The rise of soft skills – How emotional intelligence plays a huge role in a work environment

In today’s modern world, the demand for skilled labour within an adaptive workforce has been highlighted as one of the biggest challenges facing company’s looking to hire in a market that is dictated by candidates.

One shift from pre-covid times is the rise and demand of so called ‘soft skills’ in the workplace, where a person’s personality and demeanour are just as important as their technical skills. Soft skills are defined as ‘personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people’. Over time, organisations have recognised the importance of the workplace environment and concentrate on building teams that are cohesive in their ability to work together.

Similar to soft skills- Emotional intelligence is another quality that is highly sought after in leadership positions. EI is ‘the ability to recognize, understand, and manage our own emotions, and the ability to recognize, understand, and influence the emotions of others’
While emotional intelligence is something that is innate to a person, soft skills can be improved upon and taught in the right environment.

Check out our 4 top tips on how you can improve on your soft skills and give yourself a clear advantage when seeking either promotion or a new role.

Michael O'Connor

Recruitment Manager – Galway Office

Michael worked for over 10 years in the industrial engineering environment before starting in recruitment with BDO in 2006 on their engineering desk. He joined IRC in 2008 as a technical engineering consultant before moving into account management and becoming principle account manager in IRC. Michael has worked with some of the largest engineering companies within the mid west region and has had sole management responsibility for one of the largest temporary staffing accounts with one of the bigger multinationals based in Ireland during his time with IRC.

Michael joined Careerwise in April 2016 with the responsibility of growing the business out of the new Galway office with a primary focus on the West, North-West and Midland regions. Michael has extensive experience and knowledge in the technical, engineering and commercial sectors.

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