E+ WESS - Bulgarian soft skills. Students and bussinesmen view

1. Soft skills (attitudes and behaviour the BULGARIAN students think
the employers want their staff to have)
1.High personal motivation to work
2. Teamskills
3.Organization skills – able to deal with multiple tasks and switch fast from one
to another
4.Good communication skills
5.Flexibility,adaptability
6.Ability to work under pressure
7.Honesty
8.Creativity
9.Decisive and effective learner
10.Punctuality
11.Reliability
12.Ability to think iindependently
13.Responsibility
14.Tolerance,respect and consideration towards fellow staff
15.Language skills
16.Ambition
17.Proactive attitude
18.Energy
19.Self-criticism
20.Optimism

2. What kind of personal and social qualities do employers
look for, when recruiting new workers?
The recruiting process is probably the most important thing for an employer,
because that is the only way he can choose the right person for the job he offers.
A good employer will always look for the best possible choices when it comes to
hiring his new crew. But it is important to point out that, it is required for them to
search for people with very specific quialities, traits and habits. I recently had a
disscusion with a close friend, who is also a General Manager for her own
company that she runs for almost 10 years now. She said that she is doing the
interviews herself, so that she is aboslutely sure about the people that will be
working with her. We will call her Mrs. Lorr for this article. Here are the most
important things, that an employer should always look for when recruiting new
workers.
People who know what they want and are willing to work hard for it. Mrs. Lorr
told me that she always prefers people that have big dreams and are more than
happy to talk about them. She said that a good GM will want to hire a person, who
knows exactly what he wants and what to do at every moment.
Employers want to hire people who know their strengths and are willing to admit
their weaknesses. Mrs. Lorr gave me an example ‐ she said that one boy said to
her ‐ “I’m really good at Excel”. And the next boy said ‐ “I love Excel — and I love
to teach other people the finer points of using Excel, like creating nested reports
and macros, and I am also not really good at any other software, but I can promise
you that I will be working really hard to get used to new things too!” We can all
agree that the second boy is the better pick here.
Workers that are able to think independently. Strong managers want to hire
people who have their own ideas. Managers need smart people around to sort of
"brainstorm" with and discuss even the wildest ideas. Mrs. Lorr said that, these
kind of enigmatic and independent people are always welcome in her company.
Having ambition. That means they have the goal of getting smarter and stronger

3. throughout their life. It could mean starting their own business or going off the
grid to something completely new. Good employers look for people with
ambition.
Workers who are proactive. Proactive employees don’t wait to be told what to do.
They jump into action when they see a way to help or improve something.
Managers want to hire people who are proactive. Mrs. Lorr says that people have
a way of illustrating this quality even at the interview itself! They usualy ask a lot
of questions about the work that they will be performing. Mrs. Lorr said that she
always appreciates people like this.
Lastly, employers want to hire people who take responsibility for themselves and
the situations they’re in. There is a lot of responsibility in some of the jobs people
would like to work, including responsibility for people’s lives! "The same is true if
you were a nanny" ‐ Mrs. Lorr says. "Watching infants and young children is a
high‐responsibility job. People should never be embarrassed or shy about sharing
their ‘unusual’ experience. Sometimes those experiences show their character
most of all!"

4. Interview with Peter Kolev, chief of Human Resources
1.What are the characteristics of a good employee, Mr Kolev?
As an employer, you have to recognize the qualities of your good employees as they are
an asset to any organization. It is always a challenge to retain those good employees. You
also want to hire those with the best attributes, people who have the potential to become
good employees in the future, even to become the company talents.
2. What is the most essensial thing about employee’s personality?
First, the employees must have the ability to communicate well and express themselves
in a clear manner, whether in writing or speaking. Inaccurate/inappropriate
communication between employees can cause many problems to the company.
3.Shoud every employee be resposible and self-disciplined?
As well as being communicative, a good employee never hesitates of taking
responsibility or a more responsible position. She/he is also ready to work beyond the
call of duty in order to meet goals or to solve problems, even if the job in discussion is
not one of the regular works she/he is usually assigned.
4.What about hard-working?
When it comes to hard-working one has to keep reminding oneself about the importance
and significance of working hard as an employee. Also, an employee must be decisive
and efffective learner. Employees must be willing to learn new things and give their best.
Many companies consist of teams. Any company requires an effective team effort. An
employer who can contribute is an ideal worker.
5.Are co-workers’ relantionships of importance? Is it essential to help others and be
polite?
Helping is a factor, too. An employee must establish friendly relations with the co-
workers.
A good employee is honest about his work and qualifications. Self criticism and willing to
receive feedback is essential to become a good learner.
Being friendly and approachable will never harm. A good employee greets her co-
workers with a ‘good morning’, says little courteous things like ‘thank you’ and ‘you are
welcome’. These things may appear insignificant but go a long way in establishing the
person as favorite employee.
6.To sum up…
Every boss loves punctual and disciplined employees. Time is money. Coming late to
office, taking unnecessary breaks, procrastinating and leaving earlier than the usual
hours cost money to the company. No employer will ever appreciate this.
Vasilena Georgieva and Adriana Petrova