Hard Skills vs Soft Skills: Why You Need Them
In most job descriptions, employers request both hard skills and soft skills for managers. A combination of soft and hard skills is needed in almost every job. The best career advice you will get from us today is to acquire both.
If you check on Google Search, over 191 million search results are available for “Hard skills for managers.”
What does that tell you? Managers who are considering seeking managerial jobs elsewhere or junior employees who are aiming for managerial positions want to know the hard skills they need to possess to stand out among their peers.
The same way they have hard skills for managers there also have soft skills for managers. A typical example of soft skills for managers is communication skills.
In this first segment, we shall look at what hard skills are, types of hard skills, examples of hard skills, the difference between hard skills and soft skills, and why they are very important.
Related: 6 Most Essential Skills for Fast Professional Growth
What Are Hard Skills
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Hard skills are acquired skills that prove that you are qualified for a certain kind of job. It’s an indication that you are great at a specific job. One outstanding fact about hard skills is that nobody was born with it.
Types of Hard Skills
According to LinkedIn, the top 10 hard skills that are in high demand in 2020 are:
- Blockchain
- Cloud Computing
- Analytical Reasoning
- Artificial Intelligence
- UX Design
- Business Analysis
- Affiliate Marketing
- Sales
- Scientific Computing
- Video Production
This goes to show that employers consider job seekers with these hard skills first before their considering their counterparts. Having any of these top 10 hard skills that are in hot demand in 2020 is a huge advantage.
Related: How to Perfectly Explain Employment Gaps in Your Resume
Take for instance you have mastery of artificial intelligence, government of various countries, robotic companies and other tech companies can stake anything just to have you work with them.
In 2017, Silas Adekunle, a Nigerian based in the UK sold an exclusive distribution deal of his MekaMon gaming robot to Apple, and along the line raised over $10 million in funding. All because he mastered computing and robotics.
Whether it’s in e-commerce or email marketing, artificial intelligence plays an important role.
How about Affiliate Marketing and Sales? These two hard skills have turned ordinary people into multimillionaires at a young age. In affiliate marketing you don’t need to create your own product – all you have to do is to sell a vendor’s product and get paid a commission for every sale you bring.
Why Employers Look for Hard Skills
Having marketable hard skills in your resume is one of the most important things recruiters look out for. But they don’t stop there. Even when you start working, they will test you to know if you actually possess all the hard skills you claim to have in your resume.
This is because there are just some job responsibilities you can’t perform if you don’t have the requisite hard skills. By combing through the web, you might find a knockout resume template you can model.
How to Acquire Hard Skills
To acquire hard skills, you have to under a proper training; be it a vocational or academic training. It might take years but it can stick with someone for a lifetime.
You can even acquire hard skill by enrolling in an online course. There are tons of platforms offering the best of online courses that you can register with to learn hard skills like Java Script, languages, technical writing, social media management, python programming, or even any of the hot in-demand hard skills listed above.
Other Examples of Hard Skills Are
- Nursing
- Engineering
- Analytics
- Budgeting
- Accounting
- Auditing
- Editing
- Transcription
- Translation
- Painting
- Electricity
- Database management
- Carpentry
- Automotive technology,
- Network security
- Search engine optimization,
- Mobile app development, etc.
What Are Soft Skills
Soft skills are any skill or quality that can be classified as a personality trait or habit. This skill shapes how you work, on your own and with others.
Employees with numerous soft skills tend to get along with others and get their task done without excessive supervisions.
The reason why soft skills are important is that they play an important role in resume writing, interviewing, and finding success in communicating with people at work and in other areas of your life.
Related: 7 Eye-popping Tips for Hiring Great Employees
Types of Soft Skills
- Effective communication skills
- Integrity
- Creativity
- Problem-solving
- Teamwork
- Conflict resolution
- Work ethic
- Flexibility
- Leadership
Why Employers Look for Soft Skills
The value of soft skills when it comes to securing a job and holding on to the job for as long as you want can’t be overemphasized.
Most strict recruiters will never employ a job seeker without convincing soft skills no matter how much he or she knows about the job.
Without soft skills like interpersonal relationship, communication, integrity, creativity, problem-solving, teamwork, conflict resolution, work ethic, etc., it will be difficult to land a job role as a manager.
This is because you can’t even cope in that role as a manager if you don’t have these soft skills.
Related: Resume How-to Guide for Moms Rejoining the Workforce
Hard Skills and Soft Skills Which One Is More Important?
Now that you know the difference between hard skills and soft skills, the question is, which one is more important?
None is more important than the other. If you are a manager, you need both the hard skills and the soft skills to fulfil your role.
We understand that they are job seekers who may not know the most important soft skills to add in their resume, especially after they have had an employment gap but by hiring the services of a reputable resume writing firm, they can have it sorted out for you.
The difference between hard skills and soft skills is that while hard skills can only be acquired, soft skills can come naturally.
