Before you apply to any job, it’s important to understand what your goals are and how your specific skill set can be beneficial. In order to do this, you’ll want to take a look at your technical and soft skills to see if a job is the right fit for you.
What are soft skills?
According to Ticket to Work, in a nutshell, soft skills are the ‘people’ skills that characterize how a person interacts with other people—either one-on-one or in team settings. For example, being able to communicate—both to understand and to be understood—is a soft skill. By contrast, hard skills are learned and are usually job-specific, such as coding for an information technology job or cooking as a chef.
In addition to communication, soft skills include such things as teamwork, networking, problem solving and professionalism. Another important soft skill is attitude, specifically a positive one. You know how you feel when you’re with friendly, respectful and enthusiastic people. Well, employers want those kinds of people, too.
What are technical skills?
Hard skills, also known as technical skills, are those you gain through education or performing various tasks. Often, technical skills are specific to a particular job or career. For example, if you apply for a position in a greenhouse, the employer will be more interested in your knowledge of plant care than your customer service skills. Reading a position description will help you identify which skills an employer might value most.
Why do employers care about soft skills?
No matter what kind of work a company or organization performs, they have customers, shareholders, vendors, clients and employees with whom they must have a good relationship with to stay in business. It makes sense for employers to hire people who can help them build and maintain those relationships.
Employers, of course, want people who can perform the technical parts of a job. For example, no one wants to hire a bad coder for a coding job. But if the coder can’t work with the website administrator, that part of the business can fail and affect the customers who want to place orders. People who work in customer service are the front line for many companies. Understanding what the customer needs (listening), figuring out how to solve their issue (problem solving) and letting them know how you can help them (communicating) are all soft skills.
How do technical skills transfer to your next job?
Technical skills, like soft skills, can apply to many different types of jobs. To know which technical skills you should have before applying for a job, look under the “Required Qualifications” or “Education and Experience” section of the position advertisement. There you will find a list of the skills an employer is looking for.
For example, an advertisement for a position as an assistant grower in a greenhouse might list minimum qualifications such as:
Intermediate math skills
Solid reading skills
Ability to accurately identify irrigation needs for various crops
Your resume and cover letter should explain how and where you have used these skills previously and why you think your experience will benefit the employer.
Taking inventory of your skills
Concerning soft skills, take some time to think about the types of tasks and responsibilities at which you excel. Are you good at making others happy by finding solutions to problems? Are you good at explaining complicated ideas to others? Do you enjoy creating new ways to stay organized? Then, when you’re ready to apply for a job, you can use your application, resume and cover letter to your advantage by mentioning some of the skills above that most closely fit your own skill set and relate to the job.
When you are analyzing your technical skills, think about the tasks you did with them rather than the job or career associated with them. When you finish writing down your skills, compare your list with jobs that you are interested in and see how the skills help you qualify. This way, you can identify areas where you need more training or experience for your desired job.
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