“Soft Skills and Hard Skills”

What is Soft Skills?

Soft skills are personal qualities, values, attitudes, and behaviors that define a person’s approach to work and relationships. They are also known as interpersonal or people skills. Soft skills include communication, creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration, among others. They are the abilities that enable us to interact effectively with each other and come to an agreement. Unlike hard skills, developing and utilizing soft skills requires a more effort and focus.

What is Hard Skills?

Hard skills are a set of specific abilities that can be acquired through education, practice, and experience. They involve the ability to perform particular tasks such as coding, analyzing data, networking, or —Learning hard skills takes up more time and effort than acquiring soft skills since they’re task-specific and need to be studied and practiced.

Characteristics of Soft and Hard Skills

Soft Skills:

• Qualities: Social awareness, empathy, interpersonal communication, customer service, team building.
• Difficulty Level: Easy to Moderate.
• Adaptability: Highly adaptable.
• Measurement: Soft skills are mostly measured through observation and assessment of one’s behaviour.

Hard Skills:

• Qualities: Programming, accountancy, office management, data analysis.
• Difficulty Level: Moderate to Hard.
• Adaptability: Varies with the nature of the skill.
• Measurement: Hard skills are usually measured through degree programs, tests and interviews.

FAQs

How do employers assess and measure both soft skills and hard skills during recruitment?

Employers assess a range of both soft and hard skills during the recruitment process. With soft skills, employers may ask applicants questions or they may observe how they interact with others. For hard skills, employers may assess candidates’ qualifications, prior work experience, or ask them to complete tests to prove their technical expertise.