Sometimes all that’s standing between you and your next job is a simple tweak (Picture: Getty Images)

If you know, you know: ‘rizz’ aka charisma, was Oxford’s Word of the Year for 2023. If it makes the dictionary, it must be big news, right?

That’s thanks to Spiderman and Uncharted star Tom Holland, who said in an interview with Buzzfeed in June that ‘I have no rizz whatsoever’.

While it Tom Holland dropped the world in June, its roots lie in Black culture in the US, and its entry into the pop culture lexicon is credited to Twitch streamer Kai Cenat, who used it as far back as 2021.

What is rizz? According to Oxford, it’s ‘style, charm or attractiveness’ or ‘the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner’.

While many use it as a verb to ‘rizz up’ a person, or, to charm – but can the idea be applied elsewhere, like, for example, in your working life?

Sure, you may not want to be seen as the ‘personality hire’ on your team (even though, as we recently reported, that’s not necessarily a bad thing), showing a bit of ‘rizz’ during a job interview is no bad thing, as it shows the interviewer that you’ve got a point of view and are friendly and engaging.

Another way you can apply a rizz-adjacent tactic is within your CV.

While we’d be reluctant to suggest you pepper your resume with flirtatious reimaginings of your work history, what you can do is make sure it is optimised with the kind of skills that hiring managers get excited about.

How can I sharpen my soft skills?

Right now, it’s your soft skills that will make you the most attractive candidate. Of course, your core technical competencies are still important in terms of your job performance, but what many companies are looking for in 2024 is workers who can show empathy, leadership and problem-solving abilities.

Don’t just take our word for it. The World Economic Forum (WEF) says in its most recent Future of Jobs report that ‘cognitive skills top the list of those deemed to be of greatest importance for workers’.

The WEF lists analytical and creative thinking as two of the most in-demand skills by 2027.

Additionally, its report found that the self-efficacy skills of resilience, flexibility and agility; motivation and self-awareness; and curiosity and lifelong learning are also highly prized.

‘There’s more of a focus and an interest in having people with analytical thinking, people with creativity,’ confirms WEF managing director Saadia Zahidi.

Zahidi added: ‘But it’s also become very important to have leadership skills and to have social influence, and the ability to work with other people. The traits that make us human, make us able to relate with each other and to get innovative, creative things done in the workplace.’

Get adding those soft skills! (Picture: Getty Images/Westend61)

As we emerge into an AI-driven future, this is even more important as experts are increasingly confident that the best way employees have to outshine their robot counterparts is by being human.

Your ability to come up with innovative and creative ideas is what will set workers apart, as will skills around people management – these are things that thankfully, AI tools can’t yet surpass.

If you want to impress with your CV this year and put your soft skills to the test, you can find a wide variety of roles on offer on the Metro Job Board or discover three great jobs below.

Recruitment company Guardian Professional Corporate Services is seeking a talented Sales Manager to work for an award-winning fintech and payment industry company in London.

Here, you’ll develop new leads via market research, conference and exhibitions attendance, and any other mode suitable for establishing new prospects, design and implement sales strategies that deliver against sales and revenue objectives and direct all elements of the sales cycle.

To apply, you’ll need a Bachelor’s degree in business administration, marketing, sales, or a similar area, as well as proven work experience in the sales industry as a sales manager, with experience in finance, fintech and payment industries highly desirable.

In Cricklade, Archers Recruitment Ltd is looking for a Tech Support manager who will be responsible for gaining a basic understanding of all product lines offered, be responsible for providing pre-sales guidance to internal and external customers and who will provide full lifecycle management of customer issues.

You will need excellent communication and analytical skills as well as excellent MS Office skills, along with an outstanding work ethic to apply.

In London, ubs is seeking a Tech Engineer. In this role you will be working as a Senior Network Implementation Engineer in a team located across three geographical locations: India, Poland and London covering the EMEA region.

You’ll need project delivery experience to create and deploy HLD and LLD solutions following defined standards, analyse network requirements and define detailed solutions and plan and implement complex projects from end-to-end.

Start your tech job hunt today on the Metro Job Board

Minimal effort for maximum reward, we say.