By hard skills we mean the technical skills needed to perform a specific profession.

By soft skills we mean human-level skills , the so-called “transversal skills,” such as the ability to relate to others or communication skills.

We can further summarize the difference between the two types of skills as follows:

• Hard: What you need to know to do your job
• Soft: The way you do it

What are the most important skills?

Without a doubt, both are, however there are some considerations to make depending on the professional situation you find yourself in.

If you're starting from scratch in your chosen profession, you'll primarily need to develop hard skills , i.e., technical expertise. In this case, you could attend professional courses or certification programs. At the same time, it might be helpful to cultivate soft skills , especially communication.

If your career is already underway and you want to further improve, you should focus on your soft skills , perhaps taking a Neuro-Linguistic Programming course to improve your communication skills or a course that allows you to learn the basics of coaching. In two interesting articles, the prestigious Forbes magazine discusses the importance of communication and the coaching skills every leader should possess .

A look to the future

In conclusion, I'd like to add a personal consideration regarding soft and hard skills. Specifically, I'd like to draw your attention to two aspects that primarily impact the world of purely technical skills, or hard skills:

• Artificial Intelligence : We cannot ignore the growing importance of artificial intelligence in the world of work. Developments in this field will inevitably lead to ever-increasing automation of tasks closely related to technology. Simply put, the more our work consists of technical tasks, the greater the risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence.
• Competitiveness of foreign markets : The gap between our school system and the school systems of some countries around the world (for example, East Asia) is undeniable. This leads to a significant difference in the technical capabilities of individuals who we might consider aligned from an educational perspective. Simply put, there will always be someone technically better than us who will settle for a salary we consider insufficient.

In light of all this, my advice is this: stop, take stock of the situation and seriously consider cultivating and improving your soft skills .

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