Soft Skills

Learn more about critical skills for your career success

What are Soft Skills?

Soft Skills is a term used to describe personality traits needed to have success on the job. In contrast to hard skills, which are to be understood as functional skills or know how required to perform a specific job, soft skills, also called essential skills or people skills, are relevant for all professions and even in private life.

We roughly divide professional skills into four groups:

  1. Personal competence are abilities that define how we deal with ourselves, including self-discipline, self-confidence and self-observation, resilience and flexibility, active learning.
  2. Social skills determine how we communicate and interact with people, thus are also called interpersonal skills or communication skills. In this category fall such competencies as emotional intelligence, active listening, conflict resolution ability, working in teams, leadership.
  3. Methodological competence encompasses problem-solving skills, critical thinking, creativity and initiative.
  4. Technology competence covers how we use, monitor and control technology and defines the individual level of digital fluency. It does not mean that everyone is expected to be an IT expert. However, with greater adoption of technology some basic ability to leverage technology to solve specific tasks has become indispensable in professional setting as well as in everyday life.

Why are strong Soft Skills important?

Career experts unanimously confirm that hard and soft skills are important for professional success. Interestingly, research shows that 85% of career success actually comes from having well-developed soft skill!

As all of the above mentioned abilities can work for your benefit irrespective of the job profile, they are also called transferable skills. Investing in your transferable skillset is your best insurance from any economic crisis or changes in the labor market. Why? With the right soft skills your professional value will remain constantly high no matter what career you choose to pursue.

Soft Skills in the workplace

For companies it is crucial to recruit both skilled workers and workers with developed non-technical skills. In fact, recent data shows that key soft skills are four times more in demand than the top hard skill. That’s why questions around non-technical abilities are a key element of any interview process, along with the candidate’s work history and overall professional experience.

But why exactly do human resource management teams chase candidates with the best soft skills? First, success of any company depends to a large extent on its workforce and employees’ interpersonal relationships. Only effective collaboration is able to produce quality results. Second, due to the high pace of change in the world companies need employees who can not only adapt quickly but continue to innovate and come up with creative solutions under stress.

According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, top soft skills include:

  1. Analytical thinking
  2. Active learning
  3. Complex problem-solving
  4. Critical thinking and analysis
  5. Creativity

Can you improve Soft Skills?

When we speak about soft skills, we speak to a large extent about character traits. So you might be wondering whether you have any influence over your personal habits and abilities. Rest assured, you are able to learn soft skills, even though your approach will not necessarily be the same as when you learn hard skills.

Tips how to develop soft skills:

❇️ Assess your level. You can use any of the self-assessment tools like StrengthsFinder 2.0, Myers-Briggs-Test, or Mindtools.com.

❇️ Identify your areas for improvement. When you search for relevant job postings, look out for hidden clues in the Work Tasks or Requirements sections. Like that you can have a better idea of the relevant skills you need to bring to the table. In addition, soft skills employers always look for include strong communication skills (both oral and written communication matters) and ability to collaborate with team members.

❇️ Make a plan. You can combine elements of formal education, like reading books, completing a course, attending webinars with career coaching as well as discussions with your family and friends.

❇️ Practice, practice, practice. Good soft skills don’t come to you over night. It is important to dedicate time to self-reflection and remain open to feedback.

Related Content

❇️ In our series of articles we will deep dive in the theory of critical competencies which every professional needs to remain competitive on the job market and share with you our expert tips and tricks on how to develop important soft skills that determine success of your career.

Male coworkers showing strong interpersonal skills and also communication skills while working on a project

Why are great interpersonal skills so important? Learn more about the impact of soft skills at work.

woman sitting in front of a pc screen, looking slightly desperate, being comforted by another woman who is holding her shoulders with her hands

Strong soft skills are a crucial factor of being successful in the workplace. In this article, we summarized the top 10 soft skills for you.

red chess piece stands out from the rest

For hundreds of years, great leaders in history have dealt with the topic of leadership. We have collected the best leadership quotes for you!

Soft skills are extremely important for managers. The further development of soft skills (social skills) helps managers to expand their leadership competencies and grow personally. The following soft skills are important for managers!

About,Myself.,Positive,Young,Mixed,Race,Woman,Sitting,On,Chair

Have you ever wondered how you can (better) incorporate empathy at work? In this article, we will show you how to develop empathy at work.

how to improve your communication in the workplace

Effective communication in the workplace is the most important factor for employee engagement. In this article, we explain how you can improve your internal workplace communication.

Two colleagues in office working together productively

Read some handy tips on how to increase productivity in your workplace!

business men have boxes on their heads with faces on them

Do you feel sluggish and unmotivated at work? You can change that. With a shift in mindset, your attitude, and practical measures, you will once again feel joy at work and develop a positive attitude.

friendly colleagues give each other a fist greeting at the workplace

Ever wondered what makes a good work ethic and how to boost that, if necessary? Then read the article now!

several employees are pleased

In times of agility and self-organization in companies, the importance of teamwork is growing. But what do we actually mean by team spirit? Learn how to improve Team Spirit!

Young business woman taking on more responsibility at work

Ready for the next career stage? Click here for tips on how to ask for more responsibility at work!

pretty woman is thinking critical

You don’t know the benefits of critical thinking or you’re not sure if you’re thinking critically enough? here are 5 ways you can improve critical thinking!

Employees have a conflict at work

Wherever people work together, sooner or later conflict occurs and disagreement or a difficult conversation may be inevitable. Learn how to resolve a conflict!

employees laugh in a positive work environment

Your work environment is toxic or even hostile? With this 8 simple steps you can create a positive work environment by your own. Everyone will benefit from it!

Young office manager looking at her watch, holding several office supplies and behind on time management

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at what makes time management skills important, if not essential in the workplace.

Two co-workers smiling at each other at work and practicing open communication

Let’s go into more detail about what integrity means in your professional life and look at useful examples of how you can promote strong workplace integrity.

Happy business woman with a great work-life balance spreading heands outdoors

We’ve compiled the best work-life balance quotes for you. May they help you get inspired and maybe even take steps towards a better balance!

young entrepreneurs sit at the table and listen intently to a young female entrepreneur

Ever wondered what makes a good you a good Leader and how you can improve your Leadership Skills? Find out now!

Young business manager smiling and holding files

New to the manager’s position? We’ve got you covered! Learn more about the 10 most common management issues here.

middle-aged man looks at his ipad with a smile

Stay on top of estate planning with these retirement plans. Learn all about the types of retirement plans and what you need to watch out for!

happy dancing man after winning his salary negotiation

You ever asked how you can you ask for more or a higher salary offer? What you can do, what you shouldn’t do? Here you learn how to get a higher Salary!