Soft skills are people skills that are non-technical, not part of our curriculum; but very much needed in all aspects of your life.
In the workplace, soft skills play an important role in career development, you may be a fresher, experienced professional, entrepreneur, or anyone who wants to succeed you must practice soft skills to get the edge over others and succeed.
Before we learn about soft skills let’s understand about hard skills.
HARD SKILLS
- Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities that may be required in a given environment. (These are skills that are required to perform a particular type of job).
- Hard skills are professional skills such as technical and administrative.
- Hard skills also include your degrees, certifications, job titles.
Let us take an example:
If you are working in a team of 10, all of them possess the same hard skill set now, how do you go to the next level.
You may be very good at your job technically very sound so are the other 5 members in your team.
In this scenario how will you stand out? by demonstrating your critical thinking, interpersonal skills, adaptability, emotional intelligence, and so on;
This will play a crucial role in your career success; exhibiting required soft skills will give you the advantage over the others.
Let us see more about this topic in brief.
SOFT SKILLS
Soft skills are intangible interpersonal skills that are associated with an individual’s ability to effectively interact with others.
Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual’s interactions, job performance, and career prospects.
HARD SKILLS VS SOFT SKILLS
- To be good at hard skills usually refers to your Intelligence Quotient.
- Skills that can be listed in your resume, which can be exhibited through certificates, degrees, etc.
- Hard skills are skills where the rules remain the same regardless of your company culture your colleagues, office environment in general.
- To be good at soft skills usually takes Emotional Intelligence or EQ.
- Skills that cannot be easily quantified or measured.
Soft skills are self-management skills and people skills where the rules change.
WHY DO WE NEED SOFT SKILLS?
Advance your career- One of the important aspects of your career growth is to demonstrate the required soft skill at your workplace.
Create opportunities- With people skills, you can create opportunities to build your network and grow your career.
Better work-life balance- With a balanced emotional quotient you can have a better work-life balance. Manage your work and home.
10 ESSENTIAL SOFT SKILLS – 2021
STEPS TO DEVELOP YOUR SOFT SKILLS
- Build self-awareness- Understand yourself, Find out where you stand, analyze your strength and weakness.
- Strengthen your weakness- For instance if your analysis shows that you must work on your time management.
- Plan your day in advance. Schedule your day to increase your productivity. Buy a planner. Be consistent.
- It is all about changing yourself not others. Please note that this is self-improvement.
- Focus on one skill at a time that you want to improve.
- Practice, Practice, Practice. Practicing regularly is the key.