Career Q’s: What traits do companies seek? The answer may surprise you.

Editor’s note: Chuck Garcia Latin Biz Today advisory board member on emotional intelligence in the workplace. This is the first session in the series.

LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the internet. Although I try never to assume the obvious, if you are reading this article, you likely have a LinkedIn account. If you don’t, I encourage you to create one.

It’s also fair to assume you are connected on LinkedIn to hundreds of other working professionals. Because this community has over 750 million registered users, LinkedIn contains a rich pool of companies in search of talent, and job seekers looking for their next great opportunity.  With more than 55 million organizations listed on the site, and 15 million open jobs, it is no surprise that 87% of recruiters regularly use LinkedIn.

Each year, this social media platform publishes an annual list of the top 10 hard and soft skills employers seek in their quest to find the best talent. For hard skills, the top three are Blockchain technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Cloud Computing. But what about the soft skills? What traits do companies seek? The answer may surprise you.

Given how chaotic the world has become, leading companies around the globe recognize the need to be adaptable, and to hire employees with skills consistent with their values. Whether you know it or not, the companies seeking superior talent look far beyond the methods that seemed so invaluable only one generation ago. Although you may have thought that the person with the highest IQ is the smartest one in the room, we now think differently about brain power and its correlation to career success.

Instead, the marketplace, with some help from LinkedIn, continues to help companies redefine what it means to be smart. While the demonstration of your hard skills is important, there is an entire level of career traits that until now may have been hiding in the background. No longer. These newly appreciated skills are called Career Q’s, and they are just as valuable in ascending the corporate ladder as their counterpart, the hard skills. Like any quotient, these skills are measured, monitored, and developed to assist on your climb to the top of your career mountain.

According to a 2020 LinkedIn survey to thousands of employers, see the list below for the traits already considered a quotient critical for career growth. It is only a matter of time before social scientists begin to measure and promote quotients for Persuasion and Collaboration as well. In the meantime, Communications, and Execution (how effectively you get things done) quotients are worth examining and developing.

1. Creativity, CQ
2. Persuasion
3. Collaboration
4. Adaptability, AQ
5. Emotional Intelligence, EQ
6. Execution, XQ
7. Communications, CCQ

This new Latin Biz Today series, called Career Q’s: Redefining What It Means to be Smart, will explain each of the 5 Career Q’s. Each week, I will feature one of these Q’s, define it, and provide practical tips and resources necessary to help accelerate that climb to the top of your career mountain.

Related content:

3 Reasons Why Every Moment Matters

Gratitude- 5 Steps To A Sincere “Thank You”

Listen Before You Ask

More at Emotional Intelligence Lab