soft skills

Soft skills are sometimes broken down into personal attributes, such as:

• optimism
• common sense
• responsibility
• a sense of humor
• integrity
• time-management
• motivation.

• empathy
• leadership
• communication
• good manners
• 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.

Learn more about CIO career development and career paths

2010 CIO and IT salaries and career survey: Read our special report: CIO and IT salaries are bouncing back in 2010 after a tough 2009. In this special report, learn about IT salaries by industry, CIO job tenures and more.
	Motivation incentives for IT staff when salary increases not an option: How can you provide motivation incentives for IT staff members when you can't increase salaries? Offer them meaningful work and IT job opportunities, advises our CIO columnist.
IT conferences: Prepare for success: A solid game plan is essential to any IT conference. CIOs who know what they want and who they're looking for before they hit the conference floor stand to gain the most.
Career builder advice for CIOs: Career builder advice for CIOs includes how to meet performance metrics and sharpen your business skills.

Do you have something to add to this definition? Let us know. Send your comments to techterms@whatis.com

More resources from around the web: - Financialpost.com discusses why soft skills are necessary for leaders. - Monster.ca explains how to evaluate soft skills.

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RELATED CONTENT 2010 CIO and IT salaries and career survey: Read our special report CIO and IT salaries are bouncing back in 2010 after a tough 2009. In this special report, learn about IT salaries by industry, CIO job tenures and... IT salary survey shows no growth in 2009, but that could end in 2010 A look back at IT executives' state of mind and IT salaries for 2008 compared with our 2009 IT salary and careers survey. Motivation incentives for IT staff when salary increases not an option How can you provide motivation incentives for IT staff members when you can't increase salaries? Offer them meaningful work and IT job opportunities,...

RELATED GLOSSARY TERMS Terms from Whatis.com − the technology online dictionary hard skills  (SearchCIO.com) Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities that may be required in a given context, such as a job or university application... (Continued)