Every job requires a mix of soft skills and hard skills to carry out effectively. This post explores the difference between soft skills and hard skills, how to build these skills and how to prove these skills on a resume when applying for your next job.
Table of Contents
What are soft skills?
Let’s start with soft skills. These are skills that are universal to a wide range of jobs and that are often linked to one’s personality. They are behaviors, attitudes and ways of thinking that can make you a vital asset in certain roles. Examples of soft skills include:
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- Time management
- Creativity
- Problem solving
- Emotional intelligence
How can you build your soft skills?
Soft skills can be very hard to build because they are often linked to habits and behaviours we have built up over time. Developing new soft skills may require a chance of mindset and a lot of discipline to help new habits stick. There are AI skills intelligence tools that you can use to track behaviours and help you adjust them. You can also take courses or get coaching lessons to develop skills like leadership, communication or time management.
How do you prove soft skills to an employer?
To prove soft skills to an employer, you may be asked situational questions or you may have to do role plays to show how you react to certain tasks and information. You may also be able to prove soft skills in your resume by providing past stories of times you used these skills.
What are hard skills?
Hard skills are often job-specific technical skills that you cannot learn inherently. Only by training or formal education can you develop these skills. They include skills such as:
- Driving
- Programming
- Copywriting
- Video editing
- Accounting
- Sales
- Foreign languages
How can you build your hard skills?
To build your hard skills, you typically need to pay to take up courses or you need to learn these skills on the job through training. It may be possible to learn certain hard skills by watching Youtube videos or reading books and manuals. Hands-on practice may also be necessary to build these skills to an expert level.
How do you prove hard skills to an employer?
Many hard skills are best proved through certificates and licenses. Others can be proved by keeping a portfolio of one’s work – you may be able to show examples of websites you’ve designed, articles you’ve written or photographs of food you’ve prepared (when applying for a chef role). Sometimes aptitude tests may be carried out to measure hard skills. For example, a graphic design company may give applicants a brief to follow – which could include designing a logo or an infographic for a client. Quizzes are also sometimes used to test knowledge of terms and assess an applicant’s overall knowledge.
The importance of soft skills and hard skills
Both soft skills and hard skills often have to be used together. When trying to break into an industry, it is important that you spend time developing the necessary soft skills and hard skills and then find ways of proving them to a potential employer.
