Flash News NA 12/06/2024
Soft Skills, significance, examples and how to develop them
Soft skills are a set of abilities and competencies related to human behavior.
In this way, they are considered necessary characteristics for a professional to achieve their professional objectives, what they establish for their career.
With the constant changes and developments in the job market and labor relations, more and more companies understand that they need employees with abilities that goes beyond technical skills.
Soft skills are competencies related to the individual's behavior, much more associated with personality and experiences than with professional training.
These are the skills linked to the professional's behavior, that is, their ability to develop a positive relationship with work and with their colleagues, positively influencing the environment. Emotional intelligence and interpersonal relationships are examples of this.
In a recruitment process, many candidates will be able to present the requirements pre-established by companies to fill the vacancy: educational qualifications, fluency in languages, specialization courses, etc. However, it could be their soft skills that makes the difference ate the time of decision.
These abilities, often even innate, such as creativity or organization, together with good self-knowledge, will stand out in such a competitive market. Other examples are empathy, ethics, leadership, conflict resolution, flexibility and team management. All of them bring benefits to personal life, but they are also important for good relationships with co-workers.
Making a comparison with hard skills, these are technical and specific abilites related to knowledge and competencies in a certain area. Hard skills are concrete, measurable and generally acquired through training, courses or practical experience. Examples of this are the ability to operate a machine, the level of knowledge in some software, knowledge of foreign languages, among others.
While hard skills are essential to perform specific and technical tasks, soft skills are important for success in the workplace, especially when it comes to collaborating effectively with co-workers, dealing with clients and facing challenges in an ever-changing environment. Therefore, both skills are valuable and complementary, and it is important to balance and develop both for a successful career and professional growth.
It is also important to note that it is possible to develop soft skills over time and, to do so, is required to seek self-knowledge and understand what is the role in the organization. Finally, we highlight some competencies that seems to be fundamental today:
- Communication: ability to dialogue with co-workers, avoiding and managing conflicts;
- Flexibility and resilience: ability to adapt and continue productivity, even in changing scenarios or complex experiences;
- Teamwork: ability to cooperate in work groups, with people with different characteristics and skills;
- Empathy: ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes and understand their approach to different topics;
- Work ethics: commitment to rules, respect and morality in the work environment;
- Critical thinking: questioning methods, identifying problems, seeking new solutions;
- Positive Attitude: stay motivated, optimistic, focused on real possibilities and more on successes than on mistakes;
- Assertiveness: expressing yourself clearly and concisely, conveying the essential message.
In order to support and clarify all questions related to this and other topics, Nominaurea has a Human Resources team always available to help you.
