Soft Skills & Hard Skills Study Notes
Soft Skills: Overview
Soft skills are personality or character qualities that make you a good and valued employee.
They are transferable skills, meaning you can take them with you when you start another job, even if the new role is different.
Once you see, learn, and understand what they are, you will get it.
There is a list of skills identified as crucial for success in the workplace; while workplaces and researchers may define them slightly differently, almost all agree they are important.
Core idea: Employability skills are valued by employers because they enable effective performance across roles and contexts.
Key Employability Skills
Teamwork
Ability to work with a group and get along with diverse people.
Involves recognizing strengths in others, giving/receiving constructive feedback, resolving differences, and doing your part.
Group harmony matters: it is not productive to work with a group that is upset or divided.
School projects are common ways to build teamwork skills.
Leadership
Leadership is not limited to the boss; you can demonstrate leadership in everyday actions.
Skills include thinking on your feet, staying calm under pressure, and persuading others to do what ought to be done, sometimes by example.
Reliability
Highly valued and often hard to find.
Risk factors include tardiness, lack of focus, forgetting to call in sick, or doing tasks half-way.
Employers want dependable people who do things the right way, on time, and consistently.
Examples include performing basic duties reliably (e.g., sweeping, turning off lights, locking doors when closing) and completing assigned tasks.
Communication
Important in every job.
Can improve by asking questions when unclear, observing effective communicators, and reading relevant articles.
Proactive communication: inform your boss well in advance about planned absences or changes.
Technology Knowledge
Crucial for most modern jobs.
While you may already have some tech knowledge (e.g., taking an online class), you should be able to adapt those skills to various tools (cash registers, GPS systems, software for estimating materials, bookkeeping systems).
Willingness to learn and adapt is key; some careers demand more tech knowledge than others.
Real-world note: some people cannot secure a part-time job because they lack the technical skills to complete an online application, highlighting the practical relevance of tech literacy.
Critical Thinking
Ability to analyze and evaluate information to make decisions or judgments.
Involves being open-minded and considering all evidence before deciding.
Requires considering others’ perspectives and opinions.
Being thoughtful in decisions and responses is essential.
Problem Solving
Involves identifying the cause of an issue and developing a good solution.
Real-world scenarios include emergency fixes (e.g., overflowing toilet at 9 pm) and customer complaints (coffee is cold).
When delays or quality issues arise (e.g., late delivery of building materials), employees who can think on their feet and find solutions are highly valued.
Practice: proactively think of ways to fix problems rather than replacing them or giving up.
Planning
Are you a planner? Can you view a task and map out the steps to complete it quickly and thoroughly?
Effective planning helps manage time and optimize how to finish tasks.
Practical Scenarios and Applications
Scenario: A company needs to produce advertising letters printed, folded, enclosed in envelopes, and addressed before a 4:00 pm deadline, with only employees available.
Challenge: devise a plan to complete the task on time.
Solution approach: create schedules and timetables that allocate tasks efficiently; identify sequential steps and parallel tasks to maximize throughput.
Lesson: planning and teamwork are essential to meet tight deadlines.
Time management and scheduling practice
Develop a daily schedule in a notebook or a calendar app to improve task organization and timing.
Adaptability
Willingness to learn and flexibility to adjust to changing needs or procedures.
Ability to adapt hours, workstation, days off, or responsibilities as situations require.
Outcome: adaptable employees become more resilient and less likely to quit under pressure.
Reflective question: can you approach changes as learning opportunities and avoid excessive stress?
Hard Skills
Definition
Hard skills are job-related, teachable, and measurable.
Examples
Writing
Reading
Computer programs
Operating office machines
Knowing which tools to use for specific tasks
Learning pathways
Some hard skills are learned in school; others are learned on the job.
Some programs and machines are designed with similarities across contexts, making transfer easier (e.g., cash registers, accounting software).
Relationship to soft skills
The soft skills of adaptability, problem solving, and critical thinking help you quickly acquire hard skills on any job.
How Hard and Soft Skills Interact in Real Work
Soft skills enable rapid acquisition of hard skills: adaptability allows you to learn new tools and systems faster.
Problem solving and critical thinking underpin effective utilization of hard skills to meet job requirements.
Reliability and planning support consistent performance as you apply hard skills effectively.
Communication and teamwork amplify the impact of hard skills by coordinating with others and aligning on standards.