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Soft Skill Vs. Hard Skill: How They Influence Your Work Performance



Soft skills can be defined as innate skills that come naturally to us and help us perform efficiently. For example, some soft skills include communication, leadership, organization, integrity, punctuality, time management, teamwork, critical thinking, and problem-solving.


On the other hand, hard skills are the abilities you learn in school or on the job. These skills may include typing speed, computer skills, Microsoft Office, Photoshop, SEO, HTML, and bilingual languages.


What Are The Most Important Soft Skills And Hard Skills Employers Look For In Prospective Employees?


Soft Skills

  1. Communication: Communication includes the ability to be articulate and properly verbalize your words, write, and active listening.

  2. Integrity: Integrity in the workplace is paramount. It speaks on your honesty, dependability, loyalty, and hard work.

  3. Problem-solving: Being able to problem solve is very vital to the growth and success of the company. Identifying an issue, evaluating solutions, and implementing them allows you to work independently and show adaptability. In other words, when things don't go as planned and a problem arises, you can easily adapt to the change and quickly solve the issue.

  4. Adaptability: Problem-solving and adaptability go hand-in-hand. Adaptability in the workplace means rapidly learning new skills and behaviors in response to changing circumstances. You can respond effectively to changing work conditions when things don't go as planned. To be adaptable at work, you have to have a growth mindset, learn to accept change, and look for the positive in the changing situation.

  5. Time Management: Time management is an essential soft skill because it helps you maximize your working time, and it enables you to prioritize your tasks. Also, it allows you to create a healthy work-life balance.

  6. Teamwork: A critical skill set is working in a group to accomplish a goal efficiently. Teamwork builds trust among team players, encourages collaboration, and builds a positive company culture.


Hard Skills

When it comes to hard skills, this skill set may depend on your field of work and industry. With that said, regardless of your industry, there is a set of hard skills everyone can learn and apply to their work.


  1. Computer Skills: We live in a computer age, and even the most computer illiterate will learn how to use an email. Our phones are tiny computers and communication devices. But more importantly, being able to access the most basic functions on a computer is an essential hard skill to learn.

  2. Social Media: It seems the whole world is connected via social media, whether it is through Facebook, Instagram, or WhatsApp; social media is likely here to stay. With everything online now, so is our work resume. Learning how to use social media can help you grow your business and easily network with people in your industry.

  3. Microsoft Office: It may be imperative to know Microsoft office. These skills may include learning how to create a spreadsheet, creating tables, creating documents, and creating graphs and charts.

  4. Analytical Skills: This skill is deconstructing information into smaller categories to draw conclusions on the matter. In addition, you have to have the ability to think critically, analyze data, make difficult decisions, and solve complex problems.

  5. Presentation Skills: Having presentation skills encourages us to have good communication skills. Presentation skills help us interact with the audience, communicate our message, engage without the audience effectively, and present our visions more accurately.

  6. Management Skills: Management skills are the knowledge and expertise to fulfill activities and tasks without anyone supervising you.


Having a vast array of soft skills and hard skills is vital to the growth and success of your work and business.


As an entrepreneur, your team workers must gain the necessary skill training to perform effectively. Hard skills are required to perform technical tasks, while soft skills are needed to help cope and react to everyday situations.


The Importance Of Putting Soft And Hard Skills Set On Your Resume

  1. According to Forbes, 94% of recruiters believe that soft skills outweigh job experience when it comes to promoting to leadership positions. In addition, Soft skills relate more to emotional intelligence and are the natural abilities that impact our ability to work well with others.

  2. Soft skills will help to demonstrate your expertise.

  3. It highlights who you are, your personality, and your character.

  4. Soft skills improve your ability to work with others, and it helps you have good customer relations.

Hard skills

  1. Hard skills increase employee productivity and efficiency.

  2. Hard skill demonstrates an employee's technical expertise.

  3. Hard skills show an employer you can complete your work without supervision.

  4. Most employers, at least 77%, think that both hard skills and soft skills are essential.

For a company to grow and be very successful, both leaders and team workers must exhibit crucial soft and hard skill sets to shape the work's efficiency.

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