Soft and hard skills: 5 differences with examples

To be successful at work, business and even in the field of innovation, you need to master both soft and hard skills.. They are broad-spectrum skills that allow you to function competently in various environments. While the former have to do with intra- and interpersonal aspects, the latter delimit your technical knowledge.

In an increasingly competitive and changing world, it is quite beneficial to integrate resources and dimensions from both spheres. Not only will they allow you to progress in your professional career, but your relationships and ability to achieve goals will be boosted by their mastery. Below, we detail those differences that exist between them.

5 differences between soft and hard skills

When you start a selection process to apply for a job, recruiters not only look at your training and experiences. Often, certain tests are administered to evaluate your soft skills. Knowing how to solve problems, demonstrating your leadership or critical thinking skills are aspects of great value for any organization.

Those known as hard skills and soft skills They are the pillars that facilitate the progress and efficiency of any company. In this sense, research published by Human Resource Development Quarterly highlights that it is necessary to understand the differences between them, to improve the training and development of employees themselves. Below, we detail them for you.

1. Definition: what are each one?

Hard skills integrate the entire set of technical and specific skills related to a specific area or discipline. They include a series of tools and procedures to function in a specific sector and improve efficiency.

On the other hand, Soft skills are linked to more personal aspects, such as your communication skills, empathy, creativity or adaptability. They are learning for which they do not always offer you a diploma, but which are essential for your daily life.

Examples of hard skills

Know several languages.Use industrial machinery.Have programming knowledge.Have HTML/CSS/Javascript knowledge.Have academic degrees or certificates.Have skills to carry out market research.Know how cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is carried out. Be trained in the development of artificial intelligence algorithms.

Examples of soft skills

An article in the Review of Managerial Science points out that there is usually a certain lack of consensus when it comes to differentiating individual competencies from soft skills. Well, the latter not only describe a series of processes that you carry out effectively. They also have to do with your mentality and way of being. We detail some:

creativity, imagination, active listening, knowing how to prioritize, leadership skills, demonstrating empathy, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, knowing how to work as a team, good time management, knowing how to solve problems, knowing how to adapt to changes, having a good response capacity, ability to manage uncertainty.

2. Specificity or scope of application

What do you do for a living? What is your professional area? The field in which you carry out your work requires you to master a series of hard skills and these are exclusive to that sector.. Your mastery of them will allow you to demonstrate your solvency and achieve objectives.

For example, if you are a decorator, you will not need to acquire technical knowledge of engineering or medicine. But it can be useful for you to learn psychological concepts, to understand which colors have the best impact on people and thus create more pleasant environments.

Now, on the contrary, Soft skills are transferable and applicable to many other contexts and situations beyond your scope of work.. What’s more, these tools are beneficial for everyone.

3. Soft skills enhance hard skills

A work published in SN Business & Economics points out an interesting aspect about soft and hard skills. Something that students expect, when they finish their academic training, is that the skills acquired in both areas, during their training, adjust to the real demands of their future jobs. Only in this way can authentic development be achieved in professional life.

In that sense, it is useful to mention that The more soft skills you acquire, the more you will enhance your hard skills.. Both will allow you not only to adapt to the demands of the jobs, but will also facilitate your projection and development in them. To better understand this idea, we give you some examples.

What hard skills give you

If you are a pediatrician, your hard skills will allow you to treat different ailments of children. In case you have studied marketingyour hard skills will be key to creating good campaigns. The hard skills of systems engineers, for example, are essential to developing a good software and hardware in a company or solve incidents that may arise.

What soft skills help you

If you are a pediatrician, soft skills such as empathy, intuition or responsiveness will allow you to work better with your patients. Systems engineers benefit from soft skills such as analytical skills, strategic thinking or good stress management. .If you have studied marketingthere are some dimensions, such as creativity, critical thinking or knowing how to work as a team, that can be your best allies.

Hard skills are the tools you use every day to successfully do your job. However, soft skills are a part of you. They are those characteristics that define you as a person and that you apply in any area of ​​your life, not just professionally.

4. Learning and evaluation

There is a curious fact regarding soft and hard skills. According to research from Georgia Southern University, in general, while the latter are easy to demonstrate or quantify, the former are not so easy. For example, aspects such as interpersonal communication, teamwork and conflict management are not easy to evaluate.

On the other hand, there is also another difference that you will find interesting. The hard skills and soft skills They are not learned in the same way or in the same scenarios. We explain it to you.

How do you learn hard skills?

Certifications, specific training, formal or regulated education, through structured learning processes.

How are soft skills learned?

You acquire them over time, when you realize that you need to improve in certain areas, such as your leadership or communication skills. Many of your soft skills are associated with your personality. Examples of this are your empathy, your meticulousness, creativity, ability to be assertive, etc. You also try to learn them to be a better person. An example is to sign up for a course on emotional intelligence or volunteer.

5. Change and evolution

In every profession, hard skills become obsolete over time. To stay up to date and progress in your work you must train and reinvent yourself. On the other hand, soft skills do not always become outdated. There is the option to improve them, without a doubt, but their usefulness and effectiveness usually remain the same.

In this way, the teacher who teaches computer science classes knows that, to better transmit training to his students, he must be up to date on any new developments that appear in his sector. The same happens with doctors, psychologists, engineers or maintenance technicians. Updating yourself in hard skills periodically is the only way to be successful in the workplace.

How can companies encourage the development of these skills?

A work published in Higher education in Europe raises the need for recent graduates to be able to deal with an increasingly complex work environment. This implies not only that they have solid academic training, but it is essential that they have good soft skills.

In this sense, companies have a decisive role in this purpose. Organizations must also promote continuous training so that their employees know how to face any challenge.. We describe what mechanisms should be applied:

Assignment of innovative and challenging projects: Offering employees creative tasks with certain difficulties will force them to develop new skills.Rotation programs: In this technique, employees rotate through the different departments of a company, with the intention of acquiring new skills in each area.Training and development: Applying to new training and training programs is a good strategy for employees to develop and enhance their hard and soft skills.Specialized mentoring: Mentoring is a type of training in which an expert person instructs others in soft skills, such as leadership, emotional intelligence, time management, etc.

Acquiring new skills, key to success

If companies want to have competent and effective employees, they must contribute to their training. Now, if you also worry about improving and developing soft and hard skills to the maximum, your personal well-being will notice it. Thanks to these tools, you will feel more self-effective, and your self-image and self-esteem will be reinforced.

After all, few things are more enriching than learning new strategies and skills to achieve more sophisticated goals. Continuous training and curiosity to grow as a professional and human being should always be your best allies for success.

You might be interested…