Soft skills vs hard skills. Hard skills are skills specific to your role. Soft skills are transferrable. Problem Solving is transferrable, you would have used your problem solving skills doing research, writing papers, deciding the best way to phrase a paragraph. It sounds stupid, like the other transferrable skills (attention to detail, critical thinking, working autonomously or as a team), but they’re more necessary than the hard skills you’d learn on the job (software use, specific processes, etc).

The issue with soft skills is it can be difficult to isolate and identify them within ourselves, and then to write a cohesive CV/cover letter that addresses them. Then when you get an interview, make sure you have examples of their key selection criteria as most places will interview using the STAR approach (Situation, Task, Action and Result).

I had ChatGPT write up a nice cover letter template for myself, and then edited it to sound more like me, because I find describing myself positively to others to be the most hardest of tasks. Then I memorise some STAR answers if I get an interview, so I’m not scrambling on the spot wracking my brain.

I hate the whole process tbh. Wishing you all the luck!