‘Soft skills’ are something almost every employer is looking for when they hire, yet the term covers a range of characteristics and qualities and therefore means different things for different people, writes Charles Towers-Clark in an article for Forbes.
Soft skills “are not taught at school, so they aren’t defined like ‘proper’ subjects are, and yet many of us think that we are very good at them without any kind of training”, he says.
The article refers to research by the World Bank, which shows that soft skills can be learned and improved upon throughout adolescence and adulthood. However, he adds that more work is needed to define the soft skills required by employers and to understand how they interact with different facets of the labour market.
Critical thinking
Cultivating transferable skills, such as soft skills, across a range of industries is critical to responding to shifts in workplace dynamics and business demand, writes Johnny C Taylor Jr, chief executive of the Society for Human Resource Management, in an article in HR magazine.
“Soft skills such as critical thinking, organisation, innovation, cooperation, leadership and interpersonal communications are vital to business operations,” writes Taylor. These skills help to drive flexibility, collaboration, problem-solving and dependability.
These people skills are “precursors for leadership attributes that enable workers to effectively interact with others through relationship building, good communication and adaptability”.
They cannot supplant technical competency, which requires specialised hard skills, but the world of work needs both tactical hard skills and strategic soft skills, he writes.
Universal requirement
“If there’s one thing that every CV needs, it’s proof of good soft skills,” says an article on global job seeker site LiveCareer.
“They’re essential to every workplace and a universal requirement for career success,” it says, adding that “most people can’t really define what they are, much less decide on the best soft skills list for their CV”.
But they are what makes us human, it says. “In an age of increasing automation many tasks requiring hard skills are being taken over by machines, but anything involving a complex use of soft skills still requires the human touch.”
The article says soft skills can be broken down into seven categories:
- Communication
- Teamwork
- Leadership
- Emotional intelligence
- Adaptability
- Problem-solving
- Work ethic
The article then gives further detail on each of the seven categories. For example, communication can be broken down into:
- Verbal communication skills
- Written communication skills
- Listening skills
- Body language
- Friendliness
- Negotiation
- Persuasion
- Questioning skills
- Clarity