Why you should priorities soft skills.

There is a long-held debate over which is more important, soft or hard skills. Fortunately, the difference between both skills is pretty clear. 

Understanding hard skills first: In a broad sense, hard skills refer to proficiency in complex tasks. They are learnt abilities acquired and enhanced through practice, repetition, and education. They are important because they increase employee productivity and efficiency, and subsequently, improve employee satisfaction.

For instance, if you’ve worked in food service or retail, you may know how to use a point-of-sale (POS) system. Or in tech, you may know how to code. Every job will require certain technical skills.

But things like how well you work in a team, how well you communicate, and how well you understand other people’s emotions are just as important; those are soft skills. They usually tend to be harder to quantify than hard skills like programming, writing, or accounting, and they’re also more difficult to learn formally. 

A big part of the confusion: It appears that there is a reality the education system is yet to catch up with. We have a system of education that is modelled on the interest of industrialism which demands quantifiable, standardized skills. So it made sense back in the day to build an education system that trained people accordingly.

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