Soft skills: Why are they important for your career?
23 de March, 2023
Several studies, including research by Harvard University, have shown that 85% of professional success is due to a worker’s soft skills and only 15% to hard skills (technical knowledge and competencies).
This data demonstrates the importance that soft skills have in building a professional career. Although technical skills, specific to each position, are important, leaders tend to value people with the soft skills considered relevant to the organization more and more.
This is happening at a time when, with all the technological innovations we are seeing, many activities are being automated. However, soft skills cannot be replaced by machines or digital tools.
But what are soft skills?
What are soft skills?
Soft skills refer to interpersonal and socio-emotional competencies. They are characteristics and attributes related to the way the employee demonstrates professionalism, communicates and relates to others.
Some examples of soft skills are: creativity, integrity, conflict management, problem-solving skills, organization, adaptability, teamwork, leadership, critical thinking, among others.
Why are soft skills important for your career?
Most interactions in a professional context require some level of interpersonal skills. When you’re negotiating your contract or a salary update, when you’re presenting an idea to a colleague or your boss, when you’re in contact with clients… soft skills are required in the most diverse situations.
Developing these skills is essential if you want to be in a better position to grow your business or progress in your career. All because you can communicate better, lead more confidently and effectively, execute projects more easily and deliver more positive results.
Thus, some of the reasons why soft skills are important are:
- Career progression: more than 90% of recruitment professionals believe that employees with solid soft skills are more likely to be promoted to a leadership position than professionals with weaker soft skills (iCIMS Hiring Insights).
- Decision-making: it’s not just leadership positions that require decision-making. In any professional activity you have to make decisions and choices. Active listening and communication skills are crucial.
- Problem-solving: when a problem arises, not everyone has the ability to take an active role in solving it. Being proactive in recognizing obstacles and suggesting measures to overcome them is one of the most important soft skills.
- Work environment: socio-emotional skills such as empathy, mutual support and team spirit help to build a healthier and less toxic workplace.
- Relations with customers, partners, suppliers or other audiences: in the case of roles where you have to deal with customers, partners or suppliers, communication is a key element. The way this relationship is built and nurtured is crucial to the experience each of these audiences has with your company.
- Future of the world of work: innovations such as automation and artificial intelligence are already shaping the world of work. But what they are doing is reducing the number of tasks that require hard skills, making soft skills even more valuable and indispensable.
How do you develop your soft skills?
The first step is to identify the areas in which you want and/or need to improve. This may involve some reflection or gathering feedback from colleagues and superiors. Sometimes feedback from people in your more personal circle, such as family and friends, can also be useful.
Once you’ve identified the points you need to improve, there are many ways to develop these soft skills: read a book that goes into depth on the subject, take a course, work with a mentor… it all depends on the skill you want to improve.
If you want to improve your public speaking skills, you could take a course that gives you the tools to speak more confidently and fluently in public and then practice at home.
The truth is that most soft skills are enhanced by greater self-confidence and enthusiasm. On the contrary, they are hindered or hampered by anxiety, insecurity and pessimism.
In short, if there’s a skill you’d like to improve because you think it’s useful for your professional activity, today is a good day to start.
Later, when you start to see positive results, you’ll be glad you made that decision!