My first job was as a receptionist and secretary at my university’s scholarship office. While I needed to know how to use Microsoft Office, Outlook, and the physical filing cabinet behind my desk, it was another set of skills that brought my boss’s approval. What were they?
Soft skills—character and personality traits that affect your work and interactions—are often overlooked by tech-centric job seekers hoping to upskill and get hired. But management knows just how important these soft skills are. Below, we’ll look at examples of soft skills needed for secretarial and office roles, and why.
In This Article:
Stand Out with Soft Skills
If you read job listings carefully, you may have noticed an emerging trend—the inclusion of more soft skills. Ensure these keywords are present in your secretary cover letter and resume by describing times you used these skills successfully.
Forbes recently listed “empathy, emotional intelligence, kindness, mindfulness, adaptability, integrity, optimism, self-motivation, grit, and resilience” as “crucial success factors” in the workplace. Why is that so?
Personal qualities are often more motivating than externally applied rules. For example, an empathic and emotionally intelligent person is more likely to maintain healthy relationships with workmates, avoiding disruptive confrontations. An adaptable and resilient person will face changes more readily.
The same article quoted a Deloitte whitepaper predicting that “soft skill-intensive occupations will account for two-thirds of all jobs by 2030.” Clearly, building on your soft skills now will prepare you for a lifetime of success. Next, let’s look at some specific soft skills and how they benefit the office.
Empathy—Caring About Your Team
Emotional intelligence (EQ) and empathy both involve being aware of others’ feelings through spoken and unspoken signals. It also means caring about how they feel and being motivated to do something about it.
No one is an island in an office. They interact with other office staff, customers or clients, vendors, and non-office staff. Empathetic employees with listen to what others have to say, fostering improved communication. Since they care how others feel, they will be less likely to act in ways that cause tension and lead to conflict.
Empathy is also highly important for secretarial staff who regularly encounter emotionally charged clientele, as in a medical or legal setting.
Integrity—Honesty from Within
Warren Buffett once said, “We look for three things when we hire people. We look for intelligence, we look for initiative or energy, and we look for integrity. And if they don’t have the latter, the first two will kill you, because if you’re going to get someone without integrity, you want them lazy and dumb.”
Why is integrity so important? A person of integrity will be honest—they won’t steal for you or from you. They’ll behave legally and ethically, have the humility to admit their mistakes, and respect other people.
Today, some sacrifice integrity for short-term gains. But ‘doing things right’ avoids negative consequences—legal or otherwise—in the long term, and sets a business up for long-term success.
In emails, phone calls, and in-person interactions, make sure you always treat others with respect and kindness. When you make a mistake, admit it; then ask for help or propose a solution to fix it. These actions will set you apart from those who lack integrity in their interactions or who try to shirk responsibility for their action.
Resilience and Adaptability—Necessary for Change
The world we live in is ever-changing, economically, socially, and in other ways. When you cultivate adaptability, you’ll be able to adjust to new environments and situations, embrace new ideas, learn new skills, and change how you behave to fit the circumstances.
Changes requiring adaptability are often benign, like the installation of a new computer program, a new hire, or a move to a different location. But what about when adversity strikes? Then, you can take your adaptability a step further toward resilience.
Resilience involves recovering from setbacks and moving forward in the face of challenges. Instead of recoiling, a resilient person bounces back through learning and gaining new insights.
To build these traits, ask questions and listen actively. Push yourself to get outside your comfort zone. Don’t flee from uncomfortable situations, but be willing to self-regulate, change direction, and risk making mistakes.
Be a Self-Starter
In my office job mentioned at the outset, I often took the initiative to check the mail on the way into the office and to dive right into the stack of case folders to be filed. This stood in contrast to other student workers who had to be asked to perform each task.
If you’re self-motived to get work done and even look for something useful to do during slow times, your managers will notice. This could boost your career prospects for internal promotion.
Key Takeaways
Some office workers worry that their tasks of answering calls, making appointments, and the like will soon be handed over to artificial intelligence (AI). But AI will never fully adopt uniquely human traits like empathy, integrity, resilience, and self-motivation. Developing these qualities will ensure your hireability for years to come.
