Academic search committees, human-resource professionals and, increasingly, computer programs that monitor online job applications all scan resumés for key words to check that an applicant's skills match up with the advertised position's demands, panellists at a Naturejobs-sponsored career fair in Boston said last week. But they also emphasized that specific technical skills are not as important as 'soft' skills such as the ability to communicate, solve problems and work in a team. After all, once-esoteric technical skills such as cloning a gene are now passé.
Several of the 400 or so postdocs, graduate students and mid-career scientists attending the event thought that these two approaches were contradictory. The tone of the questions, as well as their repetition over two sessions, were tinged with undercurrents of fear — mixed with frustration — that not knowing some magic words would keep them from a position for which they were well qualified.
So how should they resolve this apparent inconsistency? By realizing that specific scientific and technical skills and soft skills are not mutually exclusive, several panellists said. Having both — and, more important, showing in resumés, interviews and follow-up conversations that you have them, and that they match the needs of the organization — is the most important thing.
Perhaps rather than thinking of hard and soft skills as opposites, applicants should think of demonstrating their mastery of both in a two-step process. Illustrating hard skills in a resumé can unlock the barrier between you and an interview. But showing how you used soft skills to solve a particular scientific problem or move along a project can help you walk through the door to a position.