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It’s no secret that bolstering your skill set is essential for a successful career in virtually any field. But there’s another set of skills to master outside of your chosen profession. No matter what your field or your level of expertise, these skills are always in demand, and they’re known as soft skills.

Soft skills are common sense, core abilities like critical thinking, effective writing, understanding general hierarchies, an aptitude for teamwork, the ability to read tone and body language, public speaking and other communication skills. Additionally, those with networking skills, organizational skills and other interpersonal skills often find themselves positioned for success, thanks to their ability to read a situation and adapt.

The importance of soft skills in the workplace cannot be overstated. Enhancing your career can often be made easier with the right communication skills and teamwork skills. Soft skills can also help you stand out as an attractive candidate when it comes to job interviews.

"Employers have a desire for all employees to have key soft skills," Savron says. She adds that some of the most important are good communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving and integrity.

"Newer ones being adding to those expectations include empathy, creativity, and diversity and cultural competence," she says. "These skills contribute to career success as much as hard skills do and are even more critical for leadership."

There are many,����or highlighting. Some of the more prominent ones include:

• Organization. Do you care about physical neatness (e.g., a clean desk, folders in their proper order in filing cabinets) as well as mental organization (keeping track of your to-do list)? Then you are already well ahead of most people in terms of organization.
• Communication. Reaching people is easy. Convincing them, captivating them, entertaining them or educating them, however, can be incredibly challenging without interpersonal skills like communication. If people frequently ask you to clarify a point, your documents come back with lots of red pen marks or you’ve had problems with HR because someone misunderstood or misinterpreted your comment, you may need to work on your communication skills.
• Teamwork. Teamwork is crucial, even if you’re an entrepreneur or freelancer. You need to know how to work alongside your clients, their employees, vendors, team members who work for your clients or partner organizations also serving them. You may even need to know how to work with and manage eventual employees of your own.
• Networking. Succeeding in any field, especially competitive ones, requires strong networking skills. These might include remembering people you met briefly (and by full name), collecting business cards, joining LinkedIn® Corporation and using it to your benefit and generally building your "network" or professional database of friends, co-workers and acquaintances.
• Public speaking. Many people fear public speaking, some are indifferent and a few are exceptional, natural orators. The trick is understanding which one you are��before��your first presentation or business event. If you’re one of the many people who find public speaking tough (or downright terrifying), practice makes perfect. The more times you run through it, the more likely you are to do the real thing with confidence.
• Creative writing. If you were assigned to write an article or essay on a specific subject, could you do it? If you recoil at the idea of typing something from scratch (or even an outline), you may need to develop your writing skills.
• Time management. Are you using your time wisely? If you feel like you get things done much faster than coworkers, you may be practicing excellent time management. If, on the other hand, you feel harried or behind, you may need to work on prioritizing your to-do list, setting clear and attainable goals and further fine-tuning your time-management skills.
• Leadership. While some people are natural leaders, others benefit from the mentorship of a good leader. Skills like time management, delegation, goal setting, conflict resolution and communication all combine within excellent leaders who can guide their team to success.

Another soft skill worth developing is learning how to take initiative. This is a little tricky since it involves being attuned to tasks or problems before they’re readily apparent. And while it’s great to head off problems or complete a project before anyone asks you to, be careful that you do not overstep your boundaries. (Doing someone else’s job, for example, might not go over well with your co-worker or your supervisor.)

Do, however, look for ways to get a head start on a project you’re already going to be working on. Or see if you can complete preliminary research or brainstorm ahead of a meeting or workshop.