There is a saying: “Hard skills get you the interview. Soft skills get you the job.”
Looking through job applications, it is common to see CVs with heavy emphasis on the hard skills – the specific knowledge and abilities required for a particular job. These are typically skills that are easy to define and measure. For example, the license to operate X machine. However, when you are seeking employment or promotion, your soft skills are often what stands you out from the pool of candidates. Soft skills are hard to define and measure. That’s why you don’t have a license for “working in a team”.
Companies seek candidates who excel in both the hard and the soft skills. It is because someone who has a negative attitude, who doesn’t get along with others, poor in communicating or lack creativity, is very likely not going to succeed despite strong technical capabilities.
In a survey done by IBM Institute for Business Value in 2016, executives ranked technical core capabilities for STEM and basic computer and software/application skills as the top two most critical skills for employees. In 2018, these two dropped to rank 6 and 8 respectively. Replacing them on the top is now: “Willingness to be flexible, agile, and adaptable to change.” These soft skills are so critical that they are now labelled Power Skills.
IBM defined Power Skills as Optimism, Curiosity, Tenacity, Flexibility, Integrity, Learning, Generosity, Joy, Teamwork, Communication, Drive, Ethics, Empathy, Followership, Time Management, Happiness, Generosity, Kindness, Forgiveness, Awe, etc. Power Skills are behavioral skills in nature, highly complex, take years to develop, and are always changing in their scope.
I, for example, have become “adaptable to change” because I have lived in 3 different countries and have worked for 15 companies and universities. I experienced the tremendous growth in Hong Kong in the 80’s and in the US during the Internet era, but I also went through 3 financial crises. I have a family who supports me regardless of what I do. I was trained as an engineer which has given me the technical know-how. Then I stepped into the project management arena where I developed the problem-solving mindset. Finally, I was promoted to management role in a digital advertising agency which has given me the chance to exercise my creativity. It has taken me 40 years to build this set of skills and I am still learning them every day.
To conclude, Hard Skills can get you the interview, Soft Skills get you the job, but it is the Power Skills that help you to succeed!
About the author:
Dr. Mike Leung has more than 30 years’ experience in information technology, creative, marketing, advertising and management, and has achieved outstanding results in both academic and project implementation arenas. He has worked extensively in the United States, Canada and Hong Kong, providing consulting advice and expertise to a wide array of multinational corporations. He is a visiting lecturer and speaker in various universities and training institutes in Asia.
Mike has a Ph.D. in Management Sciences from the University of Waterloo, Canada and has been trained in Psychology and Anthropology at the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong respectively. Besides attending executive training at the University of Toronto and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, he also attended executive workshops at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States. He was invited to visit Google and Facebook headquarters in the United States to understand their culture of project management and innovation. Mike is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and certified Management Consultant (CMC).