don’t underestimate the importance of ‘soft skills’ in IT

The fast pace of today’s tech-nology requires IT professionals to continually learn and expand their skills. And that means more than just technical skills. Because technology is now the engine of nearly every type of business, soft skills aren’t just desirable—they’re a requirement.

“Soft skills today are more important than ever,” says Alan Stukalsky, CIO at Ransdtad. “Agile development requires effective daily interaction between busi-ness and IT people in order to build the best projects.”

Social media, mobile, big data/analytics and cloud impact every aspect of business operations, so IT must team with people from a variety of departments in a broad range of roles. IT professionals need to see the big picture, not just the technology piece. They should be able to examine a problem from a business unit’s point of view and explain how technology can help.

Especially in social media, mobile and analytics, IT frequently works with marketing, says Stukalsky. “These are people from opposite ends of the soft skills spectrum.”

However, soft skills can be de-veloped. Randstad’s managed resource program, for example, has a mentoring program that matches a newly assigned IT staff member with someone who has experience with a particular client. The mentor helps the new member understand the nuances of the client’s culture and com-munications style, says Katrice McCullough, practice director of Randstad’s managed resource program.

Job candidates can illustrate their soft skills on their resume or LinkedIn profile by highlighting how they’ve networked beyond their own narrow specialty, says Stukalsky. “Show how you’ve worked with others and learned from them,” he says. “Show that you’re putting yourself out there in the world.”

Firms throughout the U.S., rang-ing from high-tech startups to Fortune 100 corporations, count on Randstad Technologies to strengthen their competitive posi-tions. To learn more, go to https://www.randstadusa.com.