Hard and Soft Skills on Your Resume

Your resume should highlight your experience and detail all relevant skills that you can offer the new employer. But what is the difference between “hard” and “soft” skills? We’ve outlined the differences below to help you put your best foot forward on your resume.

What are the hard skills?

Hard skills are teachable abilities, which are things you might learn in school or through on-the-job training. Hard skills are quantifiable, either you have the skill at a certain level of proficiency, or you don’t, such as technical skills or speaking a foreign language.

The nice thing about hard skills is that you can learn new ones at any time. Plus, once you learn a challenging skill, it becomes transferable, which means you can take those abilities wherever your career takes you.

If you’re applying for a job that requires a specific skill that you don’t have, you may be able to convince a potential employer to hire you anyway by showing that you’re a quick learner and can train in that skill.

Examples of hard skills

• A degree or certification in a specific field or industry

• applied science

• Computer programming

• Driving a vehicle or heavy machinery

• editing

• engineering

• Foreign language skills (speaking, reading, writing)

• Operating machinery (computers, telephone systems, forklifts, hydraulic presses, etc.)

• mathematics

• medical procedures

• research

• software use

• typing (and typing speed)

• writing

What are soft skills?

Unlike hard skills, soft skills are subjective. Soft skills include your interpersonal abilities, such as your communication skills and how you relate to others. Your ability to think critically is also part of your soft skillset. How you solve problems and make judgments can be a critical component of your professional success.

Showing that you are good at certain soft skills can be a little more difficult than showing that you are good at hard skills. Although you will likely include a simple list on your resume, during job interviews, you should be prepared to share examples from past work experiences that demonstrate your effective use of soft skills.

Examples of soft skills

Jessica L. Mendez, former ZipRecruiter contributor, is a professional writer and reader who provides author support, content creation, and curriculum design services. She writes for a range of industries, including education, recruitment, law, technology, medicine, sales and corporate interior design. Connect with Jessica via linkedin or baristadistrict.com.