Leadership is one of the most sought after skills and is essential to include in your resume. Employers want to know you’re self-motivated and decisive.Even if you haven’t occupied a true leadership position, you probably still played an important role in achieving specific goals within your company. Clearly state the actions you took and the positive results of your work.For example, relaying that you work with a community outreach group in your spare time showcases your skill.

1. Leadership.

There are two different categories of skills; hard skills and soft skills, and employers are looking for a good mixture of both on your resume. While hard skills are often job-specific and include things that can be learned through trainings, soft skills are those which are more inherently part of your personality and difficult to be taught—thus, they are often considered more valuable.We will be focusing on soft skills which are able to be applied to any job and are considered timeless.

A good mix of all skills.

Employers want to know you can help bring out the best in others and are also able to incorporate your specific skill set within a team setting to help bring a broader goal to fruition. In order to demonstrate your qualifications, simply stating you work well with others on your resume is insufficient, and you should provide specific examples of any collaborative teamwork efforts and their related achievements.

3. Collaboration

The ability to effectively communicate, both verbally and non-verbally, is a prized skill. As you may know, in order to be a good communicator, you must also be a good listener. One of the best ways to show your skills is to present your goals and qualifications clearly and concisely while making sure to follow all the employer’s guidelines and requirements when applying for a position.

2. Communications

In the course of business, sooner or later something is bound to go wrong that will require you to find a solution in order to clear a path for continued success. Whether it be an absent-minded accounting error or a misplaced contract, the speed with which you can solve these issues will have a direct impact on your company’s bottom line. Including any information in your work experience that shows your ability to solve problems is a must.

5. Problem solving 

The value of personal time management skills cannot be overstated. Being able to simultaneously manage multiple projects with shifting deadlines and priority levels is a necessary skill to have in order to achieve your company’s goals, as well as yours. To showcase your time management skills, provide examples on your resume that demonstrate times you’ve met deadlines, completed projects early, or delegated work to others in order to complete tasks in a timely matter.

4. Time management 

career

Career

5 Timeless Skills to Build/Have on Your Resume

<ul><li>While talking to strangers, we need to signal our engagement by summarizing or paraphrasing what the other person has said, to show that we were listening attentively.</li><li>We need to amplify our visible engagement with eye contact and nodding, as the other person does not know us at all, and is relying on the cues we send out.</li></ul>

The Art Of Listening

Most of us are laughably bad at striking up good conversations with strangers, and can hope to improve ourselves if we learn what all is lacking to break the ice.The conversation is mostly initiated by small talk, the opener that gets everything started. Most people hate small talk, but one cannot talk to strangers without initiating the conversation with something familiar and reassuring.

From Really Bad To Okayish

Another way to signal your attentive listening is to simply echo what the other person is saying.Example:The Stranger says: At that moment, I felt frustrated.You: You were frustrated.

The Art Of Listening: The Echo

We use scripted conversations to be on the safe side, as we fear that saying any unscripted word can trigger something unwanted in the other person.While scripted conversations are efficient, they deny us the actuality of the other person, the stranger who may be just a friend we haven’t met yet.By talking off-script or replying in a unique, unheard of manner, we make it comfortable for the stranger to mirror us and say something similar.

Going Unscripted

Talking to strangers is worth it, as it offers a certain profound joy, a real communion. If more people start talking to strangers, our broken society can be healed.<ul><li>The hardest thing about talking to strangers is the initiation of the conversation.</li><li>One has to approach with confidence yet provide an assurance that they are safe and don’t have any ulterior motive or agenda.</li><li>Older people initiate conversations more than younger ones.</li></ul>

Triggering Conversations In A Suspicious World

Asking something specific and humorous to a stranger is a risk, but if the timing is right, one can give a great first impression about being complex, empathetic, humourous and human.Once the stranger recognizes you as a human, a bond is created and real conversation can start.

Being Human

<ul>
<li>When at a party, don’t ask ‘What do you do?’, instead, ask ‘What do you really want to do but cannot?’ or ‘Has your day lived up to your expectations?’</li>
<li>When a store clerk asks you ‘can I help you?’, reply with ‘can I help you?’</li>
</ul>
The point is to be different and vulnerable so that you sound intriguing and yet do not come across as a psychopath!

Doing Conversation Starters Differently

<ul><li>Asking more questions, especially follow-up questions, is more than just for gathering information. </li><li>They help create deep, emotional bonds and make the other person feel better as they are being listened to, understood, validated and cared for.</li><li>Most people don’t ask enough questions about the other person as they are egocentric and are ready to fill in their two cents to the ongoing talk.</li></ul>Most people sound despicable because they just keep on talking about themselves.

The Stranger On The Subway: Asking Questions

<ol><li>Proximity: Suddenly meeting a stranger and asking something will almost certainly fail. One has to be in the proximity of the stranger for a while to be accepted.</li><li>Don’t Make It An Interview: Being too interested in the other person can backfire. You need not lean forward, ask questions quickly or interrogate them.</li><li>Statements: Use statements instead of questions to sound non-threatening.</li><li>Surprise: Be genuinely interested in learning something new and try to gain a fresh perspective.</li></ol>

Helpful Techniques To Talk Better With Strangers

According to psychologists, talking to strangers can be taxing on the brain, and even small talk can seem stressful, tiring and cognitively demanding.
On the flip side, talking to strangers is a kind of workout that boosts our mental performance.

Talking To Strangers

Listening can be for:<ul><li> Information</li><li>What we know about</li><li>What we want to experience.</li></ul>We need to work more into the deep levels of listening for motivations, values and feelings.

Listening For A Higher Purpose

The main reason we don’t talk to strangers is simply because we don’t talk to strangers. People are simply not supposed to violate the norm of leaving other people alone at back alleys, parks and subways.The trick is to acknowledge this handicap and pre-frame the negative thoughts of the other person by reassuring them that you know you are breaking the norm.

Why We Don’t Talk To Strangers

Many people hate it when the small talk is of the weather, but fail to understand that it is actually a kind of code that helps people overcome their inhibitions and be ready to actually talk to the other person.
Once the person who has been approached feels comfortable, real talk can happen.
Everyone is interested in a really deep, engaging conversation, but they will not show it, and it is up to us to discover the same.

Talking About The Weather: One Of The Most Common Conversation Starters

Good conversation starters for any social situation

corporateculture

Corporate Culture

teamwork

Teamwork

communication

Communication

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

Conversation Starters

Conversation starters to connect with anyone you meet.

Entrepreneurs must become experts at connecting with anyone-and with a few simple strategies, you can. Here's what happened when I tried them myself.

How to Become a Master at Talking to Strangers

Conversation Starters to Help You Talk to Strangers

Don’t be afraid to ask for more time. You may feel excitement or pressure to commit when you receive your offer, but don’t forget to advocate for yourself, even if that means asking for a few extra days to consider the offer.Take this opportunity to reiterate how excited you are about the possibility of this opportunity. You don’t want to come across as if you are rushing them, or demanding an answer to your candidacy, but rather that you are hoping for clarity as to their own timeline.

4) When can you start? 

Here’s a few ideas on how to address this question in a thoughtful way:Gettingto know a new person can be so tough without ever getting the chance to meet in person, so if I get the opportunity to get to know your staff, I plan to do my best to take every opportunity to share my perspective, my story and my experience. I hope this will allow me to introduce myself in a way that doesn't put too much of a burden on my future colleagues, especially while we're all navigating remote work.”

1) How have you approached building professional relationships while working remotely? 

I always encourage my clients to try to find their “golden skill,” the thing that sets them apart and makes them a perfect fit for any role. The skill you choose to emphasize might change based on the job you are exploring. Research is key here as well—you want to identify to the best of your ability what the company needs the most, and find a way to frame your “golden skill,” your greatest strength, as exactly what they are looking for, what they need to solve any problem that they may face.According to a 2021 survey, this old standby is still one of the most popular interview questions, with <a href="https://zety.com/blog/job-interview-questions-and-answers">51% of interviewers </a>utilizing this question in their arsenal.

3) Tell me about your biggest strengths? 

<ul><li>“I understand that this position is advertised as fully remote. Do you anticipate a time when you expect the person holding this position to transition to in-person work?”</li><li>“Office culture is very important to me, and I wonder how you feel your staff has been handling the transition to remote work?”</li><li>“If everything goes well with the post-pandemic reopening, what do you think your approach to in-person versus remote work will be in a year’s time?”</li><li>“How do you think that office culture has changed with the shift to more remote work?”</li><li>“I love hearing success stories from the past year. I’d really like to hear about a triumph that your team achieved despite the difficulties of the pandemic.”</li></ul>

5.) Do you have any questions? 

That being said, I always remind my clients that whoever gives a number first puts themselves at a disadvantage. This is why I think the best answer to this questions goes a little something like this:“I’m flexible when it comes to salary; my number one priority right now is finding the right fit.”

2) What are your salary expectations? 

Interviewing has never been easy, and it's certainly even tougher now that remote interviews are the norm. Here are 5 interview questions you should be prepared to answer in 2021.

The 5 Crucial Interview Questions Of 2021 (And How To Answer Them)

When constructing alternative options, you may find that you will gather more possibilities than you perhaps thought of in the beginning. To assist our minds, we need practical methods and information-handling tools to keep track. This will reduce the risk to jump to conclusions.A mindmap or matrix can help to create transparency and allow for a second opinion of your ideas. With every bit of new information, mark on your matrix what the implications are for each hypothesis.

Use a mind map to keep track of the possibilities

The favoured approach is not deductive logic, which is reasoning based on known facts, but abductive logic, which identifies the best possible explanation in the absence of complete knowledge. Doctors make use of abductive reasoning. They are given a set of symptoms and diagnose on what would best explain most of the symptoms.Always create a short outline of all the possible alternative explanations you can think of. Then plan how you will test your different reasons.

Identify all the possible explanations

Clear thinking is essential for every aspect of life, yet many of us have not really learnt how to think and make safe judgments under pressure.When you learn to think like a detective, you can gain an advantage in the following areas:<ul><li>It can help you think sharper and more creative.</li><li>It can make you a better listener that is less judgmental.</li><li>It can help you solve everyday problems.</li></ul>

Benefits of thinking like a detective

<ul><li>Assume nothing</li><li>Believe nothing</li><li>Challenge and check everything</li></ul>It is hard to resist our automatic assumptions and our need for closure. Therefore, always ask yourself what you do know and what you don't know. Remind yourself that correlation does not imply causation. To help find the truth, try to disprove your conclusions.

Embrace the investigative mindset

We will always forget something or not have all the facts. That's why an open-minded and critical friend can be indispensable.Evidence and new perspectives can be found where you least expect them. It is essential to hold back your own opinion, ask open-ended questions, and use silence and active listening techniques.

Recruit a critical friend

Use a systematic approach to eliminate as many explanations as possible through falsification.<ul><li>Collect the available information.</li><li>Check the facts for accuracy and relevancy.</li><li>Connect the dots. Do different sources say the same?</li><li>Construct all possible solutions.</li><li>Consider what information you need the most to test your remaining hypothesis.</li><li>Consult with somebody you trust to help narrow the scope of your investigation.</li></ul>

Test the alternative explanations to narrow your investigation

Expert detectives have two main qualities:<ul><li>Detached involvement</li><li>The ability to keep on asking questions</li></ul>Good investigators don't make quick judgements. They know that their mind will try to convince them that their first impression is right. Instead, they force themselves to walk away from a problem they want to solve. This can help when making important life decisions where it would be dangerous to jump to conclusions, such as buying a new home, hiring a new employee or planning a career move.

How to make a good decision

Whether you have to work out why a product launch failed, why your kid is struggling at school or why your smartphone has stopped working, it is essential to think more systematically.But you won't always know everything and perhaps won't ever know. If you learn how to write down your understanding systematically, you'll increase the chance of finding a simple solution and avoid blunders. Practice can help to sharpen your inner detective and improve decision-making.

Thinking like a detective takes practice

We tend to solve problems in superficial ways. When we make everyday decisions, our mind often only weighs the immediate information so that it can build a coherent story, even if the story is incomplete or unreliable.<ul><li>WYSIATI, or "What you see is all there is" refers to the fact that we usually make our judgments according to the information we have available, even if the information is incomplete.</li><li>Confirmations bias compounds WYSIATI. We tend to find more evidence to support our current belief.</li></ul>

Common biases when solving problems

The best detectives seem to have almost supernatural insight, but their cognitive toolkit is one that anybody can use

health

Health

problemsolving

Problem Solving

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

How to think like a detective

<ul>
<li>Digital: systems like Evernote, make note-taking easier. Although, even the simple note-taking features on Kindle can work quite well.</li>
<li>Paper: you can even put little sticky tags on the book to mark passages that refer to that.</li>
</ul>

Creating clues for future searches

Decide whether to optimize for review or retrieval practice. 
<ul>
<li>For docs you don’t plan to extensively study, review is the obvious choice. </li>
<li>For texts you need to master perfectly, the Question Book Method (for big idea) or flashcards (for details) saves time.</li>
</ul>

Review vs. recall

<ul>
<li>Notes extend your memories: writing can be seen as an external enhancement of your brain, allowing you to think more complicated thoughts and solve harder problems.</li>
<li>Notes enhance your focus: The act of taking notes ensures your mind isn’t wandering and facilitates deeper understanding of what you're reading.</li>
</ul>

Note-taking: a powerful tool for learning

Ask yourself why are you reading:
<ul>
<li>What am I trying to remember? </li>
<li>How am I going to use this information? (e.g. on a test, cited in an essay, etc.)</li>
<li>What do I plan to do with the notes later? Will you be studying off of them extensively? Or maybe you’re just taking notes to stay focused, and it’s highly unlikely you’ll look through them after?</li>
</ul>

Figure out your purpose

<ul>
<li>Jot notes in the margin. These aren’t particularly searchable, but they allow you to reiterate the main idea.</li>
<li>Keep a small notepad on the side, take breaks each section to jot down the main ideas. </li>
<li>Create flashcards. In the rarer situations where memorization of details is important, then a simple strategy can be to just create flashcards while you take notes.</li>
</ul>

Strategies for note-taking

<ol>
<li>Figure out your purpose.</li>
<li>Choose a technique that maximizes your focus on what is most relevant for your purpose. </li>
<li>Decide whether to optimize for review or retrieval practice. </li>
<li>If you do need to go back into the text again and again, create clues in your notes that can help you find what you’re looking for faster.</li>
</ol>

How to take notes while reading

Strategies and tips to ace your next exam

books

Books

education

Learning & Education

productivity

Productivity

How To Study Effectively For Exams

Note-taking is a powerful tool. But it can be hard to take notes while reading. Here's how you can maximize your ability to remember, reference and learn.

5 Timeless Skills to Build/Have on Your Resume

How to Become a Master at Talking to Strangers

The 5 Crucial Interview Questions Of 2021 (And How To Answer Them)

It's time to
Read like a Pro.

How to think like a detective

CURATED BY

5 Timeless Skills to Build/Have on Your Resume

How to Become a Master at Talking to Strangers

The 5 Crucial Interview Questions Of 2021 (And How To Answer Them)

It's time to Read like a Pro.

How to think like a detective

CURATED BY

It's time to
Read like a Pro.