To be an attractive candidate for jobs, applicants must demonstrate a combination of hard and soft skills in their applications. One of the best ways to do this is to create a resume that highlights the hard and soft skills you have that are most relevant to the job you’re seeking.
Therefore, it’s helpful to understand what hard and soft skills are and how you can feature them in your resume (and cover letter).
What Are Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills?
Understanding what these two terms mean is the first step in determining which hard skills and soft skills to include in your resume.
Hard skills
Hard skills, also known as technical skills, are industry- or job-specific skills that individuals typically learn through a formal education or training program and on-the-job training.
Although some hard skills may be transferable, in many cases, they are unique to a particular career field. For example, hard skills for a software engineer include writing code in various programming languages, DevOps expertise, and the ability to automate digital processes and workflows.
Throughout an individual’s career, their hard skills will evolve, as they move from basic to intermediate to advanced skill levels with education and experience.
Soft skills
Soft skills, also known as transferable skills, can apply to many different jobs in various industries. These skills are largely personality-based and inform how you work, individually and with others.
There are many ways to develop soft skills, including formal education programs, on-the-job training, life experience, career coaching, and more. Although quantifying soft skills may be challenging, it’s essential to express to employers what soft skills you bring to the table. Smart hiring managers seek job candidates with soft skills that will benefit them in their job responsibilities and make them a good fit within the team or organization.
Examples of Hard Skills
Because each industry and career field has its own unique hard skills, it’s impossible to give examples of all the hard skills an individual may need. If you’re curious about the hard skills required for a particular job or career you’re considering, resources like the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook have information on a multitude of different career options, including the key technical skills that individuals are expected to have.
Below is information about essential hard skills for several in-demand career fields.
Finance
The finance industry offers many opportunities for individuals with an aptitude for understanding numbers and processing complex financial concepts. Financial analysts guide businesses and individuals in decisions about expending money to earn a profit, while personal financial advisors guide individuals on how to manage their money and plan for their financial future.
Top skills:
- Mathematical proficiency
- QuickBooks
- Budgeting
- Investment strategy
- Cash flow management
Nursing
Nursing is a highly skilled field that requires a lot of technical knowledge. Entry-level registered nurses must be able to perform essential tasks like inserting IVs and checking vital signs, while advanced practice registered nurses can have high-level skills such as prescribing medications and reviewing laboratory test results.
Top skills:
- Conducting physical exams, including assessing patients’ vitals
- Recording patient medical histories and symptoms
- Administer medication and treatment to patients
- Operating and monitoring health equipment
- Cleaning and bandaging wounds, incisions, etc.
Computer and information technology
Individuals working in the computer and information technology sector must develop a number of hard skills to succeed in the industry’s various jobs. Most, like network and computer systems administrators and web developers, focus on understanding the language of computers and how systems work together to pass information between them.
Top skills:
- Programming languages, such as Javascript, Python, HTML, SQL, etc.
- Cloud computing
- Data analysis
- DevOps
- Artificial intelligence
Social work
Social work is a highly specialized field that requires a master’s level education for advanced roles involving direct contact with clients. Social workers help individuals, groups, and families cope with life challenges by connecting them with resources, diagnosing mental, emotional, and behavioral issues, and providing interventions.
Top skills:
- Therapeutic intervention strategies
- Clinical assessment and diagnosis
- Documentation and record-keeping
- Mental health treatment modalities
- Cultural competency and diversity awareness
Marketing
Marketing roles combine skills from a variety of areas, including communications, business, finance, and data analysis. Individuals in this field can pursue jobs in market research analysis, which focuses on studying consumer preferences, business conditions, and other factors to assess potential sales of a product or service, and advertising and marketing management, where they design and implement plans to increase sales for a product or service.
Top skills:
- Social media literacy
- Survey design
- Attribution modeling
- Data analysis
- Data visualization
Engineering
The engineering field encompasses various specializations, including civil engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, and more. Each specialization requires its own set of technical skills, although there may be overlap in some areas.
Top skills:
- Quality control
- Product development lifecycle
- Drafting
- Mathematics
- Technical writing
Healthcare administration and management
A healthcare administrator or manager focuses on behind-the-scenes operations that help hospitals, specialists’ offices, and other medical facilities function. This interdisciplinary field requires individuals to combine knowledge of healthcare practices and standards with business skills and principles.
Top skills:
- Medical coding and billing
- Electronic health records (EHR) systems
- Reviewing and evaluating healthcare metrics
- Budgeting
- Scheduling
Human resources
Human resources professionals must draw on a variety of skill areas, including business, management, education, finance, and more. Human resources specialists and managers must also possess a wide range of soft skills, as this is a profession centered around interpersonal communications.
Top skills:
- Recruitment and retention strategies
- Conflict management
- Negotiation
- Benefits and Compensation
- Labor laws
Examples of Soft Skills
Soft skills are often referred to as transferable skills because they can be applicable across industries and jobs. For example, it may not seem like a software developer and an advertising manager have much in common, but both roles require creativity, problem-solving, and the ability to work as part of a team.
Below are some of the most in-demand soft skills:
Communication
All jobs require some degree of communication, which means individuals must be prepared to communicate clearly and effectively through verbal and written methods. Other sought-after communication skills include public speaking, conflict management, and proficiency with telecommunications software, like Zoom or Microsoft Teams.
Critical-thinking
Critical-thinking skills allow you to objectively analyze and evaluate an issue to make an informed decision. This is essential in most workplace contexts for deciding how to handle problems, interact with clients and coworkers, prioritize tasks, and more.
Problem-solving
Problems are an inevitable part of any workplace experience. Employers seek workers who can take initiative when issues arise, address them calmly, and use their creativity to find effective solutions that work for all affected parties.
Leadership
Most employers want candidates with leadership experience, even if it’s not specifically a leadership role, because it implies self-motivation, confidence, and the ability to delegate responsibilities.
Time management
Managing time efficiently and effectively is critical for success in most workplace settings. Employers seek employees who understand how long tasks take, consistently meet deadlines, and can balance work with other responsibilities.
Adaptability
Being open to new ideas, adjusting priorities to accommodate different tasks, or feeling comfortable with changes on the fly is extremely helpful in the workplace. Adaptability helps employees be flexible when unexpected situations or changes arise.
Organization
Employers seek this skill because they want workers who can prioritize tasks, maintain systems that aid optimal workflow, and handle responsibilities without being micromanaged.Â
Teamwork
It’s rare to find a job that doesn’t require some degree of collaboration, so employers want to know how job candidates work with others. Valuable teamwork skills include interpersonal communication, the ability to manage and resolve conflicts, active listening, and a willingness to share and hear ideas with a team.
Customer service skills
Although customer service skills are most typically associated with roles like receptionist or cashier, they are useful in any role that requires interaction between an employee and a client. Strong customer service includes the ability to communicate clearly, solve problems, and maintain a positive demeanor in stressful circumstances.
Public speaking
The ability to address groups of people, large or small, can be valuable in a variety of fields, particularly for individuals who want to rise to leadership positions. Key public speaking skills include building effective presentations, understanding your audience’s needs, and using strong body language to project confidence and expertise.
How to Develop Hard and Soft Skills
There are many ways to develop hard and soft skills, with most job-seekers using a combination of the following.
- Degree program: Earning a degree helps students develop key hard and soft skills in their respective area of study under the guidance of experienced experts in the field in a formalized setting.
- Online courses and certifications: This type of learning offers students more flexibility and is less time-intensive than earning a full degree. Online courses and certifications are ideal for those who want to develop a specific skill or skillset with documentation to show potential employers.
- Learning apps: For an informal learning experience, learning apps and instruction videos on sites like TikTok and YouTube can be extremely helpful. This is an ideal way to build new skills and increase knowledge even with limited time and financial resources.
- Internships: Many degree programs include an experiential learning component, like an internship, to help students practice their hard and soft skills in a real-world setting. Even if you’re not in a degree program, an internship can be a great way to sharpen existing skills and develop new ones.
- On-the-job training: All jobs include a degree of on-the-job training, whether it’s learning a specific system used by your company or understanding how certain situations are handled. Part of professional development is being open to continually learning new things through your job.
- Volunteer work: Donating your time to organizations and causes you are passionate about can be a great way to develop hard and soft skills. Having volunteer work on your resume can also boost your application, as it demonstrates who you are and what you value to potential employers.
- Hobbies: You can help strengthen your professional skills while having fun. Technical skills you teach yourself as part of a hobby are just as valuable as those you learn in a formal educational setting.
How to Include Hard and Soft Skills on Your Resume
The first step to ensuring the necessary hard and soft skills are featured in your resume is carefully reviewing the postings for the jobs you’re seeking. Job postings will highlight the essential skills and qualifications for the role. Ideally, you’ll meet most or all of the criteria, and be able to demonstrate those abilities throughout your resume and cover letter.
You can highlight hard and soft skills on your resume in a “Key Skills” section. This section is usually placed at the beginning of the resume, although placement can vary based on your resume format.
Within the descriptions of current and past job responsibilities and achievements, provide context for how you developed or utilized a particular skill. While the “Key Skills” section gives hiring managers an ‘at-a-glance’ look at your skills, it shows how you used those skills within a specific role and what they helped you achieve.
You can also use your resume’s “Education” section to highlight hard and soft skills. If you earned a degree or certificate, include a sample of key coursework you completed to show potential employers what knowledge you possess.
How to Highlight Hard and Soft Skills in a Job Interview
A resume and cover letter that features your hard and soft skills helps you get to the next step in the hiring process — an interview. This is an opportunity to reinforce your hard and soft skills and how they align with the job’s responsibilities and the company’s needs.
There are several ways to achieve this. One is the STAR method, which stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. You can use this as a framework to provide specific examples of how you used a hard or soft skill by providing context for the situation, talking about the task you were responsible for, describing your action, and sharing the positive results of your action.
Another method is to ask strategic questions. Think about your hard and soft skills and ask how they might be applicable to the role you’re interviewing for. Asking strategic questions demonstrates soft skills like critical thinking and communication.
Your indirect actions during your interview process can also help you demonstrate soft skills. Arriving for your interview prepared and on time demonstrates organization, while being confident and clear in your responses in written exchanges and face-to-face interviews shows that you are an effective communicator.