15 Professional Skills (Plus Definition

and Tips)

Employees in most roles and industries can grow their careers with professional skills.
Professional skills can help you get a new job, advance positions, build workplace
relationships and improve your job performance. In this article, we define what professional
skills are, discuss 15 different categories of professional skills and offer advice on how to
develop your professional skills.

What are professional skills?

Professionals skills are abilities that can help you succeed in your job. A professional skill
describes a habit, personality trait or ability that positively affects your performance in the
workplace. Having professional skills can benefit people in nearly all job positions, industries
and work environments.

Professional skills are also called soft skills, meaning skills easily transferred from one job to
another. Soft skills describe how we relate to our environment and the people around us. By
contrast, hard skills refer to more technical or specialized knowledge related to a specific job
or industry.

15 professionals skills
Here are 15 categories of soft skills that can help develop your professional career:

1. Leadership

Whether or not you work in a supervisory position, leadership skills can be a valuable asset
in your career. Leadership abilities mean you can motivate, instruct and offer guidance to
others. People with leadership skills are confident in their abilities to help others work,
collaborate, problem-solve or succeed at their responsibilities.

Skills related to leadership include:

● Confidence
 ● People management
● Accountability
● Prioritization
● Motivational skills
● Coaching
● Project management
● Analytical skills
● Creativity
● Mentorship
● Inspirational abilities
● Goal setting
● Stress management
● Politeness

2. Teamwork

People who work well on teams have interpersonal skills, or skills that help them effectively
collaborate. Many employees work in groups with their coworkers or supervisors to fulfill at
least some of their job responsibilities. Professionals with teamwork skills understand how to
accomplish their tasks while remaining aware of others' assignments and needs.

Some skills that professionals who excel at teamwork have include:

● Cooperation
● Reliability
● Willingness to help others
● Friendliness
● Ability to persuade or convince others
● Respectfulness
● Tolerance
● Working towards a common goal
● Collaboration

3. Emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence refers to how we express our feelings, relate to others and interpret
others' behaviors. Professionals with emotional intelligence can perceive how others feel
through their actions, speech or behaviors. If you have emotional intelligence, you also can
identify, evaluate and assess your own feelings. Emotional intelligence helps professionals in
many social settings, whether with clients, coworkers or managers.

Here are some skills to develop if you want to hone your emotional intelligence:

● Self-awareness
 ● Empathy
● Initiative
● Conscientiousness, or the desire and ability to treat others well
● Self-regulation
● Trustworthiness
● Sympathy

4. Organization

Organizational abilities help you accomplish projects and duties. Professionals with
organization skills understand how to prioritize tasks, create plans and implement solutions.
A person's time management often relates closely to their organizational abilities, as many
employers need projects completed efficiently by their deadlines.

Being skilled at organization means professionals excel at:

● Stress management
● Creation of plans
● Delegation
● Attention to details
● Punctuality
● Executive functioning, such as prioritizing duties
● Time management
● Distribution of resources
● Dependability

5. Flexibility

Supervisors often appreciate employees who can adapt to a variety of situations and
challenges. Professionals who are flexible can understand various perspectives, find
alternative solutions to problems and alter their work responsibilities or processes as
needed.

To become more flexible, consider strengthening the following skills:

● Remaining calm in stressful situations

● Adaptability
● Open-mindedness
● Approaching challenges with a positive mindset
● Proactiveness
● Critical thinking
● Patience
 ● Willingness to consider additional information or change your opinion
● Perceptiveness

6. Communication

Most professionals use a variety of communication methods, such as in-person

conversations, meetings, emails, instant messaging systems and telephone calls. People
skilled at communication understand how to efficiently deliver information, exchange ideas
and pay attention to the other person's message. Communication skills most often involve
either written or verbal words, but may also involve interpreting body language.
Professionals with communication abilities also can adeptly manage challenging social
situations, such as negotiating or finding compromises.

Skills related to communication include:

● Conflict resolution
● Etiquette
● Advocacy
● Networking
● Business writing
● Customer service
● Facilitation
● Kindness
● Explaining their thought process behind decisions or actions
● Respect
● Clarity
● Active listening
● Negotiation
● Concision, or using words efficiently

7. Self-motivated

Professionals who are self-motivated take the initiative. If you're self-motivated, you typically
need minimal supervision to start or complete your duties. Many supervisors appreciate
employees who accomplish tasks and work hard regardless of their supervision level.

To work on your self-motivation, consider developing these skills:

● Self-starter
● Independence
● Desire to achieve
 ● Resilience
● Commitment to goals
● Optimism
● Initiative
● Ambition
● Willingness to grow and change

8. Problem-solving

Most work environments have some unpredictability. Managers often prefer to hire people
who respond proactively to new or challenging circumstances. Problem-solving skills help
professionals evaluate altered or new situations, create effective plans and devise
alternative solutions.

Abilities related to problem-solving include:

● Risk management, or the ability to evaluate potential hazards of various plans

● Innovation
● Determination
● Remaining calm during stressful situations
● Analysis
● Creativity
● Understanding of data
● Decision-making
● Research abilities

9. Openness to learning

Professionals willing to learn new information and skills may receive more attention from
hiring managers. Most jobs, industries or companies change over time, so employers
appreciate candidates receptive to learning new concepts, abilities or processes.

To show your willingness to learn, focus on developing these abilities:

● Receptiveness to constructive criticism

● Enthusiasm
● Openness to personal growth
● Initiative
● Learning agility, or the ability to develop new skills
● Self-motivation
● Continual engagement with industry, local, global or other news
10. Integrity

Integrity means that you are honest, dependable and have strong ethics or principles. When
an employer hires someone with integrity, they trust that person and believe the new hire
can uphold the company's values. Integrity also means a willingness to take responsibility for
your own behaviors and actions.

Skills related to integrity include:

● Principled
● Honesty
● Trustworthiness
● Understanding of ethics
● Loyalty
● Reliability

11. Self-confidence

Professionals with self-confidence believe in their abilities to effectively accomplish their job.
If you have self-confidence, you project positive feelings about your skills to others. Having
self-confidence helps convince prospective employers of your capability to accomplish job
responsibilities.

If you want to develop self-confidence, work on these skills:

● Courage
● Self-awareness
● Describing your abilities to others
● Tenacity
● Being assertive
● Optimism
● Determination
● Self-reliance
● Understanding and assessing your abilities

12. Public speaking

Whether or not you regularly lead company initiatives, public speaking skills can help your
career. Professionals can use public speaking skills in a variety of situations, such as
offering their thoughts during meetings, contributing to discussions about group projects or
communicating complex ideas to a coworker. Public speaking skills assist you in effectively
communicating your message to different people.
Abilities related to public speaking include:

● Confidence
● Poise
● Awareness of body language
● Planning your main talking points or ideas in advance
● Leadership
● Thinking and reacting to changes quickly
● Clarity
● Increasing the volume of your voice
● Organizing ideas
● Articulation
● Connecting with your audience, such as through eye contact
● Altering vocal tone
● Openness to constructive feedback
● Concision

13. Open-mindedness

People with open minds are receptive to new ideas, methods and knowledge. They also can
respect, appreciate and learn from other people. Most jobs prefer employees who can
communicate effectively with people who hold different perspectives or come from different
backgrounds.

To work on becoming more open-minded, try developing these skills:

● Inquisitiveness
● Considerate of others
● Introspection, meaning the ability to evaluate your own thoughts and emotions
● Empathy
● Actively listening
● Willingness to have new experiences
● Positive thinking

14. Professionalism

Professionalism refers to skills and behaviors that respect others. An employee with
professionalism shows courteousness to others, takes responsibility for their own tasks and
proves they're a dependable coworker.

Professionalism skills may include:

 ● Reliability
● Kindness
● Poise
● Civility
● Respectfulness
● Accountability
● Maturity
● Communication

15. Positive attitude

Professionals with positive attitudes have optimism, motivation and enthusiasm A positive
attitude can help you improve others' moods, collaborate more effectively and increase your
job satisfaction. Many managers prefer hiring employees who bring passion and joy into their
work environment.

Abilities and traits related to having a positive attitude include:

● Optimism
● Enthusiasm
● Passion
● Cheerfulness
● Finding alternative solutions
● Helpful
● Self-confidence
● Energetic
● Positive thinking
● Receptive to feedback