Soft Skills - what are they and how are they different to hard skills?
According to the WEF, social skills (also known as soft skills) such as persuasion, patience, flexibility, emotional intelligence and teaching others will be in higher demand across industries, rather than narrow technical skills, such as programming or equipment operation and control.
In essence, technical skills will need to be supplemented with strong social and collaboration skills.
But the need for these so-called soft skills is not just a distant imperative: more and more businesses today are identifying soft skills as essential in the recruiting process.
Before we go any further let’s clarify the difference between hard and soft skills.
Hard skills are those that you need to be able to perform in a particular job and are often obtained through a degree, diploma or course of some kind. Some examples of hard skills are proficiency in a foreign language, speed typing, machine operation, computer programming, motor mechanics, dentistry etc.
Soft skills might be considered skills that you master through experience, not study, and are usually not found in a university degree or course, or relate to any specific industry or job. A number of soft skills are also known as "people skills" or "interpersonal skills," and describe the way you relate with other people. They are subjective skills that are much harder to quantify and are usually demonstrated through your behaviour and interactions with others.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) conducted a study on 260 employers (including Chevron and IBM, according to Forbes) and found the following five skills to be the most valuable in employees, in order of importance. Interestingly they are all what might be considered soft skills. They are an ability to:
Not all of these soft skills are required for all jobs. In fact, every job would have a varying combination and ratio of essential hard and soft skills. Careers can be put into 3 categories in relation to their requirements for soft and hard skills.
1) Careers that need mostly hard skills and few soft skills
The focus is very much on the ability and knowledge of the person in the area of expertise (e.g. Physicist). There is often little need to utilise a wide range of interpersonal skills. For instance, companies from the mining/materials and industrial/consumer manufacturing sectors placed a heavy emphasis on recruits with a strong suite of hard skills.
2) Careers that need both hard and soft skills
Many careers are in this category (e.g. Accountants, Lawyers – they need to know the rules of accounting or law well but they also need to develop strong relationships and effective levels of communication with their clients). Companies in the IT/telecom sector also indicate a preference for both customer-service skills (typically defined as soft skills) and technological literacy, a hard skill.
3) Careers that need mostly soft skills and few hard skills
(e.g.Sales). A car salesman doesn’t have to be an expert on all of the cars in the caryard. His job is more dependent on his ability to read his customers, identify their needs, communicate his sales pitch, use persuasion skills, and skills to close to deal. These are all soft skills. The financial and service sectors also place more emphasis on soft skills.
HOW CAN I DEMONSTRATE THESE SKILLS IF I AM STILL IN SCHOOL?
If soft skills are identified in the selection criteria when applying for a job it is important to be able to articulate examples of where you have demonstrated these skills, even if your only experiences have been in a school or part-time job setting.
As a student, there are many ways that you can demonstrate achievement or experience of soft skills. As mentioned previously these skills are usually not gained by a degree or certificate but through experience. Summer jobs, part-time work, volunteering, and international experiences are an excellent source for many of the soft skills being sought. Think of the co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, excursions, overseas tours, competitions and clubs you are involved in at school – these too provide excellent opportunities to showcase one or more ‘soft’ skills. For instance, to convey your ability to “work in a team structure,” you might provide an example of how you worked together with a group of individuals to complete a task or project and outline the specifics of the event: scope of work, job titles of the team, how responsibilities were assigned and delegated, whether there were any obstacles to overcome as a team, the outcome, etc. Were you part of a solar car challenge at school? Did you participate in a Robocup Challenge where you had to build a robot? Were you on the school Ball / Prom committee, or the editorial board for the school newspaper? These would all be excellent examples.
Here is a example for that part-time job:
If you are in hospitality working in a coffee shop, as well as the specific barista / kitchen /waiting skills you are demonstrating, you are also communicating with customers and other staff members, dealing with difficult people at times, following regulations of occupational health and safety, working as part of a team, solving problems (e.g. when the coffee machine breaks down), demonstrating a strong work ethic when you are punctual, work without guidance and show initiative, and prioritise tasks during the lunchtime rush hour when you are the only staff member serving and must take orders, clean tables and serve meals.
Think laterally when you brainstorm, and deconstruct exactly what you are required to do in that summer job or as the coach of a Little League Football team against a list of soft skills - you might be surprised how many of them you can actually demonstrate.
HOW DO I DEVELOP THESE SKILLS?
If you want to develop your repertoire of soft skills, there are a number of things you can do:
1) Identify the soft skills you want to improve and research exactly what they require (or watch/work-shadow someone that demonstrates these qualities).
For example, if you want to have a strong customer focus you will need to be able to:
2) Invest time and thought into creating opportunities for you to develop these skills.
You cannot develop customer service skills unless you have experience dealing with customers. Therefore, you will need to find opportunities to practice these skills.
3) Take action to learn and practice over time.
Doing something once is not going to give you the breadth and depth of experience you will need. The more you practice the more ingrained the competence / skills becomes.
4) Take a Course
Some colleges are mixing technology with areas such as effective written and verbal communication, teamwork, cultural understanding and psychology. Take a writing or public speaking course to boost your communication skills. Look for a conflict-resolution course or "leadership skills" class at your local community college or checkout the extensive array of online courses now available.
5) Seek a Mentor
Choose someone who exemplifies the skills you wish to demonstrate and seek advice as to how they developed the desired skills.
6) Volunteer
Working with non-profit organisations and charities gives you the opportunity to build a range of soft skills, as well as contributing something value to the community.
In essence, technical skills will need to be supplemented with strong social and collaboration skills.
But the need for these so-called soft skills is not just a distant imperative: more and more businesses today are identifying soft skills as essential in the recruiting process.
Before we go any further let’s clarify the difference between hard and soft skills.
Hard skills are those that you need to be able to perform in a particular job and are often obtained through a degree, diploma or course of some kind. Some examples of hard skills are proficiency in a foreign language, speed typing, machine operation, computer programming, motor mechanics, dentistry etc.
Soft skills might be considered skills that you master through experience, not study, and are usually not found in a university degree or course, or relate to any specific industry or job. A number of soft skills are also known as "people skills" or "interpersonal skills," and describe the way you relate with other people. They are subjective skills that are much harder to quantify and are usually demonstrated through your behaviour and interactions with others.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) conducted a study on 260 employers (including Chevron and IBM, according to Forbes) and found the following five skills to be the most valuable in employees, in order of importance. Interestingly they are all what might be considered soft skills. They are an ability to:
- Work in a team structure;
- Make decisions and solve problems;
- Communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organisation;
- Plan, organize and prioritize work; and
- Obtain and process information
- Leadership (including strategic vision, motivation, management, resilience and decision-making)
- Creative innovative thinking
- Problem solving
- Time management and organisation
- Analytical capabilities
- Work ethic
- Relationship building
- Adaptability
- Conflict r4esolution
- Customer service
Not all of these soft skills are required for all jobs. In fact, every job would have a varying combination and ratio of essential hard and soft skills. Careers can be put into 3 categories in relation to their requirements for soft and hard skills.
1) Careers that need mostly hard skills and few soft skills
The focus is very much on the ability and knowledge of the person in the area of expertise (e.g. Physicist). There is often little need to utilise a wide range of interpersonal skills. For instance, companies from the mining/materials and industrial/consumer manufacturing sectors placed a heavy emphasis on recruits with a strong suite of hard skills.
2) Careers that need both hard and soft skills
Many careers are in this category (e.g. Accountants, Lawyers – they need to know the rules of accounting or law well but they also need to develop strong relationships and effective levels of communication with their clients). Companies in the IT/telecom sector also indicate a preference for both customer-service skills (typically defined as soft skills) and technological literacy, a hard skill.
3) Careers that need mostly soft skills and few hard skills
(e.g.Sales). A car salesman doesn’t have to be an expert on all of the cars in the caryard. His job is more dependent on his ability to read his customers, identify their needs, communicate his sales pitch, use persuasion skills, and skills to close to deal. These are all soft skills. The financial and service sectors also place more emphasis on soft skills.
HOW CAN I DEMONSTRATE THESE SKILLS IF I AM STILL IN SCHOOL?
If soft skills are identified in the selection criteria when applying for a job it is important to be able to articulate examples of where you have demonstrated these skills, even if your only experiences have been in a school or part-time job setting.
As a student, there are many ways that you can demonstrate achievement or experience of soft skills. As mentioned previously these skills are usually not gained by a degree or certificate but through experience. Summer jobs, part-time work, volunteering, and international experiences are an excellent source for many of the soft skills being sought. Think of the co-curricular and extra-curricular activities, excursions, overseas tours, competitions and clubs you are involved in at school – these too provide excellent opportunities to showcase one or more ‘soft’ skills. For instance, to convey your ability to “work in a team structure,” you might provide an example of how you worked together with a group of individuals to complete a task or project and outline the specifics of the event: scope of work, job titles of the team, how responsibilities were assigned and delegated, whether there were any obstacles to overcome as a team, the outcome, etc. Were you part of a solar car challenge at school? Did you participate in a Robocup Challenge where you had to build a robot? Were you on the school Ball / Prom committee, or the editorial board for the school newspaper? These would all be excellent examples.
Here is a example for that part-time job:
If you are in hospitality working in a coffee shop, as well as the specific barista / kitchen /waiting skills you are demonstrating, you are also communicating with customers and other staff members, dealing with difficult people at times, following regulations of occupational health and safety, working as part of a team, solving problems (e.g. when the coffee machine breaks down), demonstrating a strong work ethic when you are punctual, work without guidance and show initiative, and prioritise tasks during the lunchtime rush hour when you are the only staff member serving and must take orders, clean tables and serve meals.
Think laterally when you brainstorm, and deconstruct exactly what you are required to do in that summer job or as the coach of a Little League Football team against a list of soft skills - you might be surprised how many of them you can actually demonstrate.
HOW DO I DEVELOP THESE SKILLS?
If you want to develop your repertoire of soft skills, there are a number of things you can do:
1) Identify the soft skills you want to improve and research exactly what they require (or watch/work-shadow someone that demonstrates these qualities).
For example, if you want to have a strong customer focus you will need to be able to:
- Show a pleasant demeanour to the customer
- Ask the customer if they need assistance and ask probing questions to ascertain exactly what they want
- Depending on the context you would be expected to have a sound knowledge of the products or services that you are selling
- You would be expected to be polite and courteous even when dealing with difficult customers
- When under pressure (having two or three customers at once) you would expect to be as efficient as possible, yet timely in giving service to those who are waiting
2) Invest time and thought into creating opportunities for you to develop these skills.
You cannot develop customer service skills unless you have experience dealing with customers. Therefore, you will need to find opportunities to practice these skills.
3) Take action to learn and practice over time.
Doing something once is not going to give you the breadth and depth of experience you will need. The more you practice the more ingrained the competence / skills becomes.
4) Take a Course
Some colleges are mixing technology with areas such as effective written and verbal communication, teamwork, cultural understanding and psychology. Take a writing or public speaking course to boost your communication skills. Look for a conflict-resolution course or "leadership skills" class at your local community college or checkout the extensive array of online courses now available.
5) Seek a Mentor
Choose someone who exemplifies the skills you wish to demonstrate and seek advice as to how they developed the desired skills.
6) Volunteer
Working with non-profit organisations and charities gives you the opportunity to build a range of soft skills, as well as contributing something value to the community.
Resources
For further information or to expands on this summary you may like to look further into the references below:
The Future of Jobs
Hard skills vs soft skills: are EQ and emotional intelligence the best predictors of success?
5 hard and soft skills that will get you hired
These Will Be The Top Jobs In 2025 (And The Skills You’ll Need To Get Them
For further information or to expands on this summary you may like to look further into the references below:
The Future of Jobs
Hard skills vs soft skills: are EQ and emotional intelligence the best predictors of success?
5 hard and soft skills that will get you hired
These Will Be The Top Jobs In 2025 (And The Skills You’ll Need To Get Them