What are soft skills and why are they so important for a career? Soft-skills (Personal development) Soft skills events for students

HR-s have faced the situation more than once: they hire an excellent candidate, a professional in their field, who was successful in the previous job, fulfilled KPIs and has good recommendations from former managers. He goes to work in your company and does not give the expected result. What is the problem?

Diplomas, certifications and experience are, of course, important when deciding on a candidate, but the level of development of mental skills that are more social than technical ones are now moving into more in-demand characteristics of the workforce. In today's trends, the level of development of Soft skills takes precedence over the narrow technical (technological) skills of Hard skills. Because training Hard skills is less costly and faster than instilling and practicing Soft skills.

Here, in the example above, these soft skills played a cruel joke.

Reference:

Soft skills- skills, the manifestation of which is difficult to track, test and demonstrate. Soft skills include communication skills, teamwork, time management, management, presentations, sales, leadership, personal development, self-motivation, etc. These are skills that help people find optimal solutions in a wide range of tasks not described either in step-by-step or job descriptions. It is these skills that the employee applies in most of the working time.

Hard skills- technical skills or skills that can be demonstrated. This category includes, for example, knowledge of technology, guests and standards, equipment repair, etc.

Top ten best Soft Skills skills in demand in the job market:

1. Communication skills.

It is more than just speaking in plain language. Communication skills include coherent constructive speech, articulation, active listening, presentation, and good business writing skills. One of the most sought-after communication skills is the ability to explain narrow specifications to partners, customers, and employees who do not have technological knowledge.

1. Observation of the behavior during the interview.

3. Cases for assessing communication skills.
4. Tests-questionnaires to determine the type of personality.
5. Business games.

2. Computer and technical literacy.

Nearly all jobs now require advanced computer software competencies, but there are still many job seekers who do not know how to work with a PC and specialized software.

How to determine the skill level:
1. Computer tests
2. Execution of test tasks.

3. Interpersonal skills.

The ability to work in teams, communicate with people and manage conflict is a valuable asset in the workplace. This skill is very important for your employees to grow and build their careers, because the ability to manage employees (leadership) becomes an even more important skill.

How to determine the skill level:

2. Open interview with selected candidates.

4. Adaptability.

Don't underestimate the ability to adapt to change and manage multiple tasks. In today's technological and rapidly evolving business environment, the ability to pick up new technologies and adapt to changing business conditions is essential.

How to determine the skill level:
1. Interview on projective issues.
2. Situational interview.

5. Research skills.

Using Google or Yandex, you can easily find answers to common questions. However, companies are looking for employees who are able to assess and analyze situations, can look for many prospects and collect more unique information.

How to determine the skill level:
1. Situational interview

6. Skills of project management.

Organizing, planning and executing projects and tasks efficiently is a highly effective skill. Now this is a separate category of professionals.
But at present, Russian companies are not yet hiring project managers because they expect all of their employees to have this skill.

How to determine the skill level:
1. Questionnaire tests.
2. Interview according to the "case" method.

7. Ability to solve problems.

The ability to use creativity, situational analysis, forward-looking outcomes, past experience, information and available resources to solve problems attracts employers because it saves money and resources in the organization.

How to determine the skill level:
1. Behavioral interview according to the STAR model.
2. Situational interview.
3. Interview using the "case" method.

8. Expertise and improvement of business processes.

The number one challenge that every company poses to its employees is how to save money and resources. Optimizing business processes can save a company time and money.

How to determine the skill level:

1. Interview on competencies (behavioral interview according to the STAR model).
2. Business games.
3. Situational interview.

9. Strong work ethic.

Employers are looking for employees who are capable of doing the job professionally, are responsible, reliable, and can do the job for the first time. Managers and colleagues do not have the time (and more often the desire) to train you or fix your work, so this skill is expected of all employees by default. Do not force the manager to explain the problem for a long time or to tell you step by step the process of solving the problem, or even more so to finish or redo your work.

In modern career guidance, in trainings and in articles on pedagogy, there are such American terms as "Hard skills" and "soft skills"... In this article, we will tell you about their meaning, where they came from and what to do with them for an ordinary person.

What are hard and soft skills?

Hard skills- (English "hard" skills) professional skills that can be taught and measured. To train hard skills, you need to master knowledge and instructions, the quality of training can be checked using an exam. Examples of hard skills: typing on a computer, driving a car, reading, mathematics, knowledge of a foreign language, using computer programs.
Soft skills- (English "soft" skills) universal competences that cannot be quantified. They are sometimes called personality traits because they depend on a person's character and are acquired through personal experience. Examples of soft skills: social, intellectual and volitional competencies such as communication skills, teamwork, creativity, punctuality, poise.

Short story

The terms hard and soft skills have their origins in military science. In 1959, the US Army began developing a science-based approach to military training. During the development, the researchers identified the importance for the military personnel not only of professional skills (hard skills), but universal competences (soft skills) that do not lend themselves to systematic training. The understanding of the difference between soft and hard skills was expressed in the doctrine of the Military Training Design Systems of 1968 in this way: hard skills are skills for working mainly with machines, soft skills are skills for working with people and papers. After the terms took root in military science and psychology, they passed into free use in the field of business. Today, in vacancies, including in Russian, you can find hard skills and soft skills instead of the “professional skills” and “personal qualities” sections.

What is the difference between hard and soft?

To succeed in mastering hard skills intelligence is needed (left hemisphere of the brain, IQ, logic), for development soft skills“emotionality” is required (right hemisphere of the brain, EQ, empathy).
Requirements to hard skills remain the same regardless of the company you work for, people and corporate culture. Soft skills on the contrary, they are changeable and situational. For example, programming refers to professional skills (hard skills): the rules for creating good software code will be the same for any programmer in any company. Communication skills are universal competences (soft skills): the rules for constructing effective speech will depend on the audience the speaker is addressing, on the speech situation (a conversation in the subway or a speech at a conference).
Master hard skills it is possible in various educational institutions (schools, institutes, additional courses). Usually, certain levels of difficulty are allocated for them, along which you can gradually climb, like a ladder. For example, English proficiency is divided into Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate, etc. To get a new level, you need to pass an exam. Unlike hard skills, for mastering soft skills There are no easy step-by-step instructions: a person either has any quality from birth (for example, friendliness, calm character), or acquires it with experience, through trial and error (for example, the ability to work in a team, leadership qualities). Soft skills are learned more slowly than hard skills.
For hard skills there are confirming certificates and diplomas that the employee has the necessary professional skills. Soft skills do not have certification and it is much more difficult to prove their existence.

What skills are more important?

It mainly depends on the profession and position in which the person works. Can be called 3 groups of professions according to the ratio of soft and hard skills:
1. Profession in which hard prevails over soft: For example, a nuclear physicist who can be a great specialist and do an excellent job, and still not be able to work in teams and interact with people.
2. Professions in which both types of skills are required equally: for example, lawyers, accountants, customs officers. These specialists require a set of professional skills, as well as communication skills, organization, patience, goodwill, as they work with people.
3. Professions in which soft skills prevail: For example, sales, business, politics or creative professions. So, there are skilled salespeople without the education of a marketer who win the client with their charm. A variety of social competencies are involved in effective sales: the ability to speak beautifully and competently, to speak in public, the ability to listen, the ability to win over the interlocutor, self-confidence, etc.

It should be admitted that soft skills are the competencies of the future ... Of the two nuclear physicists, the more successful will be the one who develops his social competencies. He will probably be able to make a more successful scientific career than his uncommunicative colleague.

How to understand whether you need to develop soft skills?

If you want to understand how soft skills are needed in your work, then answer a few questions:
1. How important is the way I interact with others for my career advancement?
2. Are there people in the company in a similar position who move up the career ladder faster?
3. Does my temperament influence my promotion in the company?

If you answered “yes” to these questions, then working on your universal competencies is imperative. For a guide, we will tell you what universal competencies are the most promising(based on research by professional network LinkedIn):

Sociability
Organization
Teamwork skills
Punctuality
Critical thinking
Creativity
Flexibility
Friendliness
Leadership skills
Ability to solve complex problems

Our Center has developed a whole range of trainings for schoolchildren, allowing them to develop social, intellectual and volitional competencies even in adolescence. This is the period when a person adapts to society. Communication becomes extremely important, it will be difficult for an uncommunicative teenager to interact with the team, he will feel like a stranger and emotionally depressed. Trainings help identify problems in the development of soft skills and with the help of activating techniques to turn them into strengths of the personality.
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“The one who is good with a hammer,
inclined to think that there are solid nails around him ... "

Every day we start by thinking about the upcoming business. Something is mundane, familiar, and something can unsettle us. Regardless of the unpleasant situation in which we find ourselves, there is only one way to emerge victorious: if we have the skill, experience of how to cope with this problem. How many have wondered what skills they possess and how effectively they use them?

What are soft skills?

It is worth considering the classification of these skills. There are those that are needed or may be useful to every person: personal development management, the ability to provide first aid, the ability to competently manage your time, the ability to persuade, and so on. This type of skill is called soft skills, which translates as unified skills ... Possession of them is useful for representatives of all professions and ages. Moreover, the higher a person goes up the career ladder, the more unified skills he has to use, while professional skills - hard skills - become less important. This is due, as a rule, to the fact that the higher the position held, the greater the number of consultants and experts who are ready to assess any problem, confirmed by newfangled methods or statistics. It is for this reason that most of the skills trainings take place in soft skills.

So, in summary, let's give a definition.

Softskills(soft skills, English - "soft skills") are unified skills and personal qualities that increase the efficiency of work and interaction with other people. These skills include: personal development management, the ability to provide first aid, the ability to competently manage your time, the ability to persuade, the skill of negotiation, leadership, etc.

Hard skills are skills related to a technique that can be demonstrated. This can be the ability to work with the Excel program, driving, the skill of performing abdominal operations. it unique skills inherent in a certain category of professions. A person who learns any skill from this category is subsequently able to bring the action to automatism, acting according to a previously familiar pattern. (Remember yourself when you just started driving, and then remember how you are already driving along a familiar route.)

Soft skills & hard skills

Courses and trainings, the result of which is a confident mastery of both unified and unique skills, contribute to the development of certain reflex actions in each specific situation in everyday life. But, unlike professional skills, unified skills require consistent practice and simulation of situations of this kind that force a person to make independent decisions. Otherwise, training may be simply ineffective. On the other hand, to prove possession of this category of skills, one cannot simply “complete the task”; It is impossible to "pass the exam" here. Situations cannot be repeated, and there are no forecasting tools to suggest what might be confusing next time. Again, a good example - when a person goes into an obviously difficult conversation, he tries to build a dialogue that will allow him to quickly navigate arguments and operate with facts. However, most likely, the dialogue will not go as he imagined. Then there are only 2 options for the development of events: either the person will go into a stupor and lose his position in the eyes of the interlocutor, or he will find an opportunity to return the conversation to the direction he needs. An interesting conclusion can be drawn from this that the effective use of unified skills is a much more difficult task than professional hard skills.

In order to finalize the definitions of the aforementioned skill groups, we will bring together all the characteristics for a clearer understanding.

- a sociological term referring to the emotional intelligence of a person, a kind of set of personal characteristics that, in one way or another, are associated with effective interaction with other people. These are skills that are difficult to track, test, and demonstrate. Soft skills training includes trainings on motivation, leadership, management, teamwork, time management, presentations, sales, and personal development. These are unified skills.

Hard skills - the ability to perform certain kinds of tasks; technical skills or skills that can be demonstrated. This category includes touch typing, pattern sewing, computer literacy, and driving. These are unique skills.

Interested in developing soft skills? Check out our website, choose the one you need and start practicing. Courses are devoted to "soft skills": time management, oratory and the art of communication, logical and critical thinking, memory training and others.

Feedback

I will be glad to discuss my personal experience of participating in trainings on soft skills & hard skills, as well as the results of these trainings in the comments below.

When creating a resume or worrying about an interview, each of us knows that not only professional skills will be important for an employer - to write programs, create drawings or give lectures. He will try to find out how inherent in the applicant are related skills that are not taught in universities - they are usually entered in the column "personal qualities". Until recently, they received little attention in the post-Soviet space, but in the West they have long noticed the importance and necessity of so-called soft skills or soft skills. Soft skills are responsibility sociability, ability to make quick decisions, creativity, resistance to stress, learnability and ability to teach others, critical thinking, time and financial management and so on. In contrast to them, there are hard skills or solid skills - professional knowledge, which we talked about above.

Hard skills can be easily identified and measured, compared with the same skills of other job seekers. For example, this is done through an oral exam, problem solving or test assignments. How easily the designer copes with solving mathematical problems, and the web designer creates a test page for the site, can be easily compared with the same results of competitors: fix the amount of time spent on the task, the correctness of the solution, and the qualitative indicators of the result. Soft skills cannot be measured. How to calculate the responsibility of a person without working with him? Is it possible to predict how an employee will behave in a difficult situation until he has been in it? In order to at least roughly get an idea of the personality of a future employee, employers have come up with such a tool as a description from a previous place of work.

How important is soft skills of staff to the success of a business structure? According to research by scientists from Harvard University, hard skills make up only 15 percent of all employee skills - the rest is occupied by soft skills. Imagine, for example, a sales person. His solid skills will be the knowledge he received at the university - accounting, statistics, marketing, management and others. They are the basis of his profession, but his success as a specialist will largely determine such qualities as the ability to negotiate, effectively present his products, build a team and maintain comfortable working conditions in it, patience, benevolence, politeness and a million more things. Some of these skills are inherent in a person's very character or brought up by parents - for example, patience. Others come with experience - like team building or logistics.

It is difficult to say what skills a person needs to develop for successful work - after all, each profession has its own requirements. Somewhere you need creativity, but somewhere, on the contrary, the ability to accurately follow a given algorithm without any "initiative". In one profession you need diplomacy and the ability to avoid sharp corners, while in another you will have to acquire the ability to stand your ground "to the last drop of blood."

Soft skills can be divided into three blocks

Personal qualities. They are considered positive characteristics not only for the employee, but also for the person as such. Appreciated by all employers, regardless of what job the applicant is invited to. This is decency, hard work, accuracy, punctuality, diligence and others. They are usually vaccinated in childhood.
Communication skills. For specialists who do not work with people, not all communication skills will be key - why should a programmer sitting in his office need leadership qualities? But there are some that you cannot do without, because we all work in a team, communicate with colleagues and bosses. This is politeness, the ability to observe at least minimal subordination, the absence of conflict in character. Of course, there are also specialties where communication skills are indispensable. The work of a sales agent, PR-manager, journalist, psychologist or tutor involves contact with people, and the better we learn to conduct a conversation and "sell" ourselves, the more positive results our activity will bring.
Additional professional knowledge. They cannot be obtained at a university, they are developed empirically, for which a lot of effort is needed. It can be a customer base or a supplier base, professional connections, ability to seek information, knowledge of the road transport map of your region, foreign languages - in general, it can be anything. We all understand that there are a huge number of nuances in work that can be comprehended only by feeling them on our own skin.

Skills are actions that, through periodic repetition, are fixed in a person's behavior to such an extent that they are performed automatically, without awareness of details. Walking, using cutlery, brushing your teeth are all skills. We no longer remember how parents in childhood explained that first you need to take a toothbrush in your hand, then squeeze toothpaste onto it, then brush your teeth by moving the brush in a certain order, then wash it and rinse your mouth ... How many actions are there in an ordinary morning a procedure that we habitually perform for many years! Of course, in the skills required to be successful, the algorithms are much more complex.

They are not taught at the university, but does this mean that soft skills cannot be mastered anywhere? Sure! There is a lot of helpful literature on this subject. But skill is inextricably linked with practice, so reading manuals is only a preparatory stage. The western tradition of training and coaching has already "crept" to us, including those related to the development of soft skills. In these sessions, participants are taught new skills and retrained when the skill has already been formed incorrectly.

With the capacity for objective introspection, you can improve some of them yourself. To do this, you need to identify actions that are useful and interfere with productive work, then draw up a plan in such a way that only the most important details of the algorithm remain in it. This will be followed by deliberate work on introducing the correct mechanism of the skill into your life - for this you will have to repeat the developed technique every day until it is fixed to automatism. More details about how to acquire and develop new skills, we have already written (there is also a very interesting article on the pages of our resource “ What skills are needed in the 21st century»).

Soft skills are a voluminous part of personal baggage, on which a person's success largely depends. Imagine a shrewd specialist who does not know how to organize himself or constantly learn new things. It is unlikely that he will be able to work effectively. And it's all about the balance of skills and the ability to properly use what we have learned in our life.

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The role of universal competencies, or soft skills in Western terminology, is growing in the modern labor market. Soft skills are mental and interpersonal competencies that, unlike hard skills, cannot be quantified or certified. They are sometimes called personality traits because they depend on a person's character and are acquired through personal experience. Soft skills include organization, curiosity, good memory, planning skills, etc. In this article, we will tell you about soft skills that are appreciated by modern employers.
Learn more about the opposition between hard and soft skills.

Why the baggage of your soft skills is important for building a career

Without differences in soft skills, all graduates of the same faculty who received the same education could apply for the same position and job. And they would do this job in the same way. This is clearly not the case.
Imagine two nuclear physicists. They have honors diplomas from the MEPhI University, they work in the design bureau on the design of the power unit of a nuclear power plant. Their professional skills do not differ, their education and place of work are the same. But the "baggage" of universal competencies is different for them.

One of them works well in a team, is confident and friendly. And the second one prefers to work with drawings, rather than communicate with colleagues, but at the same time he is methodical in performing calculations. Most likely, their future careers will develop in different ways. The first will be able to remain a specialist or work in the analytical department, but he may also be entrusted with leadership positions with career and salary growth prospects. And the second will be able to grow only as a specialist or analyst, that is, develop within the framework of his professional skills.
The situation described shows that the set of soft skills affects the breadth of professional choice: the more competencies a person has developed, the more options for professional development are possible in the future.

4 types of soft skills

To expand your opportunities in the profession, it is necessary to develop 4 different groups of universal competencies: social, intellectual, strong-willed and leadership.

1. Social competencies are responsible for successfully interacting with people.

2. Intellectual competencies are responsible for continuous professional development within their field.

3. Volitional competencies are responsible for achieving goals at work.

4. Leadership competencies are responsible for the successful use of resources to achieve common goals.

Full list of competencies, which will help you in writing your resume, download from our website. But remember that simply listing soft skills will not impress the employer. The list must be backed up with real facts and your achievements. Soft skills cannot be put on the table in front of a recruiter as a diploma; they should be shown during the interview and during the trial period.

When and how to develop soft skills

The foundations for some universal competencies are given to a person from birth, for example: perseverance, good memory, curiosity. But most soft skills can and should be developed throughout your life. They are not taught in school, but there are many ways to acquire them.

Parents example: helps to adopt some of the competencies inherent in parents. So, if adults know how to find the right way out in conflict and stressful situations, the child learns the line of their behavior: learns flexibility, calmness, the ability to find compromises.
Sections and circles all kinds of competencies are developed for children. Sport develops strong-willed competencies, and team sport teaches, among other things, to work in a team. Music and drawing develops both hemispheres of the brain and gives impetus to all intellectual competencies. Logical thinking develops while playing chess.
Project work at school allows you to develop social, leadership and intellectual competencies. The project simulates real work in a professional team, where there is a leader, specialists, communicator, innovator and other roles. At each stage of project development, various types of competence are trained: distribution of roles (leadership), discussion (social competences), research work (intellectual competences), project presentation (social competences).
Children's camps- a place where children constantly communicate with each other. The camp is especially relevant in adolescence, which is the peak of the development of social competencies. Even more practical benefits are brought by development camps - a language, sports or vocational guidance camp, like the visiting program "Professionals of the Future".
Development trainings is the most effective soft skills training option available to both children and adults. During the training, the development of competencies is not a background, but a target task, which is set by the facilitator and monitors its implementation. About trainings for adolescents and the competencies they are aimed at, you can.

And, of course, many competencies come with experience. Learn and develop soft skills to live interestingly and achieve more!

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