Hard and Soft Skills

I recently sent a questionnaire to an executive client requesting her top five hard and top five soft skills. Interestingly, she named only soft skills. 

As I built her résumé, I reviewed all of the materials she sent to work from, including a performance evaluation, previous résumé, essays, and more. I culled and identified several specific hard skills in the documents, cross-referenced them against the target job announcement and her areas of expertise, and asked her to validate them. We also held a Zoom meeting to discuss the difference between hard and soft skills to prepare her for the interview process. 

Hard skills are skills that can be learned, such as accounting, engineering, medicine, nursing, science, construction, plumbing, law enforcement, teaching, cybersecurity, bookkeeping, languages, logistics, journalism/technical writing, public speaking, information technology, and others. Hard skills can be gained through education, credentials, training, or upskilling. They are often measurable or quantifiable. 

Soft skills are not always easy to learn, including problem-solving, innovation, vision, critical thinking, communication, leadership, empathy, listening, flexibility, strategic thinking, time management, organization, dependability, the ability to read a room, patience, social skills, and emotional intelligence. Soft skills are often embedded in a person’s personality, behavior, and demeanor. They are personal habits and traits. Some people are just “natural” at sales, and they excel. Some salespeople cannot learn a foreign language. 

Emotional intelligence is a difficult skill to teach. To demonstrate emotional intelligence, a client needs to regulate their own behavior, empathize with others, and develop self-awareness. Emotional intelligence also reflects a strong work ethic. Emotional intelligence is a sought-after soft skill for leaders and anyone working with the public or customers/clients. 

Employers often select applicants for interviews based on their hard skills, knowledge, training, and expertise in a discipline; however, hiring officials also seek applicants who demonstrate soft skills that align with an organization, team, or project. 

Case Study

I was hired to train job seekers at the USDA and coach them on writing résumés that aligned with target job announcements. Because the résumés submitted to Human Resources were extremely basic, they hired me to deliver résumé-writing training and interview coaching to help the hiring officials make a hiring decision.  

Most candidates were well-versed in their roles. They had completed the required training for their positions, and they had several years of experience. Their hard skills were solid. So, this made résumé development much easier. We were not focused on transferable skills; rather, we were focused on building a strong résumé tied to the hard skill competencies in the target job announcements.

Next, I focused on the soft skill competencies: Attention to Detail, Decision-Making, Dependability, Flexibility, Interpersonal Skills, and Self-Management. I met with hiring officials to determine their pain points and ask why these specific soft skills were added to the job announcement. The hiring officials informed me that certain candidates were habitually late or called in sick and would not be hired, regardless of how well their résumés were developed/written. Poor attendance was costly, affected performance, and lowered morale.

I developed training on soft skills and explained the importance of demonstrating them on résumés and during interviews. To validate the soft skills, I asked the candidates to explain or describe scenarios where they provided Attention to Detail (perhaps referencing a specific report, or identifying and solving a problem), Decision Making (deciding to call management to the floor to discuss a specific issue or change the line speed), Dependability (list an award for no absences, arriving to work in a snow storm, always turning reports in on time), Flexibility (volunteering to work in a different plant for six months), Interpersonal Skills (volunteering to train a new employee or resolve a conflict between team members), and Self-Management (ensuring all reports were submitted timely or ahead of time each week). These examples on the résumé and in the interview demonstrated the soft skills the managers were seeking. 

People Skills

Research conducted with Fortune 500 CEOs by the Stanford Research Institute International and the Carnegie Mellon Foundation found that 75% of long-term job success depends on people skills, while only 25% on technical knowledge.

For example, if a candidate has the technical hard skills to manage accounting and payroll, the question is: Does the applicant have the soft skills of conflict resolution and gentle interpersonal communications to be able to speak to customers who may be upset over payroll issues? If not, the candidate may be better-suited to a behind-the-scenes role that does not involve direct customer contact.

If a hiring official is seeking a strong leader with expertise in a specific discipline, such as criminal intelligence, they may also be seeking soft skills, including vision, conflict management, and innovation. These soft skills will help the criminal intelligence expert form and lead a large team, energize the team to design new processes and procedures to improve performance, and effectively resolve conflicts and problems within the team, between the team and senior leaders, and with other stakeholders. 

Human Resources and hiring managers receive hundreds, if not thousands, of résumés, which often readily validate hard skills, such as a degree in criminal intelligence, 15+ years of experience in the field, development of new investigative processes and systems, and measurable accomplishments. The interview will allow the hiring official to assess soft skills and determine the right fit for the team and organization.

It is important for our clients to understand the difference between hard and soft skills to build talking points for each skill set/competency for the résumé and interview process. In particular, senior leaders should clearly distinguish between hard and soft skills in interviews and describe their leadership, communication, and management skills. 

More junior employees should be able to articulate their soft skills for the target role; for example, a CNA or caretaker should demonstrate time management and dependability.  

As a career coach, my job is to ensure my clients’ résumés align with the skills and competencies outlined in a job announcement, and to ensure they are aware of and well-versed in the distinctions between hard and soft skills. 

Scenario-based coaching can enhance a client’s skills in areas like customer service, conflict resolution, listening, vision, innovation, and other soft skills.