What are soft skills?

Skills are one of the key aspects, along with education and experience, that determine your suitability for a job. They specify what you can do. However, your skills are not limited to your working life, are they? By definition, skills are divided into soft and hard skills.

Soft skills are non-specialised skills that are applicable in many situations, which means that they are transferable.  

The range of soft skills includes abilities in the categories of:

• Personal skills
• Social skills
• Methodical skills.

Personal soft skills often tell us about character: they consist of e.g. persistence, motivation or readiness to act. Social skills indicate how we interact with others, while methodical skills refer to observation and drawing conclusions, or dealing with specific professional situations. However, the boundaries between these three categories are quite fluid. 

In this article, you will learn the soft skills meaning, find out the difference between hard and soft skills, as well as discover key soft skills examples for different professions and more.

Hard skills vs soft skills

These two terms are probably not unfamiliar to you, especially if you are already an active member of the labour market. Although so common, many people still have doubts about the differences between them. So before we focus on the definition of soft skills themselves, let’s learn what are hard and soft skills:

Hard skills are generally considered to be skills that are directly applicable to a given profession. These are technical skills, specific to a particular task. Examples of hard skills are knowledge of specialised software, project management or proficiency in foreign languages. 

Hard skills are generally considered to be skills that are directly applicable to a given profession. These are technical skills, specific to a particular task. Examples of hard skills are knowledge of specialised software, project management or proficiency in foreign languages. 

In contrast, soft skills are non-technical skills. The soft skills definition says these skills are transferable, which means that they are useful in many situations and jobs. Soft skills are often related to personality traits. There are so many soft skills that they are divided into three main categories:

1. communication skills
2. interpersonal skills
3. networking.

Build my CV

Importance of soft skills in the workplace

Employers value versatile employees and are well aware of the importance of soft skills in the workplace. It turns out that more and more employers actually believe that soft skills are more desirable among potential candidates than technical skills. Why? For a simple reason. 

Hard skills can be learned relatively quickly on the job: using some software, operating a machine or performing a specific task. However, learning soft skills is somewhat more difficult due to the fact that many of these skills are derived from interpersonal skills and character traits. For example, a person who is very shy and introverted by nature will struggle with public speaking or networking. 

Soft skills are the basis of life in society. Interaction with others would not be possible without empathy, communication, respect or negotiation. Similarly, in professional life, in order to find one’s place in a company, it is necessary to co-exist with other employees and also to interact with clients. Soft skills motivate further development, a good attitude turns into good results and this brings mutual benefits for the employee and the employer.

Top 10 soft skills interview questions

A clever interviewer will weave these questions into the interview so that you won’t even realise you are being asked about your CV skills and soft skills training. Stay alert, you may hear variations of these soft skills interview questions:

1. Give an example of conflict in the workplace and how you dealt with it.
2. Describe how you would behave when a teammate challenged your decision.
3. Describe how you would resolve a conflict with a problematic client.
4. How do you prioritise your tasks?
5. Do you prefer to complete one task long but thoroughly or several tasks quickly but inaccurately?
6. How do you behave when you notice that a teammate has made a critical error?
7. Describe a failure you had at work and what it taught you.
8. Give an example of a creative, out-of-the-box solution you implemented at work.
9. Give an example of how your working conditions changed during the lockdown and how you adapted to them.
10. What is important to you when working in a team?

Soft skills training

A fundamental part of soft skills training is to analyse and identify skills gaps. Soft skills and hard skills cannot be measured in the same way. What is more, quite frankly others are more likely to quickly notice these gaps than us. 

Developing soft skills is an ongoing process. If you too are one of those wondering how to improve soft skills, you have several options:

Consider enrolling in soft skills courses: Many workplaces provide their own in-house training in this area. If this is not the case for you, you can find a whole host of soft skills courses online, both free and paid, with a certificate. 

Observe your behaviour: Analyse how you conduct yourself in everyday work situations. To start with, be aware of it.

Be open to feedback, suggestions and constructive criticism: these are often not aimed against you, but are a great opportunity to learn and develop.

Open up to others: maybe it’s time to stop hiding behind a screen and accept that invitation to hang out with your team after work.

Practice effective communication: When you talk to someone, give that person your full attention. Listen actively, look towards your interlocutor, maintain eye contact and don’t interrupt. Make sure you understand. Conversely, when you are the one giving information, be confident, express your commitment with your posture and use clear, straightforward messages. Don’t confuse your audience by using overly complicated vocabulary or convoluted sentences.

Conclusion

Build my CV