Let's face it—our biggest fans are probably our families. Our parents surely think that we are the best thing ever “invented.” Parents can usually get away with bragging about their children, but when we do the bragging on ourselves, it’s usually met with odd looks and we may be thought of as conceited. Well, there are a few times when it’s good to brag about ourselves—such as during a job interview.

There is a delicate balance to achieve during an interview—we want to tell the interviewer about all the fantastic things we can do, but we don’t want it to sound like, well, our parents.

Most interviewers still want to hear about the job-specific skills we have mastered relevant to the job we are hoping to snag. But letting them know about your soft skills is equally important. And while you may get an interview question, such as, “Tell me about your accounting skills,” we may not get an easy question, such as, “Tell me about your soft skills.”

So, what exactly are soft skills, you ask? Soft skills are the attributes that we have that allow us to communicate, work and play well with other humans. So, those lectures from Mom about playing nice in the sandbox with others really helped lay the foundation for the development of our soft skills. Imagine that.

Long gone are the days when a humongous IQ alone landed us a job. We need to brag about ourselves and demonstrate that we have the soft skills it takes to get along with others. Ask yourself, “Do I work well with others?”, “Am I a nice person?”, “Am I usually good natured and positive?” Be prepared to give examples. Talk about your volunteer work. Talk about an example when you stayed positive in a stressful situation, and how that impacted others around you. We HR people love this stuff. Especially when it is genuine and backed up with examples.

Author: Linda Hockney, Extra Credit Union Human Resources Manager

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