Hard Skills - Definition, Importance & Example
What is Hard Skills?
Hard skills are business skills which are specific, teachable, measurable and that can be defined. Hard skills can be taught in class rooms, through training material, books and on the job training. Some of the hard skills are typing, reading, writing, proficiency in a language. Hard skills are also called job-specific skills.
Industries look for a combination of both hard skills and soft skills in their recruitment process. Hard Skills are required to do the task or set of tasks that entail a job, soft skills are other abilities which might be useful in the tasks involved in the job.
Importance of Hard Skills
Hard skills are the skills that are required to perform the tasks in a particular job. Some of the trending hard skills are computer technology, data analytics, financial accounting, software proficiency, cyber security and agile methodologies just to name a few. Having a unique skill set can help in attracting good compensation and benefits; it also makes a person more employable. Since hard skills are teachable and measurable therefore more proficient a person is in a skill more the person can advance in his/her career, it can also be assessed by various methods.
Difference Between Hard Skills & Soft Skills
Hard skills are different from soft skills as hard skills are quantifiable whereas soft skills are hard to quantify. Soft skills are personal attributes which enables people to get along with and coexist harmoniously. Examples of soft skills are etiquettes, communication skills, work ethic, leadership skills, interpersonal skills. It is important to have a mix of both soft skills and hard skills to work in an organization, working in a team is a quintessential for a person to work for an organization therefore recruiters not only look for hard skills but also consider soft skills while looking for potential hires. Recruiters would prefer to hire a person who can get along with a team even if the person lacks a little bit on the hard skills than a person who has poor soft skills.
Example of Hard Skills
A and B were two applicants applying for the same job. The job had listed Excel, Powerpoint, good communication skills and team work as the required competencies to get the job. A and B both looked at the job description and figured out they had the competencies for the jo. Both applied and got shortlisted for the job, they were invited to the organization’s office for further assessment which included a skills test followed by an interview round with the recruiting head. A and B both passed the skills test with flying colours, they were able to demonstrate that they had the hard skills required to do the job, in the interview round the recruiting head tested both of them on their soft skills, B was not able to demonstrate proper team work and the recruiting head decided to hire A for the job on basis of the soft skills possessed by A.
Hence, this concludes the definition of Hard Skills along with its overview.
This article has been researched & authored by the Business Concepts Team. It has been reviewed & published by the MBA Skool Team. The content on MBA Skool has been created for educational & academic purpose only.
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