You’re applying for new jobs – or maybe you’re just looking for ways to improve your resumé – and you’ve come across the terms ‘soft skills’ and ‘hard skills’. Both types of skills are important, but which are more essential to finding a job? It all depends on your role and industry.
In this article, we take you through the difference between soft skills and hard skills, give you examples of both types of skills, and tell you which are the best skills for your resumé.
Which are more important in the workforce: hard skills or soft skills?
How to highlight hard skills and soft skills during an interview
Soft skills, also referred to as ‘people skills’ are abilities and traits that enable you to work with and get along well with others. They include things like good communication, time management, teamwork, problem solving, empathy and flexibility.
Soft skills aren’t specific to a role or industry, and can often be used across a range of different roles, which is also why they’re also known as transferable skills. They lay the foundation for communication and collaboration, which are crucial to the vast majority of jobs.
There are many different soft skills, but some of the most valuable in the workplace include:
Creativity
Empathy
Teamwork
Critical thinking
Adaptability
Flexibility
Organisation
Integrity
Communication
Reliability/dependability
Open-mindedness
Punctuality
Attention to detail
Strategic thinking
Conflict resolution
Determination
Resilience
Here are a few soft skills examples in the workplace to illustrate how these skills are valued by employers:
Your empathy and communication skills help you understand a customer’s needs and then help them find what they’re looking for.
Good time-management skills means you can complete tasks before they're due, even when you’re busy.
Attention to detail means you take accurate measurements and make minimal errors.
Hard skills refer to teachable skill sets and knowledge specific to a role or industry – they’re also known as technical skills. Unlike soft skills, hard skills are developed through formal education, training programs, and practical hands-on experience. These skills must be taught, and can be measured and tested. For example, STEM careers, photography, nursing, driving, teaching and all the trades require hard or technical skills.
Hard skills are essential for performing specific job functions and in many cases are prerequisites for a specific role. These types of skills can be demonstrated through degrees, certifications, work experience and practical tests, making them easier to quantify and evaluate compared to soft skills.
Some of the most sought-after hard skills include:
Data analytics and statistics
Trade skills like electrical systems and machinery operation
Design skills in Adobe Creative Cloud
Programming languages such as Java, Python, Perl and Ruby
Software skills in Microsoft Office programs
Content creation and social media marketing skills
Some more specific hard skill examples include:
Proficiency with accounting software, like QuickBooks and Microsoft Excel as an accountant.
The ability to provide healthcare according to a patient’s treatment plan as a nurse.
Repairing a wooden deck as a carpenter.
The importance of hard and soft skills in the workforce depends on the job, industry and role. For example, in highly specialised roles in fields like IT, engineering, healthcare and finance, technical skills are not just valued, they’re a prerequisite to be able to fulfil the role.
On the other hand, soft skills are considered more important in customer-facing roles or even management positions. Both of these positions require strong communication, interpersonal and problem-solving skills. Each of these falls into the ‘soft skills’ category.
As a job seeker, it’s essential to emphasise both hard and soft skills on your resumé. The trick is to make it easy for applicant tracking systems (ATS) and hiring managers to see whether your skills match the job.
If you’re looking to highlight hard and soft skills on your application, start by identifying the most relevant skills to the job. Review the job description closely and identify which of your skills line up with the needs of the job. Use this list as a basis to incorporate relevant keywords into your resumé.
Here’s an example of a resumé template that demonstrates how you can display your hard and soft skills.
_____
[email protected]
1234 567 890
123 Fake Street, Brisbane QLD, 4000
Summary
Highly skilled app developer with 15 years in full-stack development, designing, coding and testing, specialising in crypto-investment apps. Excellent problem-solving abilities and technical expertise, looking to move into a leadership position in app development.
Key skills
HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES6+)
Databases: MySQL, MongoDB, PostgreSQL
Cloud Services: AWS, Azure, Google Cloud
Exceptional communication skills
Strong analytical skills
Project management
Career history
Web developer at Xtra Web Services
January 2019–December 2022
Spearheaded app-development projects using React, Node.js, and MongoDB, improving performance by 30%.
Created responsive and user-friendly interfaces, increasing user engagement by 20%.
Implemented RESTful APIs for seamless integration with third-party services and reduced bug reports by 10%
Front-end developer at Knight & Co.
August 2015–December 2018
Designed and developed interactive and responsive web pages using HTML5, CSS3, and JavaScript.
Streamlined website performance through code optimisation to reduce load times by 25%.
Led a team of five UX/UI designers
Managed Agile sprints, leading daily stand-ups and sprint-planning sessions.
Education
Bachelor of Science in Computer Science
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane
March, 2012–December, 2014
If you’ve made it through to the interview round of the application process, you might be wondering how to highlight your hard and soft skills during an interview.
Hard skills are often easier to demonstrate compared to soft skills. During an interview, you can provide more information about your education, training and experience to highlight your hard skills.
Depending on the role you’ve applied for, you might like to show the hiring manager your portfolio to provide them with examples of previous work that demonstrate your hard-skill set. You might be required to answer technical questions specific to your field and the advertised job.
Soft skills relate to personal traits, interpersonal skills, and abilities that are hard to measure, like attention to detail and time management. Your interviewer will likely ask you behavioural questions to get an idea of these skills. Use the STAR method to demonstrate soft skills with real-world examples.
You can also model great soft skills in an interview through your actions and demeanour. Show enthusiasm for the position and avoid interrupting the hiring manager during the interview. Arrive early, dress neatly, speak confidently and come with answers prepared.
Soft skills don’t come naturally for many people, but that doesn’t mean you can’t develop them while on the job. The best way to improve your soft skills at work is to practise them. Make an effort to communicate clearly with your team, become more detail-oriented, challenge yourself to be more open-minded, and exercise your problem-solving skills by taking on more difficult tasks.
You can measure your progress by asking your workmates for feedback and by reflecting on which soft skills you’ve improved on and which need more work.
When you’re looking to develop new hard skills at work, start by asking your supervisor if there are any training opportunities available. You may be able to enrol in a course, get a certificate online, or get on-the-job training to improve your existing skill set. Also seek feedback and constructive criticism from your colleagues to help you identify any knowledge gaps or areas for improvement you may have.
It’s important to use both soft and hard skills regularly at work to make sure you keep them sharp. To keep your technical skills up to date, always enrol in any training your employer provides. Help out busy workmates by sharing their workload and if you feel like you might be forgetting a skill, ask your supervisor if you can spend some time refreshing yourself.
For applying soft skills, volunteer to host meetings or presentations, take the lead on a project, or tackle duties that test your time management skills and attention to detail.
Ultimately, soft and hard skills are equally important for career progression. Hard skills are often the foundation for employment within your field, with many roles and industries requiring certain hard skills for entry. They provide the technical knowhow that enables you to do the job. On the other hand, soft skills play an important role in your ability to communicate and collaborate, which are also essential to most jobs. Mastering both is often the key to career progression and job satisfaction.
It’s important to have a balanced combination of hard and soft skills for success in the workforce – and it's essential to be able to effectively show these skills on your resumé. Depending on your industry and the role you’re applying for, the best hard skills to have will differ, though there are universally valued soft skills that will always benefit you to have. By building from a solid foundation of hard and soft skills, your resumé – and your career – has the best chances of success.
Soft skills refer to common attributes or abilities – like interpersonal skills, time management, attention to detail, empathy and resilience – that are not specific to any job. Hard skills are technical, job-specific abilities and knowledge typically acquired through education, training, and hands-on experience.
While it’s important to have a combination of both hard and soft skills, there are often instances where specific skills are required as a baseline to perform a job. For example, if you need to build a website from scratch, you’ll need to know how to code. However, if your job is customer service, then soft skills are the most important.
Hard and soft skills complement each other and your proficiency in both makes you an efficient and productive worker. Hard skills allow you to perform tasks and responsibilities that are specific to your job, whereas soft skills are non-specific skills that can be transferred across many different roles. The article above covers this in more detail.
To balance the development of soft skills and hard skills in your career, look at which skills are more relevant to your career goals. Reflect on your current skills and identify areas that need improvement, then seek learning opportunities, either through further education or through hands-on practice and on-the-job training.
Managers and leaders require strong interpersonal skills to lead teams, resolve conflicts and communicate their vision. Soft skills like emotional intelligence, empathy, critical thinking and problem-solving are essential for success in leadership and management positions.
One of the best ways to highlight your soft skills on your resumé is to create a skills section at the top and list the most relevant soft skills for the position you’re applying for. During the interview, you can demonstrate your soft skills through behavioural questions and answers using the STAR method (outlined above). Think of examples that demonstrate how you’ve used your soft skills on the job and prepare answers before you get to the interview.