What’s The Difference, and How to Improve Both

I first heard of “hard skills” and “soft skills” in high school.

Hard skills seemed like the ones everyone wanted, and soft skills were just nice personality traits.

That worried me because I saw myself more as a person than an academic.

But when I moved into college and into professional life, I found that soft skills are just as important, if not more more important than hard skills. While technical knowledge can get you a first-round interview, your interaction with others in an interview and in collaborative projects can seal the deal.

Here, let’s dive into the difference between soft and hard skills – and how you can include both on your resume to differentiate yourself from potential employers.

Hard skills vs. soft skills

According to an article by HubSpot, soft skills are a combination of social skills, communication skills, emotional intelligence, and personality traits that make it easy to get along with other people and work together harmoniously.

On the other hand, hard skills are specific, technical skills that are required to carry out a job and are usually acquired through training and experience. It is helpful to compare these with one another, especially when creating a résumé.

Hard skills vs. soft skills in the résumé

As tempting as it may be to distribute your résumé en masse with applications, résumés are not one size fits all. Today’s diverse workplace means different roles require tailored skills.

The Skills section is a great place for customization as it highlights how well you fit into a role and what makes you unique as a candidate. To find out which skills to list, start with the job description of the position you are applying for in the “Desired Skills” or “Requirements” section. Look for keywords that a company is looking for, e.g. B. “Project Management”, “Fluent Mandarin” or “Knowledge of HTML / CSS”.

For soft skills in particular, a look at the company website is a tip to get a feel for the culture / tone of the company and to find out which qualities are most valued by the employees. Especially if the company has a career, mission, or over space, these are good starting points.

As a prospective HubSpot intern, a scan of the “Careers” section of the website led me to the indication that the culture code “HEART” was prominently represented. I knew it would probably be mentioned in the interview, which is why I listed soft skills like “empathic team player” on my résumé.

Do you feel underqualified for your dream job? Fortunately, both hard skills and soft skills can improve over time. In addition to traditional methods such as on-the-job teaching and training, taking online courses is an accessible way to improve both hard and soft skills. In addition, there are certification courses such as content marketing or Google Analytics, which not only provide training, but also specific proof of competence for employers.

If you need help identifying and developing your soft skills, a personality or strength finder test like this one can help.

Examples of soft skills

empathy

One of the key components of an emotionally intelligent employee / manager is empathy. Understanding your colleagues and customers will help you work better with them and build authentic relationships.

One way to practice empathy is to be an active listener: keep space for what others are going through and try to understand their perspectives.

communication

Hand in hand with empathy, the ability to communicate with people from different backgrounds is vital in the workplace. Additionally, with Slack, email, Zoom calls, and face-to-face meetings, an effective workforce needs to know how to communicate clearly across different platforms.

adaptability

In our ever-changing workplace, flexibility and a positive attitude towards change are of the utmost importance. Make sure you have specific examples of your adaptability in a cover letter or job interview.

As someone who applied for a remote position at HubSpot, I made sure to highlight my previous remote work experience. I also talked about my time in the advertising and automotive industries to demonstrate my adaptability.

Examples of hard skills

Bilingual and multilingualism

According to Fortune, globalization will be “radically changed” in this post-pandemic period. Hence, mastering different languages ​​can give you a great advantage in the job market.

In addition to English, Mandarin, German and Spanish are the most popular languages ​​for international business. If you haven’t spoken a foreign language since senior year of high school, an app like DuoLingo is a fun and easy way to brush up on you.

SEO Marketing

For all companies with an online presence, SEO (Search Engine Optimization) plays a major role in attracting and retaining customers. Resources like The Beginner’s Guide to SEO from Moz (an SEO tools and software company) are a good place to start.

Data analysis

Data analytics is the process of extracting insights from raw data in order to observe trends and draw conclusions. The best way to master this skill is by learning by doing – and the good news is that many of the best data analysis tools are free.

You can start with trustworthy old Excel / Google Sheets and learn commands through video tutorials. Programming languages ​​like R and Python are in high demand because of their powerful data analysis capabilities, and both are free and open source.

And there you have it! Understanding the importance of hard and soft skills is critical to getting a job and growing at the same time. Hopefully this post helped you understand the complete differences between the two.