Difference Between Having A Soft-Skill Vs A Hard Skill
Within the working field, you’re going to know the difference between a ‘hard skill vs a soft skill’. Although they both work hand in hand, one is going to be more beneficial than the other especially when it comes to the professional world and the work force. One skill simply shapes how you work, whether it’s independently or with in a group environment while the other is knowledge you’ve gained through personal experience, and this can be from education or in a work environment.
A lot of people think that hard skills are more important to have than soft skills, but that is actually not true. Soft skills end up being as equal importance as hard skills are, and depending on the situation, soft skills may also be the most important, especially depending on the type of job you are looking for.
By having a soft skill, you are improving your ability to work with others. If you haven’t realized, most job applications questionnaires are based on soft skills.
What Exactly are Hard Skills?
To make it simple, hard skills are work-related skill, and it is something that your employers will always look at. Hard skills can include a lot and can range from a college degree, to a certificate that you have earned. The reason being is because of the specificity of said things. One way to remember if you have a had skill or not is to understand if what you have is specific and tangible and if it something that you have learned from a higher education, through training, or through a curriculum.
Example Of Hard Skills
- Bilingual/ Multilingual
- SEO
- MS Office
- Adobe software suite
- Programming language
- Python, Java
What Exactly Are Soft Skills?
To some, soft skills may be inadequate, but that is not true. To think of soft skills, think of it like the yin to the yang. A necessary balance that you need in life.
In a more simpler way, you can think of them as if they are a personal trait.
How Do Hard Skills and Soft Skills Differ From Each Other?
Another way to differentiate the difference between a hard skill and soft skill is to know that soft skills are more so people skills, and these cannot be learned through training or education. From the examples below you can clearly see what I mean.You cannot be taught critical thinking, teamwork, or effective communication. Yes, you may be critiqued and told how you can do things differently and given advice, but it is not something that can actually be taught to you. It is something that you learn when you are surrounded by others.
Example Of Soft Skills
The examples below show soft skills that are most used in a day to day basis, and in a professional work environment, and you can clearly see how these are more-so people skills.
- Teamwork – Being a team player may mean that you need to go, in the words of Buzz Lightyear, to infinity and beyond. Teamwork doesn’t mean that you have to be the leader of the group, but it also means that you putting your pride aside and working along with whoever to get the work done. Teamwork also means that you should be honest and open with each other because there is no reason why there should be hidden animosity between team members.
- Leadership – Not everyone is a leader and that is okay! You don’t have to be a leader for everything, but leadership skills are essential in all roles. A leader is someone who is goal-driven, motivated regardless of the situation, and the backbone of the team. A leader is not a dictator in any way because a leader needs their team.
- Organization – Have you seen anyone get any work done efficiently by being unorganized? Good organizational skills can set you apart from your colleagues because it shows that you know how to properly manage your workload and it shows that you can properly manage your time. Those who are capable of being organized show that they can work different tasks efficiently.
- Critical thinking – Having the ability to think deeper than the actual issue, and to be able to analyze a given situation will make you a strong asset to any team, and is one the most important cognitive skills. Critical thinking is used in our everyday lives because they help us to make the best decisions when it comes down to it and this is extremely crucial in the professional work environment because there are going to be times when you will need to come down a decision that you think may be best for your team to promote growth and avoid decision making that may. be based on intuition and instinct.
- Effective communication – Communication skills are crucial in work places because they help establish the work environment. If you don’t have proper and effective communication then that will expose your inefficiency to properly be able to work with others.
- Creativity – By having creativity it shows that you are able to work with all challenges thrown your way, and this will make you a highly valuable team member. It is not easy to be able to think outside the box for all projects because most projects require you do things you would’ve never thought of doing before and it shows that you are capable of leaving your comfort zone.
The Importance
You may already know the difference between each skill without realizing it because most likely already use them on your resumes. The skills you put on your resume are sometimes a mixture of both soft and hard. On the skills section of your resume you start to become more specific because as I explained earlier, a hard skill is more technical, something that you have already learned through personal experience, meanwhile a soft skill, which is what you use when you are describing the type of work under each work history.
