Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual's interactions, job performance and career prospects. Unlike hard skills, which are about a person's skill set and ability to perform a certain type of task or activity, soft skills are interpersonal and broadly applicable.
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Soft skills are often described by using terms often associated with personality traits, such as:
- optimism
- common sense
- responsibility
- a sense of humor
- integrity
and abilities that can be practiced (but require the individual to genuinely like other people) such as:
- empathy
- teamwork
- leadership
- communication
- good manners
- negotiation
- sociability
- the ability to teach.
It's often said that hard skills will get you an interview but you need soft skills to get (and keep) the job.
See also: emotional intelligence, human factors, continuous improvement, Theory of Constraints
Contributor(s): T. L. Parsons
This was last updated in May 2008