
Mar 17, 2021 - 05:37 PM
The difference between soft skills and hard skills is how each skill set is acquired. Hard skills are quantifiable technical abilities typically learned in classrooms and training courses. Soft skills, in contrast, often involve working with other people. While they're applied and developed in the workplace, they're initially acquired through life experience and personal interactions.
Soft skills typically fall into five categories: leadership, interpersonal, problem-solving, communication and personal traits. Employers look for soft skills because they want a collaborative, happy and productive workforce. You can show evidence of your soft skills by sharing skill-related achievements in your resume, cover letter and job interview.
Hard skills are just as important. Common skills include being multilingual, managing databases, running statistical analyses or knowing how to use Adobe Creative Suite. An employer could easily assess your hard skills with a test. If you don't have the right skills, certain positions will be unattainable.
Click the Related Articles tab to read articles on how to add leadership, interpersonal, problem-solving, communication and persona traits skills to your resume.