava. In the past, private equity firms hired for hard skills that are easily quantifiable on a person’s resume. However, relying solely on a job candidate’s past success “set us back,” she says.
“The hard truth is, there’s nothing soft about soft skills,” says della Cava. “We’re realizing that success and failure hinge primarily on these skills.”
Communication skills give you an edge.
While the term “soft skills” covers everything from creativity to problem-solving, executives surveyed for LinkedIn identified one skill that matters most: communication. According to the survey, “People-to-people collaboration is going to come into the center for company growth. For leaders, you’ve got to start with communicating clearly, compassionately, and empathetically with your teams.”
An Inc.com Featured Presentation
As a founder or business owner juggling multiple roles, including head of talent and CEO, modeling effective communication throughout your organization starts with you. Yes, invest in AI platforms and tools that make you faster, more flexible, and more efficient. Just remember, in the AI age, your ability to persuade, communicate, and connect is your ultimate competitive advantage.
The founders’ communication advantage
It’s no coincidence that each of the visionary founders I’ve written books about—Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs among them—shared a similar superpower. They could distill complex ideas into language that inspired investors, attracted customers, and motivated teams.
For example, when Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1997 to save the company he founded, he faced a brutal reality. Apple was on the brink of bankruptcy. Jobs kept the team focused on the future, such as streamlining the number of products they offered. Equally as important, Jobs changed the way the company talked about those products.
“Speeds and feeds” were out, Jobs announced. Customers don’t care about specs. They want to know what the product can do for them.
While Jobs simplified language, Jeff Bezos unveiled creative analogies to frame his company in people’s minds. When I was writing The Bezos Blueprint, I learned that Bezos didn’t start with a name, but with an idea. He searched for an analogy, a comparison: Earth’s biggest river—the Amazon—Earth’s biggest bookstore. It didn’t hurt that Amazon started with an A and would appear on the first pages of phonebooks. Bezos didn’t have ChatGPT in 1994, but if he did, it’s unlikely that it would have suggested Amazon as the name for Bezos’s idea. AI tools look at what’s been done, not at what’s new and novel.
Few founders are adept at using simple language and creating novel comparisons to make their ideas or products stand out. If you do it well and sharpen those skills, you’ll get attention and a competitive advantage in a world drowning in digital noise and confusion.
AI can’t inspire investors to write a check, entice top talent to join your team, or persuade your customers to buy your product or service. Yes, AI can make you more efficient, but it’ll do the same for your competitors. A founder who makes people believe will always have an advantage.
The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Pour through higher-ed or seminar business texts relating to the qualities of an effective leader, and phrases like “analytical prowess,” “restless inventiveness” and “strength of will” tend to creep center stage. In my experience, however, placing too much emphasis on these (to be sure, often admirable) qualities is in error. I’ve found that empathy, compassion and care make a much more significant impact on a company’s success — that practicing such “soft skills” when running my own businesses has allowed me to reach the level of success I occupy today.
Such skills are broadly defined as ways of relating and collaborating with others, and effective communication and complex task completion relies on their deft application, so practicing them routinely in the workplace is invaluable. According to a study by LinkedIn, “92% of talent professionals say they matter as much or more than hard skills when they hire, and 80% say they’re increasingly important to company success.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Not everyone is cut out to be a leader, but an acute understanding of communication, problem-solving and open-mindedness increases any professional’s value. And these capabilities go beyond the workplace, affecting every aspect of life.
This term is defined as the ability to practice awareness of other people’s emotions and attempt to understand their experiences and perspectives. It requires a certain level of maturity but makes a profound difference in a staff’s willingness to engage — fosters a sense of purpose and trust.
Over the course of my travels around the world, I have both seen and experienced suffering and choosing not to overlook circumstances different from my own —attempting to put myself in someone else’s shoes — has taught me a deep sense of humility. It has also inspired me to start many of the businesses I own today, which would not exist without the ability to see beyond my own limits.
To embrace empathy, listening is vital, as is not prioritizing your own tasks more than employees’ work. So, commit to making those around you feel heard. (Therapy and business coaching can be great assists in that effort.) Empathy is a skill that must be practiced!
The desire to take action to help others, compassion differs from empathy in that it’s not just an awareness of others’ perspectives, but an inclination to be of service to them. It is the application of empathy.
One way I practice it is by allowing employees to bring pets and kids into the workplace — to empathize with situations out of their control (like a babysitter canceling at the last minute). By opening up the workspace to what some might consider the “untraditional,” the goal is to assist to the best of my ability.
Practicing compassion builds a more inclusive company culture, one that promotes a stronger work ethic by celebrating diversity, and reflecting on your own experiences of hardship and adversity is key. Take the time to evaluate how other people’s compassion towards you made a positive impact, and assess how you can do the same for staff members.
Put simply, this is the ability to approach change with openness and understanding. When I consider the word, it’s often in the context of developing new health and wellness products, and I assume things won’t always go according to plan. I have to try many different takes/recipes to get the right balance, which is also true in many other facets of business, such as hiring and workflow. By entering a venture with a deliberate focus on sensitivity to change and willingness to pivot, achievement becomes markedly more likely.
Effective adaptation requires patience and calmness, and I’ve found that meditation is profoundly helpful in fostering a positive mindset, but just as important is your perspective on work. Remember that no matter what, you have it good — you are fortunate and have skills to apply. If you truly believe and hold on to that notion, there’s no challenge that can’t be overcome.
4. Integrity
This is one of the most critical soft skills to practice when running a business. It’s an untampered dedication to acting on morals and values and requires honesty, fairness and a great deal of introspection. As CEO, you might be placed on a pedestal, so the importance of uncompromised integrity is huge: you must accept your mistakes and look failure in the eye without cheating your values. It’s been my experience that knowledge gained from failure far outweighs easy success at the expense of morals.
That said, I know the temptation involved when a person is cornered in a position that seems unforgiving, with a staff relying on the company’s success to make a living. That can be daunting. But there is always a choice—a chance to not compromise for monetary gain. At the end of the day, you can forgive yourself for a failure but never for intentional wrongdoing. You’ll need a strong sense of purpose because your ethics will be frequently tested.
Don’t assume soft skills will come easily; they get cultivated over time. Anyone can get a degree, but not everyone can effectively practice empathy, compassion, adaptability and integrity, but they are indispensable to running a business and living a happy and healthy life.
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If you’re like many other people, you probably make a resolution or two at the beginning of each year to try to improve yourself in some way–get a promotion, start a family, get in shape–things of that nature. And if you’re like many other people, that resolution probably becomes history by January 15th.
However, this common focus on self-improvement derives from our desire to be in the driver’s seat of our own lives and be successful in all of our endeavors.
And it’s true that focusing on continuous personal development will greatly improve your chances of being successful in every area of your life, however, simply having any type of goal will not do you any favors unless you follow through by acting on it.
Having clearly defined personal development goals (as opposed to only having resolutions) is a great way to start improving your performance in any area of your life, yet the benefit that you derive from it depends on the effort you put forth in achieving it.
I know that once I stopped making vague intentions (lose weight, save money, spend more time with the family), and started to make specific and actionable personal goals, not only did I start achieving my goals and noticing improvements in my life, I also realized the importance of tracking my progress and measuring my success to keep myself motivated to consistently better my life.
In this post, I am going to give you 36 examples of personal development goals both for your career and personal life that will help you cultivate widespread success.
If you’d like a few resources that can teach you all the skills on this page, then I recommend checking out these platforms to learn any skill.
Let’s get started.
What are Personal Development Goals?
Personal development goals are those that are made in an effort to improve your outcomes and overall experience in life.
A personal goal can be any milestone related to improving yourself through skill acquisition, character building experiences, interacting with other people, improving your perception of yourself and your abilities, or how you envision the possibilities for your future.
The purpose of having personal development goals is to continuously create a better life for yourself.
These life goals impact you in both tangible and intangible ways. While some personal development goals may relate to improving your ability to be patient with other people, others may have to do with advancing your education in some way.
Some of your personal development goals may clearly fall into a “personal” or “professional” category, however, many can easily overlap into both categories because ultimately, who you innately are as a person remains the same whether you’re at work or at home.
Having positive professional relationships can lay the foundation for your ultimate success. Because each person’s role in your organization either directly or indirectly affects your performance, it’s important for you to nourish these working relationships so you can work in harmony with others.
To improve your professional relationships, help other members of the team whenever you can, and engage in open and honest communication with your colleagues. (And if you’re not an effective communicator, these 11 strategies can help improve your communication skills.)
Doing so will help you build trust and strengthen your relationship with the people at work, which will make your professional life much more enjoyable.
While it is also important to develop positive relationships with people in your field who work with different organizations (which we will address later), don’t neglect those who are on your own turf.
How to Achieve This Goal
To build and improve your professional relationships, you will need to practice good workplace habits. Not only will this help you develop better relationships with your colleagues, it will also help increase your level of work satisfaction. Be sure to welcome diversity, both in cultures and ideas, by listening to what others have to say in your workplace.
Factor various insights into your decision-making processes and recognize that you can learn something from everyone. If the people you work with can see that you value them and what they bring to the table, you will be more likely to have a good relationship with them.
2. Improve Your Time Management Skills
Throughout your professional career, you’ll face deadlines and competing tasks that fight for your attention every day. As your workload increases, it may seem impossible to be able to get everything accomplished.
In these instances, your ability to manage your time will be tested. Having effective time management skills will help increase your productivity and efficiency, decrease your stress, and allow you to have more time to dedicate to other endeavors.
Make sure that you’re keeping track of how you spend your time if you feel like time management is an issue for you (this app can help you do this).
Schedule a specific amount of time for every item on your to-do list and don’t allow interruptions during these times. This will help you be more efficient, and once you get the hang of working this way, it will become second nature.
Now, if you’d like to discover additional resources related to time management and productivity, then I recommend checking out the other articles we’ve published on this site:
How to Achieve This Goal
We’ve provided you with the tools you need to improve your time management, but having these tools without having the skills to properly use them doesn’t quite cut it.
Think of it like this: you could have the highest quality set of knives and most innovative oven on the market, but if you don’t know how to cook, those tools won’t automatically make you a master chef.
So what underlying skills do you need in order to effectively manage your time? Research shows that there are three skills in particular that will make your time management efforts successful, including:
Being aware that time is a limited resource and being realistic with how long it takes to accomplish a task
Having the ability to organize your daily tasks, schedule, and goals in a sensical way
Being able to monitor the use of your time on an ongoing basis and adapt to changing priorities as needed
With this in mind, take these steps to improve upon these three skills:
Time yourself at work for every task you do for about a week. Keeping track of how you spend your time can be a huge eye-opener.
Put your most important tasks at the beginning of your daily schedule and fill in the rest like Tetris. If you have a really short break somewhere, throw that 5 minute task right there into your schedule.
Have a backup plan in case your day gets a little jumbled… which it often will.
3. Improve Your Emotional Intelligence
When emotional intelligence (EQ) first hit people’s radars, it was the answer to a puzzling question: How do people with mid-range IQs outperform those with the highest IQs almost three-quarters of the time?
People originally thought that one’s IQ was a direct indicator of their success. However, decades of research uncovered that a high EQ is an element that brings star performers to the top.
This means that your EQ has a huge impact on your professional success. When you have a high EQ, you are better equipped to understand your own feelings and the feelings of others, which helps you relate to people.
Not only does this improve your communication skills, but it also gives you the social competence that’s needed to understand other people’s emotions, behaviors, and motives so you can respond appropriately and successfully manage your personal interactions.
One interesting thing about people with a high EQ is that they have a large emotional vocabulary. While everyone experiences emotions, very few can accurately identify them as they happen, which becomes a problem because unidentified emotions are easily misinterpreted, leading to irrational decisions and ineffective actions.
However, those who have high EQs can understand their emotions, and they have a large vocabulary of “feeling words” to do this. So, while others may say they feel bad, a person with a high EQ would be able to identify if they’re frustrated, hurt, overwhelmed, etc.
The more clearly you can define your emotion, the more insight you have into what caused your feelings and how you can address them.
4. Define Your Own Success
You don’t have to abide by everyone else’s definition of success. You can define what being successful and happy mean to you, which will help you clarify what you need to do to achieve it.
In doing this, you have to make it a point to not compare yourself to other people. The things that you see other people have don’t define or impact your success. You’re the only one who can decide if you have achieved your goals thus far.
Finding new challenges in your current position will help keep your job interesting and fulfilling.
This personal development goal shows your ambition and can be especially helpful for your organization if they’re frequently coming up with new ideas that are never acted on or no one supervises to ensure any type of follow-through.
Finding new challenges will help keep your job interesting and fulfilling. This personal development goal shows your ambition.
Finding new challenges could be as easy as revising that employee handbook that hasn’t been touched since 2005, or as complex as proposing and creating a prototype for a new product.
Finding new challenges for yourself will also help you show your leadership abilities and could lead to further progress within your organization.
The first thing you need to do to find new challenges is to take the initiative to talk to your boss about your current responsibilities.
Inquire about other projects you can get involved with and try to provide a fresh perspective on issues as they arise. Doing so could lead to job advancement in the future, which will certainly offer new challenges.
Secondly, find new challenges by focusing on yourself rather than constantly trying to impress your employer. If you are always in the mindset that you’re working for someone else, you may become bored and lazy with your work.
Remember that your work reflects on you, not just your employer, and when you think of your work as being for yourself, you’re more likely to challenge yourself to continuously improve.
6. Don’t Be Passive
Passive behavior occurs when you put other people’s preferences or needs ahead of your own. While sometimes this is necessary to build relationships, it can become a problem if you are consistently passive in a way that allows it to become a barrier to your success.
If you like to avoid conflict, you probably tend to be passive. If you simply allow things to happen without standing up for yourself or offering a logical argument in return, others will see this and start taking advantage of your willingness to please.
In doing so, you may accept an offer that would be unacceptable by other people’s standards, which could negatively impact your performance and even your organization.
While being passive in the short-term may make you feel good because you are getting other people’s approval, it is damaging in the long-run because it will require you to make larger sacrifices to maintain these relationships.
How to Achieve This Goal
If you want to take a more active approach in your career, start by writing your career goal statement. This will give you a clearer vision of the professional life you want and how to achieve it.
Also, you can avoid being passive by communicating directly with people (don’t be shy!) and being genuine when you’re talking about how you feel about things. You can certainly be assertive without being aggressive by being clear and straightforward with people.
7. Develop a Growth Mindset
People who have a growth mindset believe that they can continue to develop their talents throughout life.
These people are often able to achieve more than those with a fixed mindset, who believe that they were born with their abilities already set into place and therefore don’t invest time or energy into learning new skills.
People with a growth mindset are continuously aiming to better themselves, and are therefore able to break away from complacency and achieve their goals.
Watch the video below for a quick overview of growth mindset, how it can help you and the 11 actionable strategies you can use to develop it.
In a professional environment, people who have a growth mindset often share information, collaborate well with others, look for feedback, strive for innovation, and are able to admit their mistakes.
On the other hand, those with a fixed mindset are less likely to take risks for fear of failure or embarrassment. They don’t look forward to the potential learning opportunities from trying new things because they think they were born with the maximum amount of talent they will ever have.
Those with a fixed mindset can develop a growth mindset by embracing imperfection and altering their viewpoint on challenges. This is advantageous in the workplace because it offers a greater opportunity to become successful.
8. Grow Your Network
People do business with others whom they know and trust. And the truth is, “companies” don’t make business decisions, people do. Having a strong professional network can help you advance in your career in ways that you would not be able to do alone.
Not only can networking lead to connections with people who can help you enhance your expertise and knowledge, it can also help you stay on top of potential opportunities for advancement in your career.
However, once you do it a few times, not only will you get used to it, but you will start running into the same people multiple times at networking events, which will help you strengthen your network as it grows.
Actively look up networking events in your area and GO. Even if you have to bring a co-worker so there is someone there you know, GO.
You can also grow your network through social media, however, having that personal face-to-face time is invaluable when you’re trying to learn about someone and really attempting to make a valuable connection.
Having a healthy work-life balance is an important part of living a happy life. Not only will taking sufficient breaks from work have a positive effect on your wellbeing, but it will also influence your productivity by improving your performance while you’re working.
Create boundaries between your professional and your personal lives that are strong, yet realistic.
To you, this may mean sticking to an 8-hour work-day, or it could mean leaving work at work and leaving home at home (i.e. not checking your work email while having dinner with your family).
Having a healthy work-life balance will help you maintain your professional motivation and allow you to work smarter, not harder.
10. Improve Upon Your Weaknesses
Make your biggest weakness into your biggest strengths by being aware of areas in which you can improve and focusing directly on them.
Being able to recognize your weaknesses shows self-awareness and strength in your character. But what do you tell potential employers when they ask about your weaknesses? Do you tell them the solid steps you’re taking to improve upon them?
Make your biggest weakness into your biggest strength. Being self-aware shows strength in your character.
If you can take concrete steps to turn your weaknesses around, not only will you be a role model for other professionals, you will also be engaging in self-improvement.
This is not to say that your biggest weakness has to turn into your biggest strength, but being aware of the areas in your work where you have room for improvement and trying to bridge that gap is a constructive personal development goal.
Secondly, it is important to get guidance from someone you trust. In doing so, you may be able to learn about some weaknesses that you have but may not have noticed.
And for some things? You really just need to get good enough. It’s alright if you’re never an expert at every task involved in your company–but some tasks are important enough to gain minimal competence, just so you can understand the comprehensive work of your company.
For example, let’s say you’re an internet entrepreneur…but you have very few technology skills.
You can trust your employees to take care of the technology piece, but you’ll still want to learn just enough so you can tell if they’re doing their jobs as they’re supposed to and you know if your expectations for their outcomes are realistic.
11. Pursue Ongoing Professional Development
This is another personal development goal that will keep you on top of your game at work.
Ensuring that your professional skills remain up-to-date in our rapidly changing world is critical to your long-term success. Think of your five-year plan.
Your education certainly doesn’t stop with your diploma, and staying abreast of changing trends in your industry will help you be an in-demand candidate for prospective future employers.
How to Achieve This Goal
You can engage in continuous learning on your own by seeking out opportunities for webinars and new research and things of that nature.
You can also look for senior executives at your job whose job may be your goal to obtain one day and ask if you can spend some time shadowing them to learn what they do on an everyday basis.
But if you want to be able to attend and participate in more intensive trainings, you may need to learn how to ask your boss how your company can fit that into their budget.
And to convince anyone of this you have to have a strong argument as to why or how your attendance at this conference will benefit the entire company and what kind of knowledge you can bring back from it.
So do your research first and approach your boss with a strong argument in mind as to how spending this money will benefit the company.
12. Learn How to Motivate Others
If you want to be a leader in your industry, it is important to know how to motivate your team members. Otherwise, your organization will go through periods of struggle with productivity and overall morale.
If you aren’t in a leadership position, you can still look for opportunities to bring to your leaders’ attention that address motivation if you feel that this is an obstacle in your workplace.
If you are able to enhance the motivation of your team or have a positive impact on the work ethic of the employees, you will be helping to maximize the effectiveness of your organization.
You want to set others up to be in a position where they’re ultimately motivating themselves, and sometimes this requires prompting them to do some self-reflection as to why they are doing the job that they’ve chosen and what they’re ultimately working toward.
And if they’re still not quite sure, try to get the person to create a vision for their future so they can have a more clear picture of what they want out of life.
You can teach them about making vision boards to help them think about their future or add some inspiration to their current work as they make connections to where it may be taking them for the future.
Personal Development Goals for Self-Growth
13. Enjoy Life More by Taking It Less Seriously
A lot of people fail to keep the bigger picture in mind on an everyday basis. The majority of us are fortunate to have been born healthy and into families that could provide us with our basic needs. However, many still get caught up in the small things that happen and completely forget about how well-off they are.
Think about someone you know who earns a large salary, but still gets mad at small inconveniences. Taking life less seriously will help you be happier, reduce stress, and make you a more enjoyable person for other people to be around.
If you’re able to move past the small and insignificant things that happen, you will get more enjoyment out of life. Laugh at unexpected inconveniences, laugh at yourself when you make a mistake, and laugh because it will reduce the amount of stress that you’re putting on your body.
How to Achieve This Goal
“Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” — Elbert Hubbard
There are several things you can do to take life less seriously. Practicing gratitude is a great place to start since it will help you focus on the good things in your life. This will also help you maintain a positive attitude in the face of adversity.
Align yourself to a brighter and lighter version of you by adding humor to your life, learning to be comfortable with feeling vulnerable, and spending more time enjoying life.
14. Engage in Self-Care
You can’t be an effective partner, mother, cousin, or friend to anyone if you don’t take care of yourself first. Too often, people fail to take care of their own basic needs, either because they’re too busy or they’re not making it a primary concern.
Engaging in self-care and making it a priority in your everyday life will greatly improve your life.
Learning how to engage in proper self-care and making it a priority in your everyday life will greatly improve your life and the lives of the people with whom you interact. You can’t take care of anything else in your life to the best of your ability until you take care of yourself.
15. Be Proactive
Things will go wrong in life–it’s inevitable. These negative situations can either have a large impact on your life, or they could be a bit inconvenient. This all depends on whether you’re proactive or reactive.
If you always wait to react to problems until after they have already presented themselves, it expands the associated challenges and adds additional stress to your life.
On the other hand, if you’re proactive, it will minimize the issue and give you more stability because you will be facing a challenge that you were prepared for. It’s easier to remain relatively undisturbed if you’re proactive because you’ll always feel like you’re in control of your circumstances.
How to Achieve This Goal
Being proactive is about being a good problem solver and being solution-focused. It’s about not wasting time and getting things done ahead of time by anticipating issues that may arise or being ahead of the game when it comes to an emerging trend in your industry.
Surround yourself with other people who are driven to increase your probability for success. You cannot have people around you who drag you down and expect to keep the motivation to be proactive, rather you need to associate with like-minded people who also want to stay ahead.
Doing so will also keep you abreast of new research or best practices in your field because you will be able to learn from the people you’re around, and they will be able to learn from you.
16. Practice Patience
It can be tough to be patient, especially if you tend to be short-tempered. However, this is something that can be managed with practice.
It’s beneficial to maintain your patience during times of despair because it will help you keep a calm state of mind, which will allow you to effectively problem-solve without being impacted by frustration.
Also, having continuous patience will help you make decisions that will be beneficial for you in the long term because you won’t rush yourself into making decisions that will suit your needs for instant gratification.
One way to ensure that you are practicing patience is to stop to think critically before making any decisions. Taking the time to do this will help you avoid having to re-do work, make corrections, or do something that you later regret.
How to Achieve This Goal
Here are some concrete steps you can take to become more patient. A big part of practicing how to be patient is exactly that–practicing.
I know this may sound like a unique thing to work on because it’s not really tangible–you’re not practicing how to play the piano or practicing perfecting a perfect recipe of some sort. However, practicing patience is not as passive as it sounds.
You can practice by focusing on your breathing, finding the silver lining in the extra time that you’ve been given while you’re waiting for something, and learning to battle feelings of anger and frustration that really are the negative aspect of being impatient.
Do you have negative people in your life who drain you of your energy and confidence? Or, can you think of some people who are constantly complaining or judging others in some way?
Toxic people will hold you back from achieving your goals. Because putting an end to any relationship is difficult, and you may not want to completely cut ties with a friend from childhood (for example), you can make a concerted effort to spend a minimal amount of time with them rather than completely cutting them off if you feel that would be more appropriate.
Instead, surround yourself with uplifting people who will inspire you and support you in being the best version of yourself. Spending your time with like-minded people will make it easier for you to achieve your ultimate goals in life.
How to Achieve This Goal
Don’t sit around waiting for toxic people in your life to change. Rather, establish boundaries and maintain them by being comfortable with saying “no” to them. Don’t allow yourself to be pulled into someone else’s crisis just because they’ve been in your life for a long time.
Sometimes it’s ok (and necessary) to let go of the past and old relationships and move on with your life rather than holding onto them because the person has been a friend since childhood.
People grow in different directions and while you may be able to have a mutually beneficial relationship with someone at one point in your life, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the relationship should last forever.
Keep in mind that toxic people have a tendency to keep coming back into your life if you let them, so once you decide a relationship of any kind is over, make sure to be firm with that decision.
18. Accept Your Reality
You may feel like you know yourself, but have you accepted yourself and your life? Have you settled for “less than” what you hoped? Failing to connect with reality may keep you stuck in jobs, relationships, or even living situations that are just not right for you.
You will always be a work in progress and it is perfectly acceptable for you to make mistakes, but in order to make some sort of progression in your life, it is important to accept your reality if you’re not living your dream.
Accepting your reality is one of the best things you can do for your future. Even if your current situation is awful, the first step to making positive changes is acknowledging and accepting it in its current state and then identifying the specific things you can do to improve it. Otherwise, you will remain unhappily complacent.
How to Achieve This Goal
Dealing with the bad stuff takes a lot of practice, but you have to do it in order to make it to the good things.
To accept your reality, you have to own responsibility for your mistakes and acknowledge any role you played in getting to where you are today, whether it’s good or bad. What have you done in the past to foster success? What about failure?
You don’t have to beat yourself up about your past mistakes, just look for lessons in them. And make sure to give yourself credit wherever it’s due.
Accepting your reality means accepting all of it–starting with your competencies. Focus on your positive characteristics because even if you aren’t where you want to be right now, you’re sure to have done some good things that have put you ahead of where you could be.
19. Don’t Let Your Past Define Your Future
A lot of us have a terrible past, and you may believe that your goals are out of reach due to your undesirable history. Perhaps you’re discouraged, you feel unworthy, or you may even be embarrassed by your past.
Don’t let your past be an obstacle to achieving the future that you dream of. Rather, commit to your goals and realize that change can occur at any point, and you have endless opportunities for transformation.
How to Achieve This Goal
Sure, it can be hard to let go of the past, especially if you believe it makes up such a large part of your identity. However, it can be done.
If you’re trying to deal with negative emotions from a past trauma and you want to be heard or understood, you can talk about your experiences with people, but you also have to identify how those experiences are now causing emotions that are holding you back.
Once you identify your limiting emotions, you can think about what positive motivating factors you may have to help you move past those feelings.
Then, create new, positive experiences to replace the negative things that have happened in the past so you can reinvent yourself and live a happy and fulfilling life.
20. Let Go of Your Limiting Beliefs
Holding onto limiting beliefs will delay your progression because you will be stuck inside of your comfort zone, unwilling to try new things or take any risks.
While you may have a fear of failure or you are scared you’re going to get hurt in the process of working toward your goals, these thoughts cannot mark the end of the road to your success.
Letting go of your limiting belief will help you avoid delaying your progression.
You could have limiting beliefs about a variety of things, ranging from finances to relationships to your own abilities. The key is to identify the beliefs that are holding you back, overcome them, and replace them with positive thoughts that support your path to success.
Do this by questioning your beliefs. Are you sure they’re true? Do you have any evidence or are you making an assumption? Are you thinking in “all or nothing” terms?
Being honest with yourself about your beliefs and thinking outside the box to find potential new solutions can help you realize that your beliefs probably started out as being ideas, then turned to opinions, then cemented themselves in your belief system.
It takes a lot of self-reflection and challenging your own thoughts to move past your limiting beliefs, but doing the work is worth the reward because whatever is holding you back has tangible consequences, whether it’s preventing you from pursuing the job of your dreams, keeping you in an abusive relationship, or anything in between.
21. Set Personal Boundaries
If you’re like me, you have a hard time saying no to people. You want to please those who come to you for help or who need you to do them a favor. However, it’s important to remember that you’re not an endless resource to be used by other people.
You have to know your limits so you have enough time and energy for the things that you need to accomplish. Once you know where your limits stand, set strict boundaries for others and stick to your guns.
This could mean boundaries in romantic relationships, with your family members, friends, or even in the workplace. Setting clear personal boundaries is an important part of ensuring that your relationships are mutually supportive and respectful.
If you have weak or undefined boundaries, you will be left vulnerable and others may take you for granted. However, with strong boundaries, you’re setting the limits for what’s acceptable behavior from the people with whom you associate.
How to Achieve This Goal
Learn to recognize when the boundaries that you have set are being pushed and be direct about that.
With a strong sense of self-awareness, you will notice when your boundaries are being pushed because you will feel yourself becoming resentful toward the other person.
When this happens, if you have a proper sense of self-respect, you will not feel guilty about sticking to your boundaries.
If you want to learn how to set boundaries, you can start small. For example, let your friends and extended family know that you’re turning your phone on silent every night at 8pm and won’t look at it again until 6:30 the next morning–at the earliest.
This is a good first step to learning how to set boundaries with your time. A next step to consider may be to stop checking work emails when you’re at home. Work at whatever pace of progress feels right to you.
We listen to people talk every day, so you would probably think that everyone is pretty good at it. However, this is not the case–in fact, research shows that we only remember about 25% of what we hear.
So when you’re talking to your boss, coworkers, family, and friends for, say, 20 minutes—and you’re speaking for 10 of those minutes–they will only remember 2.5 minutes of what you said. This also means that when someone is telling you something that’s important, you’re most likely going to miss parts of it.
Learning how to actively listen is a skill that pretty much everyone could benefit from. When you improve your listening skills, you can improve your productivity, your influence on others, and your negotiation and persuasion skills.
Also, part of being a great communicator is being a great listener. You give off a good impression to others when you lend them a listening ear, which helps you earn trust.
When you are actively listening, not only are you showing the speaker that you want to understand what they’re saying, you’re also offering empathy and support, which builds stronger relationships.
You don’t want to interrupt the person who is speaking, but nodding along in agreement and repeating back to them what you heard are effective ways to show the speaker that you are engaged in the conversation.
Also, maintain eye contact and ask clarifying or follow-up questions so they know that you’ve been paying attention to what they’ve been talking about. Try to have some empathy while you’re listening so you can feel what the speaker is trying to relay.
23. Learn to Let Go
Holding on to the past will prevent you from becoming the person that you want to be. But, letting go of things that have happened is much easier said than done.
In fact, I think we have all heard someone say at some point in our lives, “let it go” and, if you’re like me, it makes you even madder than you were before.
While it seems counterintuitive, Psychology Today reports that painful feelings can ultimately be comforting, especially if most of your past is painful, because these unpleasant emotions become part of your identity, making them nearly impossible to let go.
However, if you carry the negative things from your past around with you for the rest of your life, it will only act as a burden and ultimately hold you back from living a fulfilling life. Remember the lessons that you take away from your hardships, but let go of the emotional weight that you’re holding on to.
How to Achieve This Goal
A large part of letting go involves learning how to forgive. This doesn’t mean that you have to forget what someone else has done to hurt you, it simply means that you will not allow their actions to have a negative impact on your future.
Offering forgiveness is therapeutic when you’re trying to move past something, and if you share this forgiveness with the offender, it may motivate that person to seek moral growth, and improve themselves as a result of your forgiveness.
Aside from learning how to forgive, it’s important to always remember that the only thing you can control are your own actions and feelings.
Even for those who are relatively self-aware, life’s challenges can come at a surprise. But learning how to move through these painful times in a healthy way can help people bounce back more quickly–or at least start moving in a positive direction.
When you’re resilient, you are able to cope with adversity and adapt when a situation doesn’t go the way that you expected.
Having resilience is the difference between feeling powerless and being able to stand up to your problems with confidence and bravery. When you can recover quickly from a problem, you will come out on the other side a stronger person.
This personal development goal can help you in any area of your life, as it will prevent you from becoming easily overwhelmed and allow you to use your strengths to recover from challenges.
How to Achieve This Goal
Many people use journaling as a way to build resilience, as this exercise helps you explore your thoughts, stop ruminating on past experiences, and it gives your thoughts structure by organizing them on paper. This can help you gain a new perspective and a sense of control over your past.
Journaling can also help you find the silver lining in things as you have the opportunity to purposefully think of positive things that may have come out of an upsetting experience.
For example, if you got in a fight with your partner, it may have brought some significant issues to light, allowing you both to open up to each other’s points of view.
The most successful people are known for waking up early and getting a strong start to their day. Because of this, a great personal goal that could really enhance your life in all domains is to start waking up earlier than you’re used to.
Waking up earlier than is necessary gives you quiet time to focus on anything that is important to you.
If you’re aiming for waking up at 5A, watch teh video below to learn about the 7-step process for training your body and mind to wake up at that hour.
Studies have shown that people who wake up early tend to procrastinate less and get ahead of the game as opposed to their later-sleeping counterparts. So, if you want to get ahead, this is one simple change you can make that can give you a head start.
Personal Development Goals for a Performance Review
26. Improve Operation Processes
While operations processes can look quite different depending upon the industry in which you work, the underlying concept is the same for all organizations of any size.
The operation process involves turning inputs (raw materials, information, labor, money, etc.) into outputs (products, services, customer satisfaction, etc.)
Well-designed operations process goals can help teams stay informed of all necessary information, standard operating procedures, and training.
And, ultimately, when these processes are done well, they are what make an organization successful. If you’re at the helm of this, you’re on the right path toward professional success.
How to Achieve This Goal
The best way to improve operation processes is to streamline them. Look at how your organization works and identify if there are any areas where you can improve efficiency. It’s important to not stay stuck in your old ways because that’s what has “always worked” before.
Technology and businesses are constantly evolving, meaning there are new methods and tools available to streamline operations to increase workers’ productivity.
Another thing you will want to keep in mind to improve business operations is to fix small problems before they become big ones. Some seemingly insignificant glitches in your system can turn into a setback that can end up wasting a lot of time and being expensive to fix.
So, make an effort to reduce any issue that you can identify within your organization. One way of doing this would be to create a new protocol guide for your team and then review its impact on a regular basis, tweaking the processes as needed.
Goals related to clients’ service experiences with your organization involve greater engagement and client satisfaction.
These types of goals may involve elements such as creating more self-service online features on the organization’s website, reducing phone hold times, or improving the timeliness of client follow up.
This type of goal will be highly individualized based on your industry, but whether you are dealing with retail clients in a small business setting or your clients come in the form of the kindergarten students that you teach, you can always find a way to improve others’ experience when they’re on the receiving end of your organization’s services.
But, in addition to this, it’s important to make sure that the employees are able to show that they truly care about their work and stand behind the company especially when they’re interacting with those receiving your services or buying your products.
To do this, you need to ensure employees have a sense of intrinsic motivation to do their job. When employees are intrinsically motivated to do their job, they will:
Respect and enjoy the process of the work rather than simply receiving a paycheck
You don’t have to be in a leadership position to boost employee morale.When employees have a positive attitude about their environment at work and believe they can be successful in their job, employee morale naturally increases.
When working among other people, you can have an impact on the working environment and encourage a positive morale. For example, you can:
Praise your fellow co-workers for their hard work or success
Do something as simple as keeping your office door open or putting a bowl of candy on your desk to make fellow employees feel welcomed when approaching you
The culture of an organization cannot be changed by just one person, however, without at least one person making an effort to improve employee morale, no changes will ever occur. Do your part in creating positive general norms in your workplace.
How to Achieve This Goal
The most effective way to improve employee morale is to demonstrate it yourself. Your own positive attitude about your work will be contagious to everyone around you. Go out of your way to point positive aspects of your job out to other people– no matter how small they are.
For example, if the company buys a new Keurig for the breakroom, make the effort to point that out to someone in passing. Add as much positivity to your workplace as you can to negate any negative attitudes that tend to hang around there.
This video offers some more great ideas on how to improve employee morale.
29. Offer Solutions to Problems
Pointing out problems that are occurring within your organization time and time again gets exhausting for those who have to listen to you.
Instead, be proactive about coming up with solutions to challenges that arise before complaining about the problem in the first place.
For example, let’s say that you’re finding frequent mistakes in your coworkers’ reports and you’re having to spend time going back and fixing them.
If your method of attempting to deal with this problem involves complaining directly to your boss about your coworkers’ mistakes, you’re just going to sound like you’re whining or speaking poorly about others with whom you work.
How to Achieve This Goal
There’s not much worse than sitting around wasting time talking about problems without planning on doing anything about them.
If you notice a problem at work, have an honest conversation with the offending coworkers about these mistakes, what can be done to improve their work, and what (if anything) you can do to help.
This way, when you do talk to your boss about the problem, you can report the action you’ve already taken to try to ameliorate the issue.
Don’t play the blame game, because remember, you’re a part of a team. This means that ultimately, everyone is responsible for the company’s success.
This video talks more about the importance of offering solutions rather than just problems.
30. Make Your Boss’s Job Easier
You were hired to make your boss (and their boss) successful. And the first step to making that happen is to understand exactly what is expected of you and how you should deliver on those expectations. Get to know your boss and his or her preferences so they don’t have to go back and correct your work.
This will allow your boss to have some time to go over the work on their own schedule rather than waiting until the last minute when you finally turn it in.
Some other ways to make your boss’s life easier include:
Learn how he/she operates, what they need from you, and how they want it done. Doing so will help you meet their expectations.
Know your boss’s goals so you can help ensure they’re met.
Be resourceful and respect your boss’s time. For example, if you have a question about health insurance, ask someone in HR. Save your time with your boss to talk about work-related issues that involve collaboration between the two of you–not questions that should be directed toward someone else.
Stick to your promises. Better yet– under-promise and over-deliver.
Being flexible and accepting of change is critical in today’s job market. In fact, it’s estimated that by 2030, the average person who is entering the workforce will have to learn entirely new job skills between eight and ten times before they retire.
As jobs evolve, the uncertainty regarding what skills will be needed in the future also changes, which makes it hard to be able to predict an organization’s future needs.
Because of this, it’s critical to be flexible and prepared to change paths at any moment. It’s important to be aware of the inevitable changes that are yet to come and the fact that the responsibility of keeping up with trends and new technology has shifted to workers rather than employers.
Being a lifelong learner allows for personal employability, which is important to focus on now since it will be a principal component of employment moving forward in this age of rapid automation.
Having a personal goal of continuous skill development will become increasingly important as some of the more traditional jobs become replaced by emerging technology.
How to Achieve This Goal
Being successful in the future job market will be less about current knowledge and more about your willingness and capacity to learn and evolve while your role is potentially redefined.
This is where the importance of being able to easily adapt to waves of disruption is already extremely important. Furthermore, you need to stay on top of your skillset and always be on the lookout for anything new happening in your industry.
To “level up” your skills, we recommend three resources:
Being resilient is important for a variety of reasons.
Being able to bounce back from adversity helps you develop the tools you need to protect yourself from overwhelming situations and it helps you stay balanced when times get tough.
Resiliency can also help with the prevention of mental health issues down the line.
Having resiliency and cognitive flexibility is also important for your short-term success at work. While some are born with a better ability to deal with unpredictable change than others, this skill can be learned.
And, through your learned resilience, you will be able to develop an internal toolset to help you manage stress and find ways to use your inner strength that you may not have even known you had during the times that you need it the most.
How to Achieve This Goal
Resilience can be built up with time as you make your way through difficult experiences in life.
It’s beneficial to be able to develop the ability to determine when you can draw from a difficult life event and then be able to use that experience to your advantage during future stressful times.
You can work toward the goal of becoming more resilient by increasing your self-awareness, getting exercise, and switching up your normal routines.
Getting daily exercise encourages your body to release chemicals such as dopamine, opioids, serotonin, and endorphins that not only make you feel good, but also increase your ability to learn.
Also, adding some variety to your routine promotes cognitive flexibility because doing new things makes your brain have to quickly adapt to and work with new stimuli.
This term is often used in school settings, but it also applies to your career performance. Having an understanding of your entire organization from various perspectives as well as understanding the synergy and alignment between all of the departments is becoming progressively important in businesses.
There are a few ways you can improve your transdisciplinary skills at work.
One would be to schedule coffee dates with people who work in other areas of the organization where you can talk about each of your responsibilities and how you contribute to the success of the business. Or, you could spend some time shadowing a coworker who has a different job title than you do.
Knowing more about how your company works as a whole can help you understand and appreciate how your efforts fit into that puzzle.
How to Achieve This Goal
One thing you will recognize while you’re working on this goal is the four stages of learning. There is probably a lot that goes on in your company that you’re unaware of, which also means you’re unaware that there is even so much to learn.
But once you start talking with other people and getting to know how processes work in the business, you will likely uncover a huge gap in knowledge that you would have otherwise never realized you had.
Joining informal work clubs or groups (like a sports league)
Researching about the history of your company
34. Improve Your People Management Skills
An important component to generating innovation in your workplace is being able to collaborate with your team.
Despite your assigned level of leadership within your organization, being proactive in leading by example in your willingness to be a team player and actuate progress in the people working with you is essential to the success of your team.
Therefore, being an influential employee who can manage people–even if it’s not done in an “official” manner–is a significant skill to have in today’s work environment.
Effective people management skills are necessary for both current and future leaders who want to improve efficiency and communication at work. Building the skills that are required in order to effectively manage others can help you uncover your strengths as well as find areas in which you could improve.
How to Achieve This Goal
Here are a few examples of how you can practice your people management skills, even if you aren’t their designated manager:
Have empathy for your coworkers during periods of conflict by imagining yourself in their shoes in order to assess how they may feel and consider what your behavior may look like if you were in their position
Give your colleagues positive (and constructive negative) feedback
Recognize your colleagues when they do work that’s beyond what is expected of them
Encourage an inclusive work environment by involving everyone and allowing all team members to have the time and space to share their ideas and opinions
Here is a video that explains some more ways you can improve your people management skills.
35. Stay Informed and Teach Others About Emerging Communication Channels
Having clear channels of communication and creating a culture of welcomed feedback is a critical element of having a successful organization.
Innovative apps, social media avenues, and new methods of communication are steadily surfacing in today’s workplace–and many companies have started to reduce their overhead costs by having their employees work remotely if it isn’t necessary to maintain a large office space.
The increase in physical distancing among team members on an everyday basis that was trending even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the use of new modes of communication, productivity apps, and video conference calls.
To stay ahead of the game, it’s essential to stay informed and literate with new communication tools and be a pioneer in educating your colleagues about which new technologies can increase (or decrease) the efficiency of your unique work.
Doing this will demonstrate your commitment to excellence to your employer.
How to Achieve This Goal
Here are some actionable steps you can take to keep up with emerging channels of communication in the workplace:
Do some research every two to three months on new communication channels available
Outline the current productivity and communication tools your company uses and assess what’s working and what areas could use some improvement
Present new options to your team if you believe there is a tool that could increase your communication or productivity
There are a few things that you can do to increase the confidence in the decisions that you make, such as:
Limit your choices. Having too many options for any decision is overwhelming, so narrow them down as best as you can.
Do a cost-benefit analysis (weigh the pros and cons) before coming to your final decision. This will help you uncover any potential opportunity costs that you may incur if you decide on one thing over another.
Set a time limit for making a decision. This will prevent you from mulling over a decision for 10 hours that should take 10 minutes.
Do as much research as you can before making a decision– including talking to other people who have some more experience than you do. For example, I recently had to purchase a new dryer so I called the company in my town who fixes appliances and asked them what machines they get called on the most and the least often to work on. That narrowed down my options really fast.
Here is a video with some more information to help you improve your decision making skills.
Final Thoughts on Personal Development Goals
Your brain and thinking methods both have an impact on every aspect of your life. The personal development goals discussed in this article are all dependent on your ability to retrain your brain to think (and therefore act) in new ways.
Your brain is flexible and can quickly adapt to reaching your new goals when you use the right approach and become more goal-oriented. Take a moment to think about your personal development goals and which of the aforementioned are the most important to you.
If you have had some other goals on your mind, how can you incorporate some of these personal development goals into your own to leverage your success?
Reaching one goal can easily open a door to work on another of its kind or help you recognize another area of improvement you may be able to work on in your life.
Connie Mathers is a professional editor and freelance writer. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. When she is not writing, Connie is either spending time with her daughter and two dogs, running, or working at her full-time job as a social worker in Richmond, VA.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Here’s a harsh truth: unemployed people are having a hard time finding a new job because many companies halt their recruiting efforts during the last quarter of the year. This is not new – it is a well-known fact that big companies often do a headcount at the end of the year, and they often significantly slow down their hiring process.
Instead of unsuccessfully searching for opportunities when there is little to no hiring, many look to expand their arsenal of skill sets, which can propel their pursuit of better, bigger opportunities in the few months to come.
For those looking to embark on the journey of acquiring new skill sets during the slower pace that winter months often offer, I’d like to delve into five unique avenues to discover inspiration for skill sets that can benefit your life and career in the near future.
One valuable resource for finding inspiration for new skill sets is right at your fingertips: LinkedIn job applications. Start by identifying professionals with positions similar to your current role, your desired career path, or roles with the title of the person you used to report to in your last job. Take a closer look at the job description for those roles, paying close attention to the skills and qualifications they require.
For example, if you’re in marketing and aspire to move into a leadership role, analyze profiles of Marketing Managers or Directors. Note the skills they require or those with that job title have honed over the years, such as data analysis, digital marketing or project management. These insights can guide your skill acquisition journey, helping you align your skill set with your career aspirations.
Mentorship and networking
Seek out mentors who can offer guidance on skill acquisition. If you are still close or have a great relationship with the last person you reported to, you may seek them for advice, asking which skill sets would be valuable for you to acquire if you intend to continue to pursue growth in your current career path.
Conversations with mentors and industry peers can provide valuable insights into skill sets that have contributed to their success. These personal anecdotes and recommendations can steer you toward acquiring skills that align with your goals and aspirations.
If you’re not in touch with them anymore or would rather avoid contact with them, engage in mentorship and networking activities to discover skill sets that have proved valuable for others. Attend industry events, webinars, or virtual conferences where you can connect with experienced professionals who may have a similar career path to the one you’re pursuing.
In my experience, I found people I highly admire and invited them to step into a virtual group call once every other month. In our one-hour meetings, we discuss what’s been working for each of us and provide valuable guidance for everyone in the group. I like to call this exercise “Business Therapy,” in which we often discuss our past experiences and challenges and how we overcame them.
Learning from the experiences of others may end up saving you years of continuous hustle. Never rely solely on your experiences when you can learn from the experiences of others.
Sometimes, inspiration for new skill sets can emerge from your personal interests and hobbies. Consider activities you’re passionate about outside of your professional life. These interests can be a foundation for acquiring skills that bring joy and fulfillment.
For instance, if you’re an avid photographer, you may explore photo editing or digital marketing courses to promote your work effectively. Blending your passions with skill acquisition can lead to a well-rounded skill set that enhances your personal and professional life.
Fun fact: that’s how my journey in the technology industry began. I am an Architect by profession, but I am such a tech nerd that I always sought to acquire technical skills, which is how I came up with the business idea that ended up becoming Replay Listings, the company I’ve led for over seven years now.
As industries evolve, new demands arise, creating opportunities for individuals to acquire relevant skills. For instance, if you’re in the technology sector, consider the rise of artificial intelligence and machine learning. These cutting-edge technologies are shaping various industries, from healthcare to finance.
By understanding industry trends, you can pinpoint relevant skill sets and future-proof your career. Stay updated with the latest industry trends and advancements. Explore industry-specific publications, blogs, or podcasts to gain insights into emerging skills in your field.
Online learning platforms and courses
Online learning platforms offer various courses on various subjects, making skill acquisition more accessible than ever. Platforms like Coursera, Udemy, and LinkedIn Learning provide various courses, from technical skills to soft skills like leadership and communication.
Browse these platforms to discover courses that align with your career goals or personal development objectives. The flexibility of online learning allows you to acquire new skills at your own pace, making it a convenient option for the winter months.
The bottom line is the slow winter months often present a unique opportunity to embark on a skill-acquisition journey. Whether you draw inspiration from LinkedIn profiles, industry trends, mentors, personal interests, or online courses, acquiring new skill sets can enrich your life and open doors to exciting possibilities. Embrace the season as a time of growth and discovery, and you’ll emerge with valuable skills that can shape your future success.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
A recent survey conducted by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) revealed that almost one-third of American employers now consider non-degree candidates for job openings, with 37% of employers reporting that they are more likely to do so than five years ago.
For the last several years, we have seen that developed soft skills are becoming the leading requirement in different companies, especially in terms of working with other people, e.g., being a proper team player, a good leader, being able to communicate properly and align with company values and diversity issues.
Soft skills are often difficult to quantify, which is why many employers have traditionally focused on things like degrees and certifications to screen candidates. However, in many cases, a candidate’s ability to work well with others, think critically and adapt to new situations is more important than their specific educational background.
In fact, some of the most successful people in business and industry are self-taught, having learned their skills through hands-on experience and a willingness to take on new challenges. Mark Zuckerberg, one of the most recognized names in tech, built Facebook into the world’s largest social network. Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard in 2004, during his sophomore year, to work on Facebook full-time and remains its CEO to this day. David Karp created Tumblr (which at its peak gained more than 500 million monthly users) despite never even graduating high school. Daniel Ek, co-founder of Spotify after abandoning his degree in engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden after just eight weeks. The list goes on and on. The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, dropped out of Harvard to focus on building his company.
High levels of soft skills are now defining a good employee. Even if a person has a great degree or might have vertical expertise in the field but lacks soft skills, some companies might prefer a better team player over a fancy university diploma. That brings harmony and drives team success rather than individual success.
When hiring people, I personally don’t even look at the degree. When I conduct an interview, I ask a lot about different situations this person has been in at work, different conflict situations, communication processes with peers or their direct reports, and the rest of the team. I try to figure out how the communication will be done upwards at the same level or downwards. For me, a formal degree is not as important as people’s experience, and positive references are given to their soft skills, work ethics, and communication.
An increased emphasis on workplace skills over degree credentials.
the growing popularity of alternative educational models such as online certificates.
In addition, some employers are starting to recognize that non-degree candidates can bring unique perspectives and experiences to the table that traditional college graduates may not possess. Google, Apple, IBM, Bank of America and other big companies adopted this approach in 2018.
As employers move away from relying solely on academic qualifications, they now have more opportunities to identify and hire high-quality individuals who can contribute meaningfully to their organization. However, this trend also means that employers must be prepared to evaluate applicants based on a broader range of criteria than they may have in the past. In addition to traditional measures such as prior experience, academic achievements, and references, employers should consider evaluating candidates based on their skill set and personal qualities such as self-discipline and problem-solving abilities.
At the same time, employers must ensure that they are not discriminating against potential employees who do not possess a traditional academic background. This includes assessing candidates based on their potential rather than focusing solely on past accomplishments or experiences. By taking a more holistic approach to evaluating applicants and considering the full range of skills and qualities they possess, employers can ensure that they are attracting a diverse set of candidates who have the potential to add value to their organization.
A recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) revealed that 57% of employers plan to hire more such candidates in the future. This is indicative of a growing trend in organizations around the world.
Employers often find that hiring recent university graduates may not always be the most suitable option for the specific job requirements within their business. Especially when it comes to startups or venture-backed companies that require innovative and creative approaches, formal education can be an obstacle in thinking or creating a new product/business model. We see that some innovative companies intend to hire people without a formal education or college degree because that allows them to be more creative and think “outside of the box,” which results in more added value.
By the way, fields such as IT, Manufacturing, Customer Service, Business Administration, Accounting and Finance are examples of areas that don’t necessarily require a degree but may prefer candidates with relevant experience or qualifications.
High levels of soft skills are now defining a good employee. Even if a person has a great degree or might have vertical expertise in the field but lacks soft skills, some companies might prefer a better team player over a fancy university diploma. That brings harmony and drives team success rather than individual success.
By recognizing the importance of soft skills and focusing on the qualities that truly matter, employers can build more diverse and effective teams that are better equipped to tackle the challenges of today’s rapidly-changing business landscape.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Soft skills are the personal qualities that enable an individual to communicate effectively, work well in a team, and adapt to changing situations. In today’s modern workplace, soft skills have become increasingly important, not just for individual success but also for the organization’s overall success.
Soft skills like adaptability and problem-solving are particularly important in today’s fast-paced, constantly changing work environment. Strong soft skills can also enhance an individual’s career prospects, leading to greater success in their chosen field.
This article will discuss the importance of soft skills in the modern workplace, both for profitability and company culture.
Soft skills are the personal attributes and traits that allow one to effectively communicate and connect with colleagues, friends and coworkers. These skills include emotional intelligence, leadership, communication, problem-solving, adaptability, time management, teamwork and conflict resolution. Soft skills are essential to succeed in today’s modern workplace, where collaboration and communication are increasingly important.
Why are soft skills important in the modern workplace?
Soft skills are essential in the modern workplace and play a significant role in the organization’s success. Here are a few reasons why soft skills are important:
Improved teamwork and collaboration. One of the primary reasons why soft skills are essential in the modern workplace is that they improve teamwork and collaboration. Effective communication and collaboration are critical for the success of any organization. Employees with strong soft skills can communicate and work well with others, leading to better collaboration and teamwork.
Increased productivity. Soft skills can also lead to increased productivity. Employees with strong time management skills can manage their workload more effectively, leading to higher productivity levels. Effective problem-solving skills can also lead to faster resolution of issues, allowing employees to focus on other tasks.
Better customer service. Soft skills are essential in customer-facing roles, where employees interact with customers directly. Employees with strong soft skills, such as communication and emotional intelligence, can provide better customer service, increasing customer satisfaction.
Improved company culture. Soft skills can also contribute to a positive company culture. Employees who have strong soft skills are more likely to be engaged, motivated, and productive, leading to a positive work environment. This positive culture can help attract and retain top talent, leading to long-term success for the organization.
Why should managers prioritize soft skills during the hiring process?
Given the importance of soft skills in the modern workplace, managers must prioritize these skills during the hiring process. Here are a few reasons why:
They are hard to teach. Soft skills are personal attributes, and they are often challenging to teach. While technical skills can be learned on the job or through training, soft skills are harder to develop. By prioritizing soft skills during hiring, managers can ensure they hire employees with these critical attributes.
Soft skills are essential for success. As discussed earlier, soft skills are essential for success in the modern workplace. Employees with strong, soft skills are more likely to be productive, engaged and collaborative, leading to better overall organizational performance.
Soft skills contribute to company culture. Hiring strong soft-skill employees can also contribute to a positive company culture. These employees are more likely to be engaged and motivated, creating a positive work environment. This positive culture can help attract and retain top talent, leading to long-term success for the organization.
They improve team dynamics. Hiring employees with strong soft skills can also lead to improved team dynamics. These employees are likelier to work well with others, leading to better collaboration and teamwork. This can improve the overall performance of the team and the organization.
Soft skills are essential in the modern workplace, and they play a significant role in the success of the organization. An organization full of soft-skilled employees will run and communicate like a well-oiled machine. Managers can save themselves many future heartaches if they prioritize soft skills during the hiring process to ensure that they hire employees who already possess these critical attributes.
The best resumes have comprehensive lists of desirable key skills to make employers look twice and choose one candidate over another.
If you want to ace your next job interview and make your job application stand out from other candidates, you need to put the best details possible on your resume to impress a prospective employer right from the get-go.
But what job skills should you write down? This article will break down 19 of the best skills for a resume that any hiring manager will love.
Soft skills employers love to see
So-called “soft skills” are usually people-focused, generalized or applicable to various industries and situations. Nevertheless, employers like to see plenty of soft skills in their candidates.
Leadership skills have always been in demand, and that’s even truer today. Anyone can be a good worker, but only a few employees can successfully run and manage teams, especially when the time comes to knock out complex projects.
If you have successfully led teams in the past, note those experiences on your resume and explain what exactly you did, your responsibilities and other relevant factors.
The more leadership skills you can mark down on your resume in the skills section, the more attractive a candidate you will be, even if you aren’t expected to lead anyone soon. This is true even if a job description requests more technical skills.
Leadership skills make you a better choice for potential management positions or promotions in the future. Because many companies hire long-term candidates, not just short-term workers, listing leadership skills can make you stand out relative to your competition in a big way.
Communication skills
Communication skills are also critical. You need to be able to communicate with your fellow team members and workers to get along well at your new company. This might seem like a waste of space to put down, but don’t discount it.
Noting that you have communication skills tells your employer two things:
You are confident about your ability to be a team player, which says a lot about your personality.
You know that employers are looking for this skill, which means it’s something you think about.
Both can indicate that you are an excellent potential hire for an open position. Good interpersonal skills, like demonstrated emotional intelligence or active listening skills, are even more critical if you apply for an administrative or management job posting.
Sometimes, they’re better than computer skills or other specific skills, such as graphic design.
Writing skills are an essential subcategory of communication skills, which are in demand for many new jobs.
Specific jobs in marketing and communications value writing skills highly, and (an added plus) you can explicitly demonstrate your capabilities in your resume writing. Using polished, engaging and succinct language in your resume will support your inclusion of writing in your list of skills.
Problem-solving experience
General problem-solving skills can also be good to put down on any resume. In most jobs, you’ll need to solve complex problems at one point or another, either because you run into an unexpected situation or because employer policies and procedures don’t cover all possibilities.
Good problem-solving, therefore, is seen as a must-have skill for many organizations and industries. Be sure to put this on your resume no matter the job or industry you apply.
It shows that you can think critically (and critical thinking skills are just as essential) and that you’re not afraid to face a challenge. It’s also an indicator of adaptability: another relevant skill ideal for any job search.
Try not to put down problem-solving and critical thinking skills simultaneously. There’s a lot of overlap between these two types of skill sets, so just put one or the other.
Organizational skills
Organizational skills reflect your ability to handle lots of resources and moving pieces. It’s an important skill to put on your resume when applying for a leadership or management position, but it’s good to put it down regardless just because it shows you are a hard worker and won’t be overwhelmed by many things on your plate.
Time management skills
Time management skills are wise to put on your resume, whether you are applying for an entry-level or management position.
Good time management is a much rarer skill than you may think, particularly in this day and age where there are ample digital distractions in people’s pockets at all times.
By them noting that you have good time management skills, your employer will feel more confident about letting you work on your own and unsupervised. This is important since it means they can focus on other aspects of running a business instead of worrying about your productivity.
Teamwork skills
Solid teamwork skills are must-haves for most positions and workers these days. Being able to work with others is crucial if you are to become a part of any new team, so be sure to note that you have strong teamwork skills regardless of your prior work experiences.
If you need to be specific, write down some anecdotes about how you were an excellent team member on your cover letter. You should tie that experience into a moment when you overcame a challenge or solved a problem.
Add people skills to your resume skills section, and you’ll be a more successful job seeker overall.
Good customer service skills are necessary for any industry — especially if you apply to a service industry or entry-level position. Basically, if your job requires you to interact with the general public frequently, you must have good customer service skills.
Mention any specific skills or tools you may have used to this effect.
For instance, if you previously worked at a call center, note that your customer service skills came from learning to speak to dozens or hundreds of people over the phone and provide meaningful assistance, no matter their problems.
Marketing skills
It is also wise to put down any marketing skills on your resume. Good marketing skills are highly desirable for specific marketing positions and general employees.
Marketing skills can involve using particular tools or tactics or just understanding how to phrase things to make products seem more appealing to customers.
This is closely related to sales experience; put down either sales experience or marketing experience if you are applying to a sales or commission-based job.
Hard skills are technical, specific and usually related to a specific skill or talent instead of being generalized. Here are some of the most in-demand hard skills to consider putting on your resume.
Project management skills are incredibly in demand and closely tied to leadership skills. Many organizations have complex projects they need to be headed by talented individuals.
If you can accurately claim that you have successfully led other projects through your management style, you’ll be well-positioned to take open job positions from other candidates.
Project management skills can be particular and reflect proficiency in specific programs and processes. For instance, scrum project management may make you a perfect choice for an IT company.
Data analysis skills
Data analysis skills are also highly in demand these days and for good reason. Many companies must analyze the data they collect from their customers and clients.
You’ll be a desirable candidate for many industries and companies if you can do this, both generally and with specific programs and equations.
Be sure to reference specific data analysis experience and techniques you are familiar with when listing this on your resume. The more specific you can get, the better; most hirers and recruiters will know what exactly to look for if they are trying to fill a data management or data analyst spot.
Enterprise resource planning skills
Enterprise resource planning skills, or ESP skills, are good to put on any resume, especially if you’re applying for a closely related position. ERP is crucial for large-scale organizations to not waste valuable equipment, time, people or other resources.
As with many other hard skills, be specific regarding your prior work experience and whether you know certain tactics, tools or techniques.
Computer proficiency
Generalized computer proficiency is now expected in a majority of positions. After all, everyone should know how to use computers to a basic degree.
However, you can take this a step further and break down other types of computer proficiencies, such as
Programming proficiency
Computer repair or hardware maintenance proficiency
This skill can be beneficial both in non-computer-related industries and in the computer industry itself.
However, keep in mind that mere computer proficiency will only be desirable to employers in the IT industry if you can get more specific about what exactly you do and the value you can provide to a company.
Program proficiency
Program proficiency is any proficiency you can list with a specific program. Don’t be humble or think too little of yourself; even proficiency with Microsoft Office 365 is valuable, particularly when many people don’t know how to use those collected programs to their maximum effectiveness.
If you are applying to a job that requires the use of specific programs, such as AWS, mention that. Be clear about your proficiency and mention times when you have used the tool or program effectively for business goals.
Programming language proficiency
Also nice to put on your resume are programming language proficiencies in languages like C++, CSS, Python and HTML.
The more language proficiencies you can list, the better positioned you’ll be to take a job in the IT or programming and web development industries. It may be wise to research what programming languages are most in demand for a specific position before listing them on your resume.
SEO proficiency
SEO or search engine optimization proficiency is highly valued in many professions, especially social media and marketing managers.
Note that this proficiency doesn’t just mean you understand what SEO is or how it works. It also means you know how to use related SEM tools, like SEMrush, to research keywords and understand how to leverage them for maximum content effectiveness.
Customer relationship management (CRM) software proficiency means you’re proficient in using popular CRM software platforms like Salesforce. This skill is most desirable and essential for marketing and customer relationship positions or fields.
Budgeting experience
If you have experience using budgeting software or running budget teams — mention it, and, as always, be specific about the kinds of tools or software platforms you previously used to get the job done.
Bookkeeping skills
Like the above, if you have bookkeeping skills using programs like FreshBooks, QuickBooks and similar platforms, mention that on your resume.
Note any educational accounting experience or licenses you may have acquired, like certificates or degrees. You can list these experiences and certifications in a dedicated section, usually toward the bottom of your resume. This is most important if you apply for a financial or accounting-related position.
Specific web development skills, such as using web development tools to outline pages, make frames and place widgets, are vital for many jobs in the IT sector.
However, it’s desirable in any field because most companies have online sites. They may want to know whether you can help them improve those websites and experiences for their customers.
Summary
Now you have 19 top skills to put on your resume, provided you have the real-life aptitude to back them up. Remember to tweak the description of each skill based on the job or industry you’re applying for to make them seem as relevant as possible.
Check out Entrepreneur’s other articles to present yourself as effectively as possible the next time you sit for an interview
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Ever heard a business owner say they’re in “the people business?” I hear it all the time. I make a living giving presentations to franchise systems, associations and corporations. I like to ask audience members to share with me what business they believe they’re in. Most people describe the thing they sell: “We’re in the automotive repair business” or “we provide software solutions.” Eventually, someone in the audience anticipates the answer they believe I’m looking for: “We’re in the people business.” Many will nod their head in agreement.
It’s a better answer, but still not good enough. Because what does that even mean?
Unlike computer networks that are driven by data, markets are driven by feelings. These feelings influence everything we do. How we spend money, where we spend money, how we work, how well we perform — all human behavior is informed by emotion. We still need stuff. We still need information. But it’s our feelings that most influence our choices. Behavioral economics is a whole field of study devoted to understanding this.
A typical business trades its offerings for money and considers the transaction complete. A “people business” works to make the transaction extra satisfying. That additional value breeds loyalty and retention. We like to be in business with others who make us feel good. Two types of skills are necessary to do this well:
Hard skills
These are the “how-to’s” of the business. We need tactics and tools. We need to continuously improve our products, processes and profitability. We need to increase our knowledge and ability to perform all the functions of the business. These are essential to operate and remain competitive.
What I’ve learned from my clients is that hard skills alone aren’t enough. In every system I work with, I meet some operators who are thriving and others barely surviving — all running the same or similar business. Many mistakenly chalk up the difference to location. But invariably the struggling locations give up and sell to higher performers who quickly turn the struggling locations around. Others think higher performers have better sales tactics or are doing more marketing. These hard-skills strategies make a difference, but they’re not the true difference-maker.
Soft skills
What does distinguish the higher performers is their soft skills? They manage themselves as well as they manage the business. They control their thoughts. They check their emotions. They communicate well. They understand that they’re in a people business, and they’re one of the people. I wrote a whole book about the differences between typical franchisees and whom I call “wealthy franchisees.” The best franchisees work hard and have decent locations, but it’s their mastery of soft skills infused into their daily operations that gives them their edge. I’ve observed this same dynamic among association members and even personnel within the same companies. Those with stronger soft skills combined with good hard skills will always outperform those with hard skills alone.
Among the many important soft skills needed for business excellence is resilience. This is one’s ability to continue marching forward when it feels like the universe is pushing back. Business is tough. Business owners need to be tougher. Resilience will also make it easier to discover new opportunities buried beneath the unpleasantness. It took a global pandemic to get some restaurants to pivot more toward delivery and digital ordering. For many, these new offerings have yielded recording-breaking revenue. Resilience reveals both solutions and opportunities. (See my recent TEDx talk about the connection between adversity and opportunity.)
With a stronger set of soft skills, you’ll be able to understand how your customers and employees — who are also part of “the people business” — need help at two similar levels.
Hard needs
These are the needs people have on the surface. They’re the things people consciously pursue. For consumers, it’s the products or services they seek, such as an oil change or a new point-of-sale system. It’s the food they order from a restaurant. It’s the adjustment they get from a chiropractor. Hard needs are tangible items exchanged in a marketplace. It’s what people consume.
For employees, hard needs are their compensation. That includes a salary, benefits, discounts and other perks. In times like these when most employers are desperate for more help, most are attempting to lure and keep employees by offering more hard-needs compensation, such as increased wages and signing bonuses.
But just as hard skills aren’t enough to drive high performance, fulfilling hard needs alone isn’t enough to satisfy customers and retain employees. They need something more.
Soft needs
These are the emotions we humans want to feel as we satisfy our hard needs. A true people business never forgets the human aspect of the operation. An exchange of goods is a transaction. When people are involved, there’s an interaction. That human encounter is where feelings are most impacted, one way or another.
Customers don’t usually request help with their soft needs. But deep down there’s always a subconscious desire, something they want to feel when they patronize a business. A group of teens going out for pizza probably wants to have fun. A couple celebrating an anniversary at a fancy restaurant probably wants to feel pampered. Consider what you want to feel when you go to a mechanic (trust), a hair salon (confidence), or a rock concert (excitement/community). Often, it’s a very small, subtle thing. But every business can find nuanced ways to make customers feel just a little better. People businesses pay attention to what matters to their customers emotionally and find ways to satisfy those emotions. Because customers remember less what they get (hard needs) and more about how they feel (soft needs).
This is also true for your team members. The biggest current pain point for my clients is staffing. And not just finding workers but understanding them. Every generation is different, but today’s young workforce is like no other that has come before. Their values, their expectations, and their behavior have got employers scratching their heads. I’m constantly hearing about ghosting, entitlement, and a lack of loyalty.
No one is certain about what the solution is to the current labor shortage. But I’m certain it’s going to take more than a hard needs approach. For better or worse, employers are going to have to understand and accommodate the workforce’s soft needs. Because they don’t just want more money. They also want to feel appreciated. They want to feel connected to co-workers. They want life balance and flexibility. They’ve wanted these things for a while. And not just today’s young workers.
Organizations such as Gallup have been reporting slumps in employee engagement long before the pandemic. According to their most recent survey, “fewer than one in four of U.S. employees felt strongly that their organization cares about their wellbeing. This is the lowest percentage reported in nearly a decade.” As hard needs compensation has increased in the workplace, there’s been a decrease in the fulfillment of soft needs.
Some of my audience members roll their eyes when I discuss the soft needs of today’s employees. They literally say, “They seem so soft!” I can understand their observation and frustration. And I don’t necessarily disagree. But at some point, to have a constructive conversation about being in the people business in today’s climate, we need to temper that frustration (which requires soft skills) and replace it with open-mindedness and a willingness to adapt. For better or worse, the workplace of the future must be less judgmental and more accommodating. Employers will have to meet the soft needs of the people they intend to employ. If not, they won’t be able to employ anyone.
Perhaps this will be good. I’m a parent of two teenagers who’ll be in the workforce before too long. It encourages me to think that maybe work won’t have to be something they endure. I want them to feel excited by what they do, to feel safe in the workplace, to respect and be respected. I want them to like working. And if they, as a generation, through their own soft ways, force employers to create better, safer, more pleasant work environments, then good on them for making that happen. I don’t want to have to loan my kids money, but I also want them to be happy. I hope they work (or start) true people businesses that meet both their hard and soft needs.
I’m also trying to help them understand that employers also have soft needs. They want to feel stable and secure. They want teams they can rely on. They need dependability and follow-through. Everyone deserves to have their soft needs met. To advance in their careers, workers will have to understand this. They, too, will have to work to elevate the emotions of those who rely upon them. I hope my kids play their part. They better — because while I’ll always be there to help with their soft needs when it comes to hard needs (i.e., money), I’ve already done my part. They better bring value to the workplace or they’ve got rough times ahead. Soft needs are important, but so are paying rent and eating.
Being in the “people business” means you’re in the feelings business. Everything you do must elevate the emotions of everyone your business touches, including yourself. It’s difficult when you’re busy. But investing a little more energy in the emotional payoff of your business might be the best way to achieve a financial one.
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
When you’re on the hunt for a new job, there are a few essential first steps to take. Namely, write or spruce up your resume, search for open positions on online job boards like ZipRecruiter, and prepare yourself for potential interviews. But before you can land an interview you’ll need to make sure your resume really highlights your best skills.
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Your resume should contain examples where you exhibited hard and soft skills. Hard skills are typically technical and quantifiable abilities, while soft skills are a combination of social and interpersonal skills that can be part of someone’s personality and learned through experience.
Both hard and soft skills are valuable to companies, and something recruiters vet for when reviewing job applications. By weaving examples of soft skills into your resume, you give hiring teams more context into your professional background and a glimpse of your personality.
To further personalize your application, reference the job description and match the soft skills in your resume to the skills listed in the posting. Be prepared to speak to these skills in your interview to provide more context. Here are some in-demand soft skills to include in your resume.
Time management: Time management is a skill worth developing with tight deadlines and quick turnarounds being so common in the business world. When listing time management on your resume, briefly explain a situation where you had to prioritize tasks to meet a deadline. This demonstrates to recruiters how you maximize efficiency and manage multiple projects simultaneously.
Communication skills: Communication skills are the ability to share ideas or feelings and understand what is being communicated to you. Even if you’re not a confident speaker, communication can include proficiencies in written communication, active listening, constructive feedback, negotiation, and collaboration.
Adaptability: Fast-paced working environments call for highly adaptable people. Being adaptable means you are a strategic and creative thinker, implying you know how to prepare for the unexpected. Navigating ambiguity is a positive in the eyes of recruiters, and effectively communicating this experience on your resume could land you an interview.
Leadership: Hiring managers place leadership skills at the top of their list—fortunately, leadership experience can come from anywhere. You can still demonstrate leadership skills on a resume even if you’ve never had direct reports or run a team. Think about situations you delegated tasks, led a project, or developed a new process for your company.
No matter where you are in the hiring process, ZipRecruiter can help you find your next career move. Savvy jobseekers know what it takes to stand out in a sea of applications, and ZipRecruiter is the competitive advantage you need. ZipRecruiter uses powerful AI matching technology and has the #1 rated job search app on IOS and Android1. Users receive job alerts that inform them by letting them know when their application was reviewed, and one-tap apply enables you to submit your profile to jobs anytime, anywhere.
1 Based on job seeker app ratings, Jan 2021 to Jan 2022 from AppFollow for ZipRecruiter, CareerBuilder, Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn, and Monster
DENVER, COLORADO, October 19, 2017 (Newswire.com)
– In conjunction with the launch of its online soft skills curriculum, PAIRIN announced that the company is partnering with Credly to offer digital badges for its online courses. As part of a mutual agreement, Credly will feature PAIRIN’s soft skills assessment and training programs as a complement to the digital credentials issued by associations, education institutions and employers on the Credly platform.
PAIRIN’s online curriculum, which personalizes content based on individual skills gaps and career goals, includes 300 micro-lessons to develop 54 soft skills. The company’s partnership with Credly will allow learners to receive digital badges that can be embedded in resumes, e-portfolios, emails, and websites, and shared on professional and social networks, like LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook to demonstrate their completion of the training and competency in a skill.
We are excited that through this partnership, Credly’s and PAIRIN’s customers can now benefit from both the most comprehensive soft skills curriculum and the leading digital badging platform.
Michael Simpson, PAIRIN CEO
Unlike paper-based certifications, digital badges are embedded with relevant “metadata” such as the badge title, description, date earned, issuer and recipient name. PAIRIN’s partnership with Credly allows the company to issue portable and secure credentials that empower earners and make learned skills more transparent. In a world where paper diplomas and certificates are often tucked in a file or hung on an office wall with no visibility to potential employers or partners, digital badges create a visible and valuable offering for job seekers and hiring managers alike.
“Credly’s leadership and expertise in digital badging make them the perfect partner to extend this offering to all individuals who complete our online soft skills courses,” said Michael Simpson, CEO of PAIRIN. “We are excited that through this partnership, Credly’s and PAIRIN’s customers can now benefit from both the most comprehensive soft skills curriculum and the leading digital badging platform,” Michael added.
“Employers consistently tell us that soft skills are essential to hiring decisions but that they are hard to discern from a traditional resume,” said Jonathan Finkelstein, founder and CEO of Credly. “PAIRIN’s integration of verified credentials for soft skills attainment helps address this issue by delivering a trusted and validated signal of proficiency to employers and managers.”
About PAIRIN
PAIRIN is a social enterprise software company whose mission is to make education relevant and hiring equitable. The PAIRIN Readiness Management SystemTM is the world’s first industry independent cloud-based solution for integrating soft skills development and matching into any program or company. Recognized as one of “The Top 50 Coolest New Companies in America” by Business Insider in 2015, winner of the 2017 Denver Chamber of Commerce Start-Up of the Year award and the 2017 Colorado Companies to Watch, PAIRIN continues to lead the skills-based talent pipeline evolution for education and industry. Find out more at www.PAIRIN.com.
About Credly
Credly is a leading digital credential service provider, helping the world recognize lifelong achievement with the most popular platforms for verifying, sharing and managing digital credentials and badges. The enterprise-class system allows organizations to officially verify skills and competencies; distribute portable and secure digital credentials and open badges; and gain actionable data and insights. Thousands of education institutions, industry associations, employers and workforce development programs use Credly to make achievements visible. For more information about Credly, visit credly.com.
