Today we are going to talk about soft skills or "soft skills". Others call them "transversal skills." What is this about? Well, let's say first that this type of skills are basically oriented to the world of work. And, secondly, that in contrast there are some skills that are considered "hard".
The hard skills are all those that refer to the formal knowledge acquired. Those that come from curricular education in institutions. Those that can be certified through a degree and continuous training, in which a person was constantly evaluated.
The soft skills or "soft skills" would be those that serve to put into practice what they have learned. Not only what was acquired in formal education, but also what is learned through practice and life. They also have to do with attitudes, values and everything that comes into play during a work activity.
Soft skills are trend
Companies are increasingly talking about soft skills. Many of the most prestigious companies currently give these a huge importance in the selection of personnel. It has been imposed the idea that the most important for the work climate and for productivity are not the intellectual skills, but the soft skills.
The soft skills most desired by human resources departments are: the ability to work in teams and communication skills. Both skills are essential to avoid and properly handle conflicts. Nothing discourages a worker more than being in the middle of a group in which each one only thinks about himself or in which personal interests and misunderstandings reign.
Within the soft skills values are also contemplated. And the values most appreciated in the world of work are three: honesty, responsibility and commitment. What is the use of someone with great talent who is not capable of committing to common goals? For a company it is essential to have committed people. Likewise, creativity is highly valued. That ability to solve problems and propose innovative ideas.
A study on the subject
In the LinkedIn social network, an investigation was carried out among the different companies. The study aimed to investigate how important human resources departments were giving soft skills, as opposed to "hard skills".
The results of this work, in which 291 directors of human resources were interviewed, corroborated what had already been affirmed in the field of occupational psychology. The first conclusion was that entrepreneurs found many people with hard skills, but few with soft skills.
The soft skills that most valued the entrepreneurs were the following: good communication, good organization, teamwork, punctuality, critical thinking, sociability, creativity, good interpersonal communication, adaptability and friendly personality.
However, those responsible for staff selection complained that the difficulty to find those attributes in people with higher levels of education. "Either they have one, or they have the other," said one of the interviewees. This speaks of a formal education in which the person is not given much importance, but only their intellect.
The soft skills are definitive
The study also indicated that in some sectors of the economy there were more people with soft skills. In particular, these attributes were relatively common in sectors such as marketing, education, health, sports, consulting and the tourism and restoration sector.
At the same time, such skills were conspicuous by their absence in other professions. Mainly in the field of graphic arts, audiovisual, music, photography, civil engineering and law. This is very striking. In theory, fields such as arts and law require great human skills. However, those responsible for human resources pointed out that it was in those areas where it was more difficult to find people who combined good knowledge and training with social skills and work-oriented values.
Ultimately, what the study reveals is that many workers have significant shortcomings in emotional intelligence. And that, in the long run, those other intelligences involved in that concept are more important in practice than one's intellectual capacity, especially when we talk about teamwork. The good thing is that just as we can all carry out processes to acquire knowledge, we can also do it to develop those skills and values
that the business world demands. This is one of the ways -at present, the most important one- towards job success.