Soft Skills - By Commerceshala

To begin with, the most important thing to know is that what exactly soft skills are and how is it different from hard skills? Soft skills are the complete collection of our social, communication and self-management behaviours. Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual’s interactions, job performance and career prospects. The gist of it is that soft skills are behavioural competencies. The difference between hard skills and soft skills is that, while the former is usually related to the professional knowledge, tools or techniques, that allow us to work within our profession, the latter are the skills that help us in working effectively and efficiently.

Why are soft skills important? Let us consider an example. An accountant needs to be certified so as to work. Now the question is which accountant do you prefer? The one who has great work ethic, positive attitude and is friendly or the one who is sulky, inflexible and arrogant?  While both are accountants, the former would surely be preferred. The simple fact is that hard skills can help you do your job, but soft skills are the ones who get you the job in the first place. So if you are all about the technical know-it-all, start brushing up on your soft skills because yes, they are in demand.

Over the time it has been found that for long term success, soft skills are more important than the technical skills. Nowadays, communication and interpersonal skills are considered to be vital to be successful in the corporate world. It is actually what separates the best from the rest in the management world. Qualities like leadership, teamwork, good communication skills, innovative thinking are a necessity to have a shot at an amazing career. Bookish knowledge of things and technical prowess is no more the be all and end all. The faster you deal with it, the better it is.

To advance your life professionally, you must put an emphasis on the development of your soft skills. Having a winning attitude, acceptance, multitasking and creativity will make you a front runner at whatever you do. So if you think, you have all the knowledge to be great, start backing it up with your personal skills. Because certainly the actual key to success is making your hard skills and soft skills complement each other.

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