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How I uploaded soft skills online and what it gave me

Background


Hello everyone! My name is Alexey. Over my short life (I’m 30) I have changed many professions. This feature - I can not do one thing for a long time. Interest disappears, even comes to health problems. Recently, I decided to get into an it company. Passed courses, read books to be ready.

Until the end of last year, I did not know about such a thing as “soft skills”. And I learned about him from the lips of hr-s. All the last interview trips ended in failure after I was asked about these very soft skills.

For example, I was asked such questions:

  • “When was the last time you were offended by someone?”
  • "What was your best leader?"
  • “How do you get down to an unfamiliar task?”
  • "How do you feel about criticism?"
  • “Don't you find yourself too talkative?”

The last question altogether unsettled me and made me nervous.

I was repeatedly made the observation that my communication skills are not sufficiently developed. Naturally, I was angry and did not understand what they wanted from me. Here I am sitting in front of you, talking. Moreover, I completed the test task. And in general, I have always believed that I can communicate with people.

Search


I was not going to give up. After the anger went away, I started looking for information about soft skills. In general, this is an interesting topic, but not immediately clear. These are some mental things that, like, can be learned.

Search gave me a selection of books. But all the last self-development books read were simply stuffed with water and stamps. I immediately dismissed this option. But if you trust books, then here is a short list of what I found:

  • . « »
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I am also skeptical about training. How can one learn a skill in a few hours?

I began to read articles on the topic, trying to find valuable information.

After a while I found here interesting material about managerial fights. The topic was very interesting, since it directly affects both communication and stress resistance, but, as luck would have it, there was no such club in my city.

"How to develop these damn skills if they have nowhere to learn?" I thought, and at that moment the search engine algorithms showed me an ad urging me to upgrade soft skills in 3 weeks at an online tournament. I had nothing to lose - I followed the link.

In short, I was offered an online simulator for developing soft skills. The organizers said that the process is built in the format of the game. Since video games are my passion, it bribed me, and I signed up.

Participation


Immediately there was a snag - there was no full iOS version. I had to take away my wife’s Android smartphone from my wife every night. But the fact that everything happens online and there is no attachment to the place is a plus.

So, I got access to the platform, where several cases were given, in which different situations were played out between the subordinate and the boss, the student and the teacher, two colleagues, etc. It was necessary to choose any and have a duel with an opponent. At first everything was very incomprehensible, I was confused, did not know what to say. Other participants showed that they had the same story. The thought came up: “Well, I say to the camera, so what? How does this teach me? There is skype. ”

But at the webinars they explained to us that this is normal and needs to be continued. Well, once I started, I decided not to back down.

The first week was training. I think this is correct, since it was necessary to understand everything. During this time, the barrier disappeared - it was uncomfortable for me to communicate with strangers through the camera. Live there was no such problem. Based on my gaming experience, I began to introduce opponents as NPCs from role-playing games that were programmed for specific replicas.

After the fights, everyone evaluates himself and his opponent. It would seem that you just take and vote for yourself. But each participant has a parameter “Adequacy of self-esteem”, which falls when you judge unfairly. If there is a draw, the match is judged by someone else from the participants.

The most interesting thing began in the second week, when everyone was divided by teams. Here the real tournament has already begun. Each match brought and took points not only from me, but also from the whole team. There was a sense of responsibility. In the team chat, we talked to each other and sorted out fights.

Not without unpleasant things. Due to the difference in time zones, it was not always possible to find who to play with, as someone was from Vladivostok, and someone from Tambov.

Sometimes the platform stopped working and could not play. After these sorties, I had to log in again. Technical support replied that problems arise because the platform is new and they launch such a tournament for the first time. Fortunately, they answered quickly.

As a result, our team entered the top five, but personally I did not have enough points to reach the final stage, where everyone was already for himself.

results


At first, it was not entirely clear to me how and what a conversation on video communication teaches me. But it turned out that the result is fixed by repeated repetition. Due to employment, I fell out for two days and felt a rollback. Gradually, I began to notice how quickly I was trying to determine the core of the conflict, not only in the game, but also in conversations in life. Having learned about the planes of conflict, I conscientiously tried to consider each situation from different angles.

By the way, it’s very convenient that you could watch your fights on the record. It turns out I had a strange facial expression. I watched myself and changed my behavior.

My so-called soft skills unnoticed, indeed, pumped. I can’t say how many percent or how many times, since, I repeat, it is difficult to measure. But the results are as follows:

  • He got a job at an IT company as an analyst.
  • I consciously follow my body language. Learned to recognize how posture and facial expressions are related to mood.
  • It has become less to use in speech the words parasites and mooing. The format of the fights did not allow wasteful time.
  • I did not learn to avoid conflicts, but it became easier to resolve them.
  • It has become easier to convey your thoughts to others
  • Knowing what the conversation would be about, the habit appeared to think over its scenario in advance.
  • He began to distinguish between the concepts of "listen" and "hear."

The organizers promised to launch an online club after the tournament.

If your city has a management struggle club, I strongly advise you to sign up there. It will be useful to representatives of any profession. If not, then the online version is very good.

PS


A few tips that can help you develop soft skills:

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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/undefined/

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