Hard Skills vs. Soft Skills

In resume writing, you are required to list your most relevant skills. Although each skill is important, they are not all equal.

Regardless of the industry you target, you’ll want to highlight your technical, communication, leadership, adaptability, and problem-solving skills. Some skills are specific, teachable abilities. In most cases, they are measurable. Other skills are interpersonal, emotional, and social abilities that define how you’ll fit in the workplace setting. Most job applicants focus on the first ones, but the second ones are important, too!

The Importance of Hard and Soft Skills in Your Resume

There are actually two types of skills that employers want you to include in your resume—hard skills and soft skills. Understanding the difference between hard skills vs. soft skills will not only make your resume easier to scan, but also tell the recruiter that you know what you’re talking about. For technical jobs, you’ll need to highlight hard skills. For leadership roles, on the other hand, soft skills are crucial. When you understand the difference between these concepts, you’ll know how to incorporate the right keywords to pass ATS screening. This, in turn, will help you stand out from the pack.

Let’s not forget that employers often ask behavioral questions to assess your soft skills. They will also ask specific questions to evaluate your hard skills. Understanding this difference helps you prepare well for the interview. Every job role requires a combination of both hard and soft skills. By preparing well, you’ll show you’re a well-rounded candidate during the interview.

Below, we’ll explain the difference between hard and soft skills, provide examples, and show you how to highlight your skills on your resume and in interviews.

What Are Hard Skills?

Hard or technical skills refer to the specific knowledge and training you've acquired through various life experiences, including education and career. They are abilities that one learns from school, training, seminars, and other learning resources. These skills are often measurable and specific to particular tasks, and recruiters frequently use them to select and hire applicants. How do they measure them? — Through assessments, certifications, or performance in specific tasks. If you want to work as an IT technician, for instance, you will typically need a Bachelor’s degree in a computer field, and even job experience for a certain number of years.

Each career demands particular technical skills tailored to its industry. For some professions, like lawyers and doctors, you need advanced degrees and rigorous testing to prove your hard skills. For others, like web developers or copywriters, you can learn the skills on your own or on the job and prove your hard skills with a portfolio of work.

There’s another thing that hard skills have in common: they are task-oriented. Each of these skills shows your capacity to perform a specific task. For example, data analysis involves working with statistical tools. Budgeting, on the other hand, requires working with numbers and financial software. Many hard skills require working with platforms, software, or machinery. If your resume includes budgeting as a skill, the employer will ask what financial software you’re trained to use.

Examples of Hard Skills:

Here's a short list of hard skills you can put on a resume:

• Experience with certain platforms or software
• Ability to work with different programming languages (JavaScript, etc.)
• Statistical and data analysis
• Copywriting
• Healthcare-related certifications or licenses
• Coding
• User interface (UI) design
• Budgeting
• Copyediting
• Speaking foreign languages
• Working with certain machinery

The Connection Between Hard Skills and ATS

Hard skills are also especially important to applicant tracking systems (ATS) that screen your resume and determine if it deserves to be seen by a recruiter. The importance of hard skills on your resume cannot be overstated because they are considered ‘keywords’ by ATS, so when writing hard skills for a resume, be sure you write them exactly as they’re written in the job posting to boost your chances of passing the ATS screening.

Here’s a more detailed explanation of how ATS works, so you’ll understand why hard skills are so important for it:

● When you submit your resume online, the ATS parses (reads and interprets) it by breaking it down into categories. These categories may be work experience, education, and skills. The software will search for specific keywords and phrases, which ideally match the job description. Then, the ATS organizes your details into a structured format that the recruiters later review.

● Employers input specific keywords into the system. They are based on the job description. Usually, they are the hard skills required for the role, such as certain programming languages, certifications, or software tools. If your resume has enough hard skills that are relevant, it moves forward in the hiring process.

● After scanning your resume, the ATS will assign it a score. If you have a higher score than other candidates, you’ll have better chances to be considered by a human recruiter. In this ranking process, hard skills are weighed more heavily than soft skills. They are specific and measurable, so it’s easy for the ATS to see them as relevant for the job.

To optimize your hard skills for ATS, use the job description as a guide. Read it carefully and use the exact hard skills and qualifications listed. Overly creative formatting is not recommended here. Graphics and unusual fonts can be a problem for ATS to scan, so stick with simple formats and clearly labeled sections.

What Are Soft Skills?

Soft skills, also known as ‘people skills,’ ‘personality traits,’ are the abilities you develop throughout your entire life. They relate to how you interact with others and why you are motivated to do certain things. Examples of soft skills include:

• Adaptability
• Conflict resolution
• Communication
• Teamwork
• Leadership
• Work ethic

Although these interpersonal skills are unmeasurable, they are still valuable in the workplace.

Why Soft Skills Are Important for Your Resume

During the initial screenings, where ATS is involved, hard skills are more important. But soft skills are equally important to include in your resume. They will become crucial at the next stages of the hiring process and throughout your career.

Here’s why soft skills are important:

● They show how well you would fit in the team. Once you pass the ATS screening and get invited for an interview, the employers will know all about your qualifications. Your resume listed them. Now, they will want to see how well you can communicate, collaborate, and adapt to their company culture. For example, they may ask behavioral questions: “Can you describe a situation when you resolved a conflict at your previous job?” They do this not to confuse you, but to evaluate your problem-solving and communication skills.

● Soft skills demonstrate your emotional intelligence. Empathy, active listening, and similar skills help you handle interpersonal relationships at work. During an interview, hiring manager will want to sense how you can manage stress, work with others, and adapt to changing situations. These may sound like simple terms you write in a resume, but HR professionals know how to evaluate them during interviews.

● If you aim for a leadership role, soft skills like conflict resolution and emotional intelligence are essential. Can you inspire, motivate, and guide a team? In addition to technical expertise, those skills are necessary for effective people management.

● Soft skills are also essential for roles that require teamwork. Adaptability, communication, and empathy will be the skills that hiring managers evaluate in that case.

● Customer service, sales, and other roles that involve interacting with clients depend on soft skills. For such a job, you’ll have to prove you’re skilled at managing relationships, resolving complaints, and building trust.

● Further on, soft skills will help you advance in your career. Employees who excel at communication, teamwork, and leadership are more likely to be promoted to higher roles.

Difference Between Hard and Soft Skills

The key differences between hard and soft skills lie in how you acquire them, how they are measured, and how you use them at work. Aside from being teachable, hard skills are quantifiable. They are acquired through formal education, training, courses, and on-the-job experience. It’s easy for recruiters to know you have them because learners can be certified, licensed, or registered. For instance, coding is a hard skill learned through courses, training, or practical experience. Certain hard skills may even be required for specific jobs. Coding is crucial for a developer or web designer but less relevant for an administrative assistant or project manager.

In contrast, soft skills are the qualities that make you a good employee because they are more about your personal traits and how you interact with others. They aren’t easy to quantify, since they are interpersonal and behavioral traits. They show how you interact, communicate, and manage work environments.

Unlike hard skills, you generally don't learn soft skills through formal education or training — they develop naturally over time. However, you can still improve your soft skills, just like with hard skills. Employers evaluate soft skills through interviews, references, and observed behavior in real-world settings. Your strong communication skills will be evident in the way you express ideas during the interview. Teamwork skills, on the other hand, will be revealed through examples of previous collaborative work.

Most jobs require some level of soft skills. Some of the hardest jobs in the world, including health care professionals, developers, administrative assistants, project managers, and web designers, all benefit from relationship-building skills, though the degree of necessity may vary.

When you understand the distinction between hard and soft skills, deciding which skills to emphasize on your resume or during an interview will be easier.

List Both Hard and Soft Skills Clearly in Your Resume

To impress a recruiter, ensure your resume highlights your hard and soft skills by detailing your achievements. For instance, instead of saying you were in charge of quality control at your old job, say that your input helped reduce inspection times by 30 percent. Add a separate section for any major award you received so that the recruiter can better understand your capabilities.

Let’s get into detail, so you’ll know how to integrate both hard and soft skills into your resume:

● Create Dedicated Sections for Hard and Soft Skills

Here, you’ll want to categorize your skills in two parts. That makes it easy for the recruiter to see your technical abilities (they will be in the Experience and Achievements section), and the ATS will easily scan them. Your interpersonal strengths will have a separate section in the resume (Skills and Awards).

● Hard Skills Have a Priority in a Resume

They are directly related to the job. That’s why they should appear first. Don’t forget to use words from the job description, so you’ll make your resume compatible with ATS.

● Use Quantifiable Metrics to Demonstrate Hard Skills

You don’t write about hard skills in a descriptive way. You show them with facts. Always back them up with measurable achievements. If you write that you’re skilled in budgeting, explain that you reduced the expenses on a particular project by 15%. Of course; you have to write factual information that can be easily checked.

● Craft a Resume for the Specific Job Posting

You can have a standard resume that lists your skills and submit it to different job postings. But that’s not the right way to apply for a job. Each position prioritizes certain skills. That’s why you should customize your resume in a way that mirrors the language used in the listing. If the job specifies leadership and collaboration, you’ll highlight specific soft skills with examples. Only list relevant skills. An overwhelming resume with too many skills is never a good thing.

● Use Action Verbs for Maximum Impact

Led, created, analyzed — those are the types of words that add clarity and actively demonstrate your skills.

Enhance Your Resume With a Smartly Written Cover Letter

Your cover letter is more than just an introduction — it's a chance to emphasize your skills and enthusiasm for the job you're applying for. Your resume highlights your qualifications in a list, but the cover letter gives you space to bring your skills to life.That said, you must consciously try to avoid repeating what you’ve already said in your resume. Instead, use your cover letter to tell a compelling story that makes the recruiter want to learn more about you.

● The cover letter should highlight only the most relevant skills. Otherwise, it would be too long. Start by choosing the most important professional experience or achievement that shows both your technical expertise and interpersonal abilities. For example, instead of saying that you managed a successful project, describe how you used your hard skills (project management software) and soft skills (collaborative leadership) to guide your team.

● Make the cover letter personal and memorable. It should show your genuine excitement about this role and industry. Your soft skills will help with that. For example, you can show how leading a team helped you improve your communication skills and gave you a passion for smarter leadership.

● Talk about your soft skills in a way that shows you’re a good cultural fit for the company.

By leveraging executive resume writing techniques, you can craft a narrative that highlights your unique qualifications. Use your story to link your skills with your enthusiasm and motivation to work for them, making your application memorable.

Elaborate on Your Hard and Soft Skills During Your Interview

Once you land an interview, you can shine a spotlight on your hard and soft skills even further. Bring relevant diplomas, certificates, or licenses to demonstrate your hard skills, and be ready to discuss your accomplishments in detail. Meanwhile, you can showcase your soft skills by being punctual, maintaining eye contact, asking thoughtful questions, and answering even the trickiest job interview questions in a positive and confident manner. Be an active listener and adapt to the situation. There’s no pre-written script to follow during an interview. You have to go with the flow.

Prepare specific examples to show how you’ve applied the skills listed in the resume in previous roles. If you’re skilled in data analysis, you can share how you used data to influence decision-making. Have your quantifiable results ready, so you’ll show the practical impact of your skills.

There’s a so-called STAR (Situation - Task - Action - Result) method to discuss your experiences during an interview. For example, if you get a question about resolving a challenge, you can describe how your technical knowledge helped you identify the situation, how you communicated the solution to the team, what actions you took, and what results you achieved.

During an interview, you should be prepared to discuss tools, software, and methodologies relevant to the job.

Let Resumeble Work For You

All of this can sound overwhelming, but don’t despair. Resumeble has a team of in-house professional resume writers who can work with you one-on-one to ensure your soft and hard skills are presented in the best light possible. Send us your resume today for a free analysis. Our resume writing services come with a 60-day interview guarantee because we’re with you all the way. Contact us today.