The “power skills” you need to level up
In any job, there are technical abilities that are important, or even essential, to the role. But just as crucial to work are non-technical skills – what are commonly referred to as “soft skills” but are now being considered true power skills.
Across all workplaces, organisations and sectors, power skills can help you stand out – especially in roles that use AI or automation to handle the technical side of things. These days, with many different jobs embracing technology to become more efficient, power skills are a job seeker’s ‘secret weapon’.
What are power skills in the workplace?
Power skills are also known as people skills – social abilities you bring to the table, aside from any specialist knowledge or technical knowhow. They include communication, leadership, empathy, teamwork, adaptability and emotional intelligence, and are increasingly important for job seekers to have as technical abilities are becoming less critical.
Understandably, employers are placing more emphasis on these skills, says Jane Jackson, career coach and author of Navigating Career Crossroads.
Viv Farrington, Founder and Principal Consultant at Muse Digital puts it this way: “AI can take care of the tasks, but when it comes to building real trust, meaningful relationships and genuine partnerships to move things forward? That’s all us humans – that’s still our superpower.”
While “soft skills” have always been important, reframing them as “power skills” reflects the increasing value of social skills in the workplace.
The most important power skills and how they add value
SEEK research shows communication, self-motivation and initiative, and adaptability are the top skills employers look for in candidates right now. They’re so important that 71% of Australian hirers would compromise on experience if a candidate had strong transferable skills.
While AI can handle tasks and data, it’s these human qualities that support collaboration, creativity and culture. This is something Farrington sees in her recruitment for design roles all the time.
“As a recruiter of designers, I see how these skills often set great candidates apart,” she says. “Designers naturally excel at understanding user needs, communicating ideas and navigating complexity with empathy, making them increasingly vital in a tech-driven world.”
These power skills are transferable because they’re needed to succeed in roles where there’s a team environment, you have customers or clients, or multiple stakeholders, says Jackson. “In fact, they’re needed in almost every role!”
Building power skills at work
Sharpening these skills in the workplace is all about practice. While people sometimes assume people skills are innate, they’re just like any other – they take time and effort to improve.
For skills like emotional intelligence, empathy and communication, focus on how you interact with people, make eye contact, read their body language and listen to what is being said to understand, not just to respond, says Jackson.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions that’ll help you understand more deeply. In times of conflict, she says, take a different point of view and step into the other person’s shoes to better understand their perspective. It might not always be easy, but it can be a great way to clear up misunderstandings.
“By creating better awareness of others, you’ll develop greater emotional intelligence and adapt your communication,” says Jackson.
Building power skills at work also means demonstrating how you apply them in day-to-day interactions, on projects or other responsibilities. Take a designer, for example. This could involve clearly explaining the “why” behind feedback, showing empathy through user-centred thinking and actively collaborating across teams, such as with product and engineering.
How to showcase power skills when applying for a role
Unlike technical skills, which are easily measured or linked to qualifications, power skills are harder to quantify. That doesn’t mean there aren’t ways to showcase them in the hiring process.
On your resumé, list power skills in your skills section, and if you include a resumé summary and/or a cover letter, mention them there as well. In a job interview, you have more of an opportunity to expand on your power skills.
Consider what you’ve achieved in past roles, says Jackson. “It’s not enough to say you have excellent interpersonal communication skills and can resolve conflict, you must back it up with an example.”
She suggests using this method:
- Situation. Identify what was going on at work where you needed to take action.
- Challenge. Clarify the issues around the situation.
- Action. Say what you did to solve the challenge.
- Result. Share the outcome of your approach. For example, did you mitigate risk, resolve a conflict, save time, save money or streamline a process?
- Skills. Mention the specific skills you used to get this result – did you show that you can negotiate, influence, problem-solve, communicate, build morale, mentor or support?
It helps to think of these examples before stepping into any interviews. Reflect on past roles and write down how you’ve used power skills in the past as part of your preparation.
As technology takes over many tasks that were previously done by people, power skills become more important to employers. These power skills are what will help set you apart and move your career forward, no matter what technological changes will come. The best part? These skills can be improved with practice – the more you develop them, the stronger they’ll get.
