Interpersonal skills are a common skill that means your strengths lie with understanding people and being able to work with them as leaders or team members, service providers or customers.  This includes skills such as being a good listener, having strong communication skills both speaking and writing, being responsible and dependable in your work, and having patience.  Emotional skills such as empathy and sympathy can also be considered interpersonal skills, as they help you relate to other people.

There are many jobs and careers that are a great fit for people with strong interpersonal skills, so if you like working with people there is sure to be a job that is perfect for you.  Below are a three examples, though there are many others!

Teachers

Whether you want to teach young kids or adults, teachers need to have strong interpersonal skills. You need to be able to explain concepts in a way your students can understand, as well as be able to understand how other people think and feel so that you can teach them effectively. You will also need to work collaboratively with other teachers, and be able to interact with people at all levels, from your students to parents or family members, to school administrators or school board representatives.

Marketing and Public Relations

Careers in marketing or public relations rely heavily on your ability to understand, interact with, and react to the actions of other people.  Marketers need to understand what people want, and determine the best way to sell and provide a product or service.  This requires being a good listener and strong communicator, as you will have to speak with customers, supervisors, designers, and salespeople in order to determine what they need.  This can involve things like interviewing individuals, leading focus groups, and engaging in research projects.

Public relations is similar in that you need to understand how people think in order to present information to them in a way that they will understand and relate to. Empathy and sympathy skills are essential, as you need to know how other people will feel about a story or piece of information, and then be able to present that information in the right light.  This can involve giving presentations to small and large groups, providing written memos to internal executives or to external media, and a host of other information-sharing tasks.

Healthcare Aides (Nurses and Personal Support)

Nurses and Personal Care workers are the front lines of our healthcare system, and as such are the ones who deal most often and most directly with individual people.  Whether you work in a hospital, clinic, doctor’s office, or a worker who visits patients in their own home, you will be closely involved with people from all walks of life.  Nurses and other care workers need to be strong communicators, strong listeners, and have a great deal of empathy so that they can understand and respond to their patient’s feelings and attitudes in order to provide emotional comfort and physical care.

Sources:

https://www.oxbridgeacademy.edu.za/blog/careers-for-people-with-good-communication-skills/

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/interpersonal-skills

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/interpersonal-skills-list-2063724

https://study.com/articles/jobs_for_people_with_good_interpersonal_skills.html