Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills: What’s the Difference?

Every job requires a combination of hard and soft skills. Hard skills refer to technical skills and represent the specialized knowledge you bring to particular roles, whereas soft skills refer to workplace skills and represent how you approach your work.

In this article, we'll go over the difference between the two and ways you can keep developing in both areas. In the meantime, if you're interested in building a key technical skill used across roles, consider enrolling in the Microsoft Excel Professional Certificate, where you'll gain confidence working with the Excel interface and applying essential formulas.

Hard skills vs. soft skills

Hard skills (or technical skills) are specific to the type of work that you do, while soft skills (or workplace skills) are how you do your work. For example, to work as a sales representative, you need to have good customer service skills (a hard skill) as well as good communication skills (a soft skill).  

Technical and workplace skills are complementary because you need a mix of both to perform almost any work. Employers typically look for candidates with a mix of technical and workplace skills because technical skills indicate that you are proficient in the practical aspects of your role. In contrast, workplace skills indicate that you can contribute to a positive and productive work environment.

Examples of technical and workplace skills include:

What are hard skills?

Technical skills are the practical know-how you need to complete a specific task. For example, a nurse learns how to administer a vaccine or a graphic designer uses a software program to complete a task. These skills range from learning a foreign language to forecasting analysis to predict the stock market.

Hard skills examples

Technical skills describe what you know how to do. Some examples include:

• Computer programming languages

• Data analysis

• Engineering

• Financial management

• Speaking a foreign language

• UX design

• Web development

• Writing and editing

What are soft skills?

Workplace skills relate to how you work and tend to be described qualitatively. Regardless of your job title, these attributes make you a good employee, colleague, and overall human. For this reason, they are often good transferable skills. 

Soft skills examples

Workplace skills describe your approach to or attributes of your work. Some examples include:

• Adaptability

• Collaboration

• Critical thinking

• Empathy

• Organization

• Problem-solving

• Strategic thinking

• Teamwork

Workplace skills are on the rise.

Business leaders state that workplace skills, such as networking, enthusiasm, professionalism, communication, and critical thinking, are even more important than technical skills, according to the US Department of Labor [1].

As work becomes increasingly automated, social and emotional skills have become more crucial. Statista reports that the skills most likely to rise in importance for employers between 2023 and 2027 include creative thinking, analytical thinking, curiosity, flexibility, systems thinking, self-awareness, active listening, leadership, and more personal skills  [2]. Moreover, SHRM reports that 30 percent of HR professionals reported challenges with hiring because they could not find candidates with the right soft skills [3]. Some jobs now require personality tests and other ways to evaluate workplace skills.

How to leverage your skills for career success

Both technical and workplace skills are necessary for career success, and you can develop your skills through professional development training, such as the programs you can find on Coursera, or through on-the-job training.

• Learn on the job: Approach your role as a potential learning experience and identify ways to build or strengthen your skill set through a variety of responsibilities.

• Work beyond your team: As a colleague, you can improve your teamwork and organizational skills by working with cross-functional teams, such as organizing an outing or team-building activity to foster a positive spirit.

• Practice effective leadership: As a manager or leader, you can enhance your workplace skills by getting to know your team members. This might include active listening and providing mentorship or support to create a culture of belonging.

How to showcase your hard and soft skills

You'll want to make sure you feature your full skill set when you apply for new jobs, adding them to your resume, demonstrating what you know in job applications, and lastly in interviews. Let's review each scenario.

1. Highlight soft vs. hard skills on your resume

Tailoring your resume to each job you apply for is considered good practice. When describing your previous responsibilities, match specific technical and workplace skills from the job description to those from your list. Learn more about adding key skills to your resume.

Explore this example where italics indicate a technical skill and underlined text refers to a workplace skill:

Waiter at Longhorn Grill, Houston, TX / October 2019–Present

• Completed comprehensive training for proper food handling, including equipment cleaning, proper freezer temperatures and placement, and executing employee handwashing rules

• Developed a new reward system for employees, resulting in improved attendance and increased employee satisfaction

• Assisted in training five new waiters, demonstrating strong attention to detail, leadership, and conflict resolution techniques

2. Demonstrate your hard vs. soft skills in a job application

Some job applications require a cover letter, which is a great place to expand your skills and offer more detail, like the impact you had at previous companies, thanks to your skill set.

For instance, if you are applying for a marketing manager position, you might describe a project in which you curated a team of Instagram and TikTok influencers to launch a new product that resulted in five times the projected sales in the first week. This example shows you can be innovative and have proficiency in using platforms to measure data.

3. Show your skills in a job interview

While you'll likely talk about your technical skills during an interview, you can also use it as an opportunity to demonstrate some workplace skills, like good communication and attention to detail. Polite etiquette, such as accepting a calendar invite and sending thank-you emails, makes a good first impression. The same goes for being on time, whether it is an in-person or Zoom interview.

During the interview, you may find the STAR method helpful for providing thorough responses. STAR stands for situation, task, action, and result.

Explore a similar example using italics and underlined text to demonstrate how the STAR method looks in an interview:

• Situation: At my former job as a sales associate, a coworker resigned just before a big deadline for their project.

• Task: I was asked to take over the project and complete weeks of work in just a few days. 

• Action: I asked my manager to dial back my responsibilities for the week and delegated the work to other members of the sales team. Then, I spent two days learning about the project and brushing up on Excel. My intern and I devised a strategy to finish the assignment within five days.

• Result: By dedicating time to the special project, I finished on time and with accuracy. My manager appreciated my dedication and I was trusted with more projects after that.

Develop your full skill set on Coursera

Build and strengthen both your hard and soft skills through a range of programs on Coursera. You'll find courses from industry leaders and esteemed university partners—the vast majority of which are available through a Coursera Plus subscription. Get access to over 7,000 courses for one monthly or annual rate. Learn more.

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