{"id":731,"date":"2007-03-08T08:30:52","date_gmt":"2007-03-08T14:30:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/soft-skills-make-the-business-person\/"},"modified":"2007-03-08T08:30:53","modified_gmt":"2007-03-08T14:30:53","slug":"soft-skills-make-the-business-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/soft-skills-make-the-business-person\/","title":{"rendered":"Soft Skills Make The Business Person"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Interesting article from the Ottawa Business Journal titled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ottawabusinessjournal.com\/339357379088816.php\" target=\"_blank\">The hard facts about soft skills<\/a>.&nbsp; The premise:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;The things that students are missing out on when the certificates are handed out are lessons in soft skills that actually make a business person who they are. The technological skills are relatively easy to learn, but the soft skills are what make you a business leader,&#8221; said Barry Gander, vice president of CATA and author of Success.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gander makes an excellent point especially in regards to recent business school grads.&nbsp; Technical skills are difficult to differentiate since they appear to be a commodity.&nbsp; Soft skills are certainly the more elusive traits to locate (and measure) and therefore the better differentiator.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;There are five things employers will pay for. They include leadership skills, project management skills, people skills, communication skills and sales skills. <em>Notice they&#8217;re all soft skills<\/em>. Everything else (like technical skills) everyone else has too!&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He&#8217;s right.&nbsp; I would take it a step further and say that companies will measure these 5 skills and we at Select Metrix will look at how those different skills interact.&nbsp; This interaction is an important part of the equation.&nbsp; One example:&nbsp; strong communication skills but weak sales skills often reveals a schmoozer.&nbsp; Schmoozers are dangerous because they are often smooth enough to look strong in interviews but their weakness is exposed once they are on your payroll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Interesting article from the Ottawa Business Journal titled The hard facts about soft skills.&nbsp; The premise: &#8220;The things that students are missing out on when the certificates are handed out are lessons in soft skills that actually make a business person who they are. The technological skills are relatively easy to learn, but the soft skills are what make you a business leader,&#8221; said Barry Gander, vice president of CATA and author of Success. Gander makes an excellent point especially in regards to recent business school grads.&nbsp; Technical skills are difficult to differentiate since they appear to be a commodity.&nbsp; Soft skills are certainly the more elusive traits to locate&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/03\/soft-skills-make-the-business-person\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21,6,2,16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-731","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aptitudes","category-assessing","category-hiring","category-hiring-salespeople"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-bN","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":669,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/soft-skills-development\/","url_meta":{"origin":731,"position":0},"title":"Soft Skills Development","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"An encouraging sign from M.B.A. programs as reported by CareerJournal.com - M.B.A. Programs Hone 'Soft Skills'. From the article: The schools are responding to employers' growing interest in soft skills. Executive suites are increasingly composed of managers running far-flung operations who must attract and retain knowledgeable workers. That puts a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47946,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2019\/05\/soft-skills-needed-in-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":731,"position":1},"title":"Soft Skills Needed In Sales","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The customer experience shift occurring right before our eyes is causing a sea change in sales.\u00a0 The transactional sale is being consumed by a myriad of company websites offering products and solutions.\u00a0 I think this description from the TTI blog deftly describes the trend in sales hiring: Only a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sales Techniques&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heart-Hands.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heart-Hands.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heart-Hands.png?fit=560%2C315&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2128,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/10\/this-is-85-of-sales-success\/","url_meta":{"origin":731,"position":2},"title":"This Is 85% Of Sales Success","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"October 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"From an article in our local StarTribune.com (bold mine): A Carnegie Foundation study once found that only 15 percent of a businessperson's success could be attributed to job knowledge and technical skills -- considered an essential element but overall, a small contribution. A whopping 85 percent could be determined by\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":396,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/10\/the-working-interview\/","url_meta":{"origin":731,"position":3},"title":"The Working Interview","author":"Lee Fratzke","date":"October 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I came across this article in Monster's resource for candidates - Work the Working Interview. The article has three main points: How the working interview helps employers evaluate you, Show your stuff and Ace the working interview. Basically, the article provides tips for candidates on how to perform well in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1258,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/11\/sales-traits-series-sensitivity-to-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":731,"position":4},"title":"Sales Traits Series &#8211; Sensitivity To Others","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we wrap up our year-long Sales Traits Series with the final installment. This week's trait is one that provides us insight into a candidate's soft skills when relating to a prospect or customer. Sensitivity To Others The ability to be sensitive and aware of the feelings of others, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Aptitudes&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Aptitudes","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/aptitudes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2354,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/06\/social-skills-vs-sales-skills\/","url_meta":{"origin":731,"position":5},"title":"Social Skills vs. Sales Skills","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 24, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"If you\u2019re talking you\u2019re not selling.\u00a0 That is an old axiom I learned early in my sales career and it is always true.\u00a0 Talking does not equal selling. Unfortunately, people not experienced in sales hiring often have the opposite view.\u00a0 Their stereotypical belief is that the best salespeople are the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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