Soft skills and emotional intelligence are elements that make a difference when analysing executives’ employability

By Gabriela Vlasich *

Employability, as a concept may be applied on every workers’ sectors. Therefore, we may wonder how employability is affected when analysed as regards executive profiles. What abilities are most demanded? What kind of skills must executives possess? What is the role of emotional intelligence regarding employability?

Currently, Executive Search Market has to deal with difficulties, particularly when it comes to finding fully skilled professionals. The reason is that, even tough professionals who finish their postgraduate studies posses greatly developed cognitive and technical abilities, they tend to be lacking proper soft skills.

Consequently, there is a lack of fully skilled professionals who, besides possessing great technical and cognitive development, have good interpersonal relationships, leadership capacity, knowledge of languages and skills for teamwork.

All these skills are essential, especially in a dynamic global context in which companies are progressively searching for executives with greater adaptability, tolerance to frustration and work towards results.

For these reasons, soft skills make the difference as regards executives’ employability, turning them either more o less attractive towards employers.

Among fundamental skills are the following:

• Interpersonal skills: are those used for interacting with other people. These skills include: decision making, negotiation, managing time efficiently and adequate teamwork. Executives with good interpersonal skills develop greater responsibility about their actions.

• Communication skills: both written and oral, these skills become more essential as we move forward in our careers. The ability to be clear and concise when communicating is of great importance for executives. Aspects that show good communicational skills are: varied vocabulary which is adapted when the hearers change; eye contact when addressing someone orally; clear and to the point writing; capacity to handle and speak to different kinds of audiences.

• Critical and strategic thinking: is the ability to solve problems and make decisions. These abilities are very appreciated among employers and may make a difference for an executive’s employability. A professional who is owns critical and strategic thinking is capable of finding reliable information, evaluate a variety of solutions and choose the most adequate taking into account the criteria applied and the context where the situation occurs.

• Leadership: is the ability to execute influence over other people in order to obtain a goal. Leaders tend to have the following characteristics: strong self-confidence, teamwork capacity and respect for other people’s thoughts and opinions.

These four skills are the most important among the criteria used to conduct executive`s selection.

On another hand, executives’ employability is subject to their emotional intelligence. This kind of intelligence is closely related to the skills just mentioned, as emotional intelligence is the source from which they may be developed and improved.

Emotional intelligence includes several aspects. To begin with, we find self-awareness, the ability of detecting our own emotions and acknowledging their impact on ourselves, so when can manage them and take better decisions. Closely connected to self-awareness we may find self-control, the ability to keep disruptive emotions and impulses under control, channelling them in a positive way. The third skill is consciousness or social-sensitivity, consisting on being able to be sympathetic with other people’s emotions and feelings, attempting to understand their perspective. Finally, the last aspect is how we handle relationships, which includes the abilities of inspiring, motivating and influencing others. An executive who is good on this aspect is capable of improving people’s development by providing feedback. He/she may also guide people through interpersonal conflicts and create boundaries, producing a cooperative and teamwork workplace.

Developing emotional intelligence is crucial to build and improve soft skills and turn a professional with deep cognitive skills into a fully skilled one with great employability potential. Emotional intelligence and soft skills are the path towards reducing the gap between the skills quantum executives’ posses and the needs companies have to carry out their most challenging aims.

*Anthropologist

Project Analyst

Trafwe LATAM HR Advisors