Soft Skills — Conclusion

Over the past twenty three weeks I have published a series of posts on Soft Skills: their development, the competencies they represents and the importance soft skills have in the workplace (or life in general, for that matter). I still like the following definition of Soft Skills because it is straight forward and concise: “’Soft Skills’ is a catch-all term referring to various behaviors that help people work and socialize well with others. In short, they are the good manners and personality traits needed to get along with others and build positive relationships. Unlike hard skills, which include a person’s technical skill set and ability to perform certain functional tasks, Soft Skills are broadly applicable across job titles and industries. It’s often said that hard skills will get you an interview but you need soft skills to get — and keep — the job.” http://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/soft-skills. Soft Skills are “behaviors that help people work and socialize well with others”. To my mind, this hits the nail on the head.

I initially listed a catalogue of soft skills as:

· Communication

· Listening

· Showing empathy

· Networking

· Self-confidence

· Giving and receiving feedback