Soft vs. hard skills: Whats the difference?
When you are learning how to write a resume, understanding which skills to incorporate into your document is a crucial piece of the puzzle. There are two types of skills that should be included in every resume — soft and hard skills.
Read on to learn everything you need to know about hard and soft skills and the difference between the two.
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What are hard skills?
Hard skills are the teachable and measurable skills needed to perform a job. The required hard skills will change from job to job. For some, it might be a technical skill, like proficiency with a particular computer software. For others, it might be a deep knowledge of AP Style or customer service training. Either way, these are skills that are teachable through a class or certification program and can be quantified through the use of a skills test.
There are thousands of examples of hard skills to choose from in the resume writing process. When writing the skills section of your resume, be sure to include those hard skills that are most relevant to your role. When mentioning technical skills, like Google Analytics, its wise to only include those skills in which you are highly proficient. If you are stuck, our Resume Builder will recommend the right hard skills for the role you seek.
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are the behaviors and personality traits that make you great at your job. These are nontechnical, which makes them difficult to measure. They are also hard to teach, which is why employers look for applicants who already have strong soft skills. Put simply, its fairly easy to teach a new hire how to use Excel or how to fix a leaky sink. Its much more difficult to teach that same hire to have compassion or strong communication skills.
Just like with hard skills, there are thousands of options when it comes to adding soft skills to your resume. Read the job ad to see if any are specifically called out and use those if you possess them. Then, think about your most valuable interpersonal skills and add those, too. Or, if you need more inspiration, review our free resume examples for sought-after soft skills.
How to include soft and hard skills on a resume
Learning how to write a resume skills section is an important element of any resume, but that isnt the only way to incorporate hard and soft skills into your resume. They can be folded into your professional summary or resume objective and into your work experience section to help make your resume shine. Below, we show you how to include skills throughout your resume.
Hard skills are highlighted in blue and soft skills are highlighted in pink to show you how to make a resume that offers a solid balance of soft and hard skills. Heres how to do it:
Heather is the Content Strategy Manager for Resume Now and a Certified Professional Resume Writer (CPRW) with more than ten years of experience writing about job search and career topics. She is based in San Francisco.
