Soft Skills 101: Leadership

Leadership is more than guiding others and delegating tasks — true leaders motivate, inspire, and bring out their team's best qualities as they push into the unknown. Today, with constant industry shifts and workplace changes, leadership is one of the most desirable skills that organizations look for. Fortunately, almost any candidate can acquire this soft skill — even without specific management experience. 

Read on to learn how to gain and showcase leadership soft skills to stand out to employers and hiring managers. 

Why Are Soft Skills Important to Employers?

Soft skills such as communication, problem-solving, and leadership are important to employers because they ensure you are a viable candidate who will help their organization grow, no matter where they shift next. While technical abilities, software training, and other hard skills are still important, rapid industry and workplace changes mean that a skill that’s relevant today might need to be retrained or replaced in just a few years. 

Soft skills, however, will always be useful as they're adaptable to almost all situations. Leadership skills, in particular, guarantee you can set a strong example with a level head.

How Leadership Soft Skills Can Help You Succeed

Honing your leadership skills will help you stand out as a candidate and improve your chances for more opportunities and promotions. Employers retain strong leaders because they improve company culture, are usually more productive and efficient, and take the weight off of their own leadership responsibilities. So, developing, showcasing, and practicing your leadership abilities is crucial at all stages of your career.

Even outside of job opportunities, leadership soft skills can help improve your workflow and experiences. For example, empathy and conflict resolution skills strengthen your workplace relationships and how you interact with others. Leadership qualities are also transferable to countless aspects of your life, such as recognizing others' needs, improving communication, and maintaining focus.

How to Build Leadership Skills

While it's challenging to obtain a leadership position without tangible leadership experience,you can develop this skill in many other ways. For example, you can take online training courses and explore additional responsibilities at your current workplace. 

Specific leadership styles don't apply to all situations and teams, which is why employers look for candidates with various leadership experiences. Because of this, you should seek out and develop as many leadership soft skills as possible to help your qualifications stand out from other candidates.

Consider developing the following leadership soft skill examples:

• Empathy
• Decision-making
• Strategic-planning
• Interpersonal abilities
• Integrity
• Teamwork
• Motivation
• Problem-solving
• Communication/delegation
• Conflict resolution
• Mentoring

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Showcasing Your Leadership Soft Skills

Whether you're interested in a management position or otherwise trying to stand out as a candidate, showcasing your most desirable soft skills throughout the application process is critical to getting hired. 

How Do You Describe Leadership Skills on a Resume?

When revising your resume, first consider any transferable leadership skills from previous jobs and experiences. Even if you never held a full-fledged leadership position, you may still be able to highlight applicable responsibilities and qualifications, such as these:

• Leadership training
• College leadership classes
• Interim positions
• Work performed for other positions or departments
• Group projects
• Training/mentoring new colleagues
• Responses to industry/workplace changes
• Volunteer experience

Cite these soft skills experiences in your resume's "Skills" and "Training" sessions and beneath specific job descriptions. Use non-repeated, action-centric words where possible, such as "delegating" and "driving team success."

How to Describe Leadership Skills in an Interview

Most interview questions tie into soft skills, particularly leadership, so come prepared with answers that highlight your leadership qualifications. Before your interview, reflect on multiple specific leadership experiences, such as team problems you've helped resolve or how you've worked with colleagues beneath your position. 

Common interview questions about leadership include the following:

• What does leadership mean to you?
• What skills are most important to a strong leader?
• What's your leadership style?
• How do you motivate yourself and others?
• How do you communicate feedback?
• Can you tell me about a time that you significantly impacted your team?
• Can you tell me about a time that you struggled and succeeded in resolving a problem?
• How do you handle interpersonal conflict?
• Can you tell me about a time that you disagreed with your supervisor?
• What are your greatest strengths and weaknesses?

Soft Skills Resources

In the current hiring market, soft skills such as teamwork and leadership are more vital than ever, including how you develop and showcase them. Tangible leadership qualities won't just help you get hired, but they'll also help you move up in your career. Discover more soft skills and resources to attract employers' attention using iHire's numerous job seeker resources.