You are asking an important question as soft skills can make a difference. While they don’t count as much as much the actual interview, soft skills come into play on two, sometimes three different occasions:
- Firm presentations: Both before and after firm presentations, there will be consultants and recruiters commingling with candidates.
- Interviews: There will be a few minutes before the interview begins where your soft skills can set the tone of the interview.
- Team exercises (optional for some firms): Some firms have 4-6 candidates work on a group case exercise and soft skills play a big part where elements like empathy, listening, presence, teamwork and influencing are assessed.
You can improve your soft skills just about anywhere you interact with others, whether it’s one-on-one ore in a large group. Here are few to get you started:
- School team / group meetings
- School organizations
- School orientation / admission events
- Recruiting events / firm presentations
- Case interview practice partners
- Networking events (e.g., Network After Work, Alumni events)
- Toastmaster’s International Meetings
- Meetup groups (https://www.meetup.com/)
- Volunteer work (especially with younger groups)
- Political / religious organizations (if you are so inclined)
- Mentor sessions