Hiring an ecommerce SEO expert or programming whiz for your team can give you a clear technical advantage. And, though technical skills and previous experience matter, another factor is just as important: soft skills. Do they communicate well, get along with others, and stay cool under pressure? These aren’t just nice extras—they’re the attributes of a well-rounded employee. This article delves into soft skills and examines their importance in employee hiring.
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are interpersonal skills that enable people to communicate effectively, work well within teams, and adapt to changing circumstances. Emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and other attributes contribute to a person’s ability to interact effectively with others.
These skills are increasingly listed in job descriptions, and hiring managers often consider them as important as technical abilities. Employers recognize that employees who bring soft skills to the workplace can improve team dynamics and drive organizational success.
Hard skills vs. soft skills: What’s the difference?
Hard skills are the teachable, technical abilities required for a job like programming or accounting. They are typically developed through education and on-the-job training.
Soft skills, by contrast, are the interpersonal qualities that dictate how we interact, such as effective communication and teamwork. While you can quantify improvement in hard skills, soft skills are subjective and not easily measurable, though there are ways to assess them. A blend of hard and soft skills makes for a well-rounded colleague.
Why are soft skills important?
- Improve teamwork and collaboration
- Drive adaptability and problem-resolution
- Cultivate a positive workplace culture
Soft skills include a range of personal attributes that dictate how individuals interact with others and approach their work. Here’s why soft skills are important:
Improve teamwork and collaboration
Employees with strong soft skills are typically better at working within a team. They understand the nuances of group dynamics and can navigate and adapt to different personalities and working styles. This collaborative mindset fosters a more harmonious corporate culture while also increasing group productivity.
Drive adaptability and problem-resolution
Employees with strong soft skills excel at thinking on their feet and can handle unexpected challenges with composure.
Connie Steele is a former marketing executive and the author of Building the Business of You, a book about building a purpose-fueled career in an uncertain world. Connie suggests employers look less at specific criteria and more at someone’s willingness to adapt.
“There are many new jobs that will be created in five or 10 years that we don’t even know yet, given the continual proliferation of different technologies,” Connie says.
Cultivate a positive workplace culture
The impact of soft skills extends beyond individual interactions; they’re the building blocks of a healthy workplace culture. Employees with strong people skills contribute to an environment where trust, communication, and mutual respect are the norm. This positive culture improves employees’ work experience, job satisfaction, and retention rates.
Examples of soft skills
- Communication skills
- Organizational skills
- Interpersonal skills
- Problem-solving skills
- Time management skills
- Leadership skills
- Teamwork skills
- Emotional intelligence
- Adaptability
- Critical thinking
Developing soft skills can bolster your professional capabilities and interpersonal relationships at work (and in life). Here are some essential soft skills in the workplace:
Communication skills
Communication skills involve the ability to clearly convey information and ideas through various mediums. Strong communication skills help you to collaborate effectively, ensuring projects move forward without misunderstandings affecting the work.
Communication skills include a range of competencies, such as active listening, nonverbal communication, clarity, concision, and empathy. They all play a huge role in many aspects of business—from how colleagues run internal meetings to the phrases customer service teams use to resolve an issue.
Organizational skills
Organizational skills refer to the ability to structure and prioritize tasks, manage resources effectively, and maintain a clear and logical workflow. Organization is a key soft skill in the workplace for meeting deadlines, minimizing stress, and improving productivity by ensuring systematic management of projects and daily activities.
Skills related to organizational abilities include attention to detail, strategic planning, and the capacity for multitasking.
Interpersonal skills
Interpersonal skills are the traits and behaviors you use to interact positively and work effectively with others, including sensitivity to and understanding their perspective and needs. These skills are valuable for building and maintaining positive relationships, facilitating collaboration, and creating a harmonious team environment.
Key components of interpersonal skills include emotional intelligence, active listening, and diplomacy.
Problem-solving skills
Problem-solving skills involve the ability to identify issues, analyze underlying causes, and develop and implement effective solutions. These skills are critical in the workplace for navigating unexpected challenges, improving processes, and driving innovation by turning obstacles into opportunities.
These skills often require creativity, resilience, and critical analysis to address complex situations successfully.
Time management skills
Time management skills enable you to use your time effectively and balance competing demands. In the workplace, these skills are crucial for maximizing productivity, meeting deadlines, and reducing stress by prioritizing tasks and stopping procrastination.
Time management includes goal setting, delegation, and scheduling.
Leadership skills
Leadership skills involve the ability to motivate, influence, and direct others in a way that achieves business goals and inspires continuous improvement. These skills are essential in the workplace to drive team success, manage change effectively, and cultivate an environment of accountability and empowerment.
Key to strong leadership are decision-making, setting clear goals, and the ability to foster team cohesion and individual development.
Teamwork skills
Teamwork skills refer to working collaboratively with others toward a common goal, balancing individual contributions with group objectives. In the workplace, these skills facilitate productive group dynamics, improve collective problem-solving, and are essential for completing complex projects that require diverse talents and perspectives.
Skills closely associated with effective teamwork include conflict resolution, reliability, and giving and receiving constructive feedback.
Whether you are in person or whether you are in a hybrid situation, understanding people’s body language, their tone of voice, their tempo. You have to start putting together all those different pieces to connect.
Whether you are in person or whether you are in a hybrid situation, understanding people’s body language, their tone of voice, their tempo. You have to start putting together all those different pieces to connect.
Emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence is the capacity to be aware of, control, and express your emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships with empathy. It’s invaluable for managing conflicts, guiding behavior, and making personal decisions that achieve positive results.
Connie suggests emotional intelligence is crucial for adapting to the future of work. “[It’s about] understanding social competence, social awareness, like those around you, but [also] your own personal competence and personal awareness. It’s knowing how to read people,” she says.
“Whether you are in person or whether you are in a hybrid situation, understanding people’s body language, their tone of voice, their tempo. You have to start putting together all those different pieces to connect.”
This soft skill umbrella also includes self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills.
Adaptability
Adaptability and flexibility are soft skills that relate to your ability to adjust to changes and new conditions in the workplace with resilience and openness. These skills are crucial for employees to remain effective during transitions, restructurings, or when facing new challenges and innovative technologies.
Underlying abilities that support adaptability include a positive attitude, creative thinking, and the willingness to learn new skills.
Critical thinking
Critical thinking is the analytical skill that involves objective evaluation and synthesis of information to form a judgment or solve a problem. In the workplace, it is central to making informed decisions, fostering innovation, and understanding the implications of your actions in a complex and often ambiguous environment.
This skill set includes logical reasoning, analytical assessment, questioning assumptions, and considering alternative perspectives.
How do you highlight your soft skills?
Soft skills set you apart from others with similar technical know-how. When sharing your professional story, give your most important soft skills as much attention as your technical expertise.
Here’s how:
Use your job application cover letter to tell a story
Your cover letter is the perfect place to tell your professional story. Mention specific occasions when your soft skills played a starring role in your work experience. Maybe you mediated a conflict or navigated a big change at your company. Use these moments to paint a vivid picture of how your soft skills made a real impact.
Highlight your cultural contributions on your résumé
On your résumé, under each position you’ve held, include bullet points that showcase how you’ve improved the work environment or company culture. Perhaps you organized team outings that increased camaraderie or spearheaded a volunteer initiative involving the whole company. These examples demonstrate your ability to create a positive and inclusive workplace.
Share anecdotes and examples during the interview
During interviews, be ready with stories highlighting your soft skills in action. Think of times when your adaptability, teamwork, or problem-solving abilities came into play. You may have adapted quickly to a new software system and trained others, or your collaboration on a project led to a major win for your team. Sharing these anecdotes helps interviewers understand your soft skills in a practical, relatable way.
Soft skills FAQ
How can employers evaluate soft skills?
Employers can evaluate a candidate’s soft skills during interviews, noting their communication style and problem-solving approaches, and asking questions that reveal how they’ve handled past challenges.
What is a soft skill on a résumé?
A soft skill on a résumé is a nontechnical ability that relates to how you work and interact with others, such as leadership, communication, or time management.
What are the most valued soft skills?
The most valued soft skills often include communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem-solving, and emotional intelligence.
Why are soft skills important?
Soft skills are important because they determine how well a person can work with others, adapt to changes, and overcome challenges, which are all essential for success in most workplaces.
