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Interpersonal skills are one of the most valuable soft skills a person can have, in and outside the office.

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What Are Interpersonal Skills?

Interpersonal skills are social skills that help you interact with other people effectively. Interpersonal skills are considered soft skills, which include personality traits, people skills, and communication skills. Unlike hard skills, soft skills are generally not learned in professional training programs and are usually innate or gained through personal development. A person with strong soft skills usually has great communication skills or a strong work ethic.

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Why Are Interpersonal Skills Important?

Interpersonal skills are essential for several reasons. When interviewing two equally qualified job seekers, hiring managers and recruiters will likely pick the more likable candidate they see collaborating well with people in the office. People with strong interpersonal skills are also adept at problem-solving, conflict management, and navigating different workplace personalities and situations. Employees with strong interpersonal skills help maintain a positive and harmonious work environment.

6 Examples of Interpersonal Skills

Interpersonal skills are behaviors you exhibit when you interact with others. Some critical interpersonal skills include:

Active listening: This listening skill involves maintaining eye contact when someone else is talking, knowing how to read their nonverbal cues, and genuinely engaging with what they're saying.
Emotional intelligence: Emotional intelligence is having the self-awareness to control your emotions in stressful situations and avoid placing your stress on others.
Positivity: Keeping an upbeat attitude in the workplace is vital to minimize your coworkers’ stress levels.
Conflict resolution: Being a team player and having the ability to amicably resolve disputes among team members are strong interpersonal communication skills.
Good communication: Strong communicators know how to use their words and body language to convey their point of view, especially when delivering constructive criticism. Effective verbal and non-verbal communication are both keys to good communication.
Leadership: Strong leaders inspire teamwork and promote team-building, so everyone feels motivated to contribute. Leadership skills require self-confidence, critical thinking, and decision-making abilities.

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SARA BLAKELY

Teaches Self-Made Entrepreneurship

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4 Ways to Develop Your Interpersonal Skills

Follow these tips to develop good interpersonal skills:

Enroll in a training course. Encourage your workplace to offer a training session or complete an online class to improve your interpersonal skills.
Identify your strengths and weaknesses. Ask your friends, family, and trusted colleagues for feedback on what they consider your strengths and weaknesses. You can even ask a mentor to counsel you on developing your interpersonal skills at work.
Exercise your interpersonal skills. Work on building your interpersonal skills outside of the office by joining a book club or other social group with new people. These social experiences can help you observe interpersonal interactions and body language.
Evaluate your interactions. Examine interactions with colleagues and friends, particularly those that did not go smoothly or resulted in miscommunication, and identify how to improve future interactions.

How to Highlight Your Soft Skills

There are many different ways to demonstrate to employers that you have interpersonal communication skills. Convincing employers that you have complete sets of hard and soft skills boosts your potential employability. Here are some of the ways you can demonstrate your hard and soft skills:

On your resume: A resume is a great place to insert an experience section to list previous work and relevant skills from outside training programs. By skimming your resume, a prospective employer should get a sense of your hard skills. Additionally, you can tack on a soft skills list with specific skills like good time management and strong organizational skills.
In a job interview: The interview process is a time to talk up some of your intangible soft skills like effective communication and conflict resolution. Soft skills are more complicated to demonstrate than hard skills, so explaining how you possess these qualities in job interviews is a must. Your potential employer might also pose interview questions about how you would handle certain situations to gauge your leadership skills and problem-solving abilities. Also, remember that your body language and nonverbal communication can demonstrate a positive attitude and eagerness to whoever is conducting your interview.
On a cover letter: A cover letter is a great place to point out critical soft skills you might possess, like sound decision-making or a strong work ethic.
Via professional references: Having strong professional references who can attest to your personal attributes is a must for job seekers. Before you enter a job search, make sure you have a list of former employers or coworkers who can vouch for your strong soft skills, like a positive attitude and problem-solving abilities. Employers often turn to references to gauge soft skills rather than just taking a potential employee at their word.

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