Hard Skills And Soft Skills: The Building Stones Of Any Career

Every job requires skills, knowledge, experience, and certain qualities. These four components together make you a good and potential employee. Skills are the most important factor that every employer looks for. Talking about skills then it is of various types such as labor skills, life skills, people skills, social skills, hard skills and soft skills. Out of all these types, hard skills and soft skills are top priorities in jobs. These two skills can make your resume look professional and can portray you as the right candidate for the associated job title. 

Now, the questions must click in your mind: what are soft skills and hard skills? how are they different from each other? Before getting the answer to these questions, you must understand the concept of skills. Skills are the talents that are required to perform a task. It is the expertise that enables you to do the specific task associated with the choice of your field. Skills are divided into two categories, the first is domain-general and the second is domain-specific skills. It is a learned ability that helps you to perform any task.

Suppose you have mentioned in your resume that you have a great typing speed. During the interview, the interviewer asks you a very simple question, “Is typing a soft skill or hard skill?” You will not be able to answer. Hence, you must know what soft skills and hard skills are. This article will help you in learning about both skills.

Hard Skills and Soft Skills

Hard skills are those skills that are acquired by learning. It is obtained through various courses, internships, training, and jobs. Since this skill can be acquired through learning, the question arises whether hard skills are tangible or intangible. So, it is tangible and quantifiable because it comprises technical skills and knowledge. It includes the use of the internet, computer applications, use of different equipment or machines, etc. It is physical. 

Once you understand the concept of hard skills, you must be thinking about what soft skills are? are they tangible or intangible?  Soft skills are those skills that are intangible and can only be felt. These are unquantifiable. Soft skills are qualitative. It is also known as people skills. It includes communication skills, listening skills, time management skills, problem-solving skills, critical and analytical thinking skills, teamwork, patience, leadership skills, etc. These skills cannot be measured because it is related to the personality of a human. 

Let’s Go With an Example 

Typing is a skill that is required in almost every job and therefore, this question, “is typing a soft skill or a hard skill” must have popped up in your mind at some point in your employment period.  Going by the definition of soft skill and hard skill, you can see that typing is a tangible skill. It is physical and quantifiable. Your typing speed matters a lot in your career because, in this fast-moving global age, everything is running at a high pace. If your typing skill is top-notch and your typing speed is exceptionally amazing, you will be highly demanded in the industry.

Steps to Highlight Your Skills

This section includes some of the best tips that will help you to highlight your hard and soft skills. 

Include the Skills in the Resume

In the skills section of your resume, you must include the relevant skills. You must include the skills that are related to the job title and that suits the requirement of the company. For highlighting your skills properly in the resume, you must know whether soft and hard skills are tangible or intangible. If you are aware of this, you will be able to decide how to highlight your skills properly in front of the employer.

For instance, your resume is enough for highlighting the hard skill because it is tangible and your certificates, marks, and qualifications are enough to prove it. But for highlighting the soft skills that you have mentioned in your resume, you have to make sure that the employer judges them by noticing your personality.

Include the Skills in the Cover Letter 

Mention both skills in the cover letter. It also allows you to put light on your relevant skills. Your qualification says it all about the tangible skills you possess. For soft skills, use examples from experience and demonstrate them. Don’t just mention that you have certain soft or personal skills but give a brief description of them. Support them with suitable examples from a past incident where your soft skills had proven to be valuable.

Demonstrate Your Skills During the Interview 

You must be aware of what soft skills and hard skills are so that you can present them in a better way during the interview. You can share your qualification details to show the hard skills you possess. You can emphasize your physical skills by being elaborative about your training, and experience and sharing a portfolio, and for discussing soft skills, you can use Star Interview Response Technique. This will help you in highlighting multiple soft skills. For this, you can support your answer with any relevant example and put light on the skills that you applied in the particular situation. You can also put light on the soft skills by speaking clearly while maintaining eye contact with the employer, being punctual and honest, etc.

Conclusion

Hard and soft skills are an important part of your personality and career. If you know what soft skills are, you will be able to incorporate them into your personality in a better way. You know whether hard skills are tangible or intangible to make a clear distinction between the two skills. For instance, if you come across the question, “is typing a soft skill” and you know that you can measure your typing skill still you will not be able to provide the right answer to this question if you are not aware of the concept of soft skill. Hence, you must know both these skills. You must know the requirements of the job title so that you can develop and improve the related skills. A good employee should have a mixture of both skills.