This is certainly interesting. A new survey by the Institute for Corporate Productivity found that what employers are really looking for are the "soft skills." (Via Heather Huhman)

The study found that, overall, 76 percent of study respondents have identified soft skills such as listening skills, persuasion and teamwork that lead to successful organizational performance. Among large and high market performing companies, the numbers climb. Eighty-three percent of companies with 10,000 or more employees said they identify soft skills, compared to 72 percent of firms with 100-999 workers and 65 percent of those with fewer than 100 employees. Also, 85 percent of high-performing organizations ID soft skills, whereas 70 percent of lower performers reported doing so.

Clearly communication skills are important and definitely fall into the "soft skills" category. One way to brush up on your communication skills is through blogging. Now, I'm not one who advocates that every tom, Dick and Susie blog just for the sake of blogging. There are enough voices out there, so don't write just to write. It's important to have a message or theme and stick to it. And certainly don't go getting so personal that you could harm your career options in the long run.

But, like I said, it can help mold some of your of soft skills. And, according to Miriam Salpeter at Keppie Careers it can help your hard skills, too. Miriam talks about a client who was transitioning careers. The hiring manager hired the candidate and informed the new employee that the organization was largely convinced by the impressive writing on her blog.

So, if you do it well, and for the right reasons, you can use a blog as a showcase for some of your talents. And in the process it can help increase your skills and your ability to land a job.

"I'm blogging this" courtesy Foxtongue via Flickr Creative Commons