Revealed: the soft skills that will help you find a job

Given the growing influence of technology and artificial intelligence in the world of work, it’s easy to think that technical skills are the priority for employers when hiring new people. 

However, if AI is able to handle more tasks, then the perfect candidate will need to offer something else besides their knowledge of programs and software. You’ll need human skills.  

What are human skills? Also known as “soft skills”, these are more transferable across a range of roles and even industries. They also won’t become outdated as quickly as technical expertise, making them more valuable. 

How do you know which human skills to include in your CV? 

Using data from our annual Salary Guides, we’ve uncovered the human skills that employers report that they need the most. Mentioning the top five of these, which we’ll explore below, is a sensible jumping-off point. 

However, it could be that the role calls for other skills. For your application to truly stand out, you should read the job description in detail and extract the soft skills that the hiring manager is looking for. Alternatively, ask an AI tool such as ChatGPT or Copilot to help you find these, either from the job description or from similar ones.  

How to add examples of human skills to your CV 

There are two ways of incorporating these into your application: 

1. Skills section: this is the quickest and clearest way to include your skills. It can be easily scanned by an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) tool and simply requires a bulleted list. 

2. Employment History section: although the Skills section is useful, you’re not standing out from the crowd or providing any evidence that you have the skills. That’s why it’s a good idea to also weave them into your bullet points on previous roles – however, it is less straightforward. 

If you want to create a CV that impresses, you should be doing both.

Which human skills are employers are looking for? 

These are the top five in-demand human skills, according to Hays data. In addition to listing them in a Skills section, here are some ideas for integrating them into your Employment History section: 

Ability to adopt change 

• Instances in your career of when you’ve needed to adapt in your role. 
• Ways you’ve integrated new platforms into your workflow (and the positive results of this). 

Communication 

• Responsibilities such as distributing updates or documents to a wide audience. 
• Achievements in collaboration with other departments and senior or external stakeholders. 
• Experiences of presenting or public speaking. 

Teamwork 

• Any projects in which you collaborated with your team (or people in another department or organisation). 
• Has your role within a team changed over time? Try to add multiple examples throughout your employment history, and the part you played. 

Problem-solving 

• Resolutions to challenges faced, such as optimising processes 
• Stakeholders you’ve helped 

Ability to learn and upskill 

• Names of any software or processes you’ve acquired experience in, and the impact this made. 
• AI tools you’ve used and how these have helped you. 
• Qualifications or certifications you’ve earned inside or outside of work (these can also be listed in a separate Education / Qualifications section). 

Next steps 

Once you’ve incorporated your relevant human skills (or soft skills) into the Employment History and Skills section, you’ll have successfully completed these parts of your CV! If you’re still unsure, go back to our advice on action verbs and quantifiable data.

You’re not done yet, though! To learn more about ways to enhance your application, don’t miss our full CV series.