For a long time, companies recruited their employees and managers solely on the basis of their technical skills. However, the last few years have been marked by the growing importance of “soft skills” in business. The job search site Monster has also confirmed this trend through a study published last January 1 . Indeed, 81% of companies say they take “soft skills” into account in their human resources processes .
Hard skills, soft skills, life skills: how to find your way around?
Before looking at the benefits of soft skills, let’s first define them and distinguish them from other skills, such as hard skills or life skills.
Soft skills refer to the human qualities of managers and employees, such as adaptability, analytical skills, team spirit, empathy and rigor. Soft skills are therefore soft skills, easily transposable from one company, sector or function to another. For example, a management controller evolving into an administrative and financial manager position will be able to easily reuse his rigor and organizational ability in his new functions.
Soft skills are directly opposed to hard skills, which are precise technical skills. For example, mastery of software, mastery of a foreign language or mastery of a field (computer science, chemistry, recruitment, mathematics, etc.) are all hard skills. Hard skills are know-how that are specific to a function, a sector or a company and are therefore less transposable.
Finally, a final type of skill has recently appeared: life skills. Life skills refer to skills and abilities acquired during our life experience. Resilience, cultural adaptability, self-awareness are all life skills learned through “life lessons”. For example, a woman with breast cancer will have developed her capacity for resilience during this ordeal, while a student who has done multiple internships abroad will have developed her ability to work in a multicultural context.
The importance of soft skills in business:
Hard skills have long been favoured by recruiters and employers, who were above all looking for a typical profile with specific technical skills. However, the last few years have allowed the popularization of soft skills in the management and human resources world. Companies then realized the importance of the human qualities of their employees. There are several reasons why companies may favour the soft skills of their employees:
First of all, an employee or manager must first and foremost integrate into a team and a corporate culture. Soft and life skills, which make up an employee’s personality, are therefore essential when choosing a new employee or manager. A team is above all an alchemy, a subtle human balance that the new recruit must complete. A manager with impeccable technical skills, but unable to lead a team in a tense social context, then becomes useless. Similarly, an employee who lacks adaptability and is not inclined to change will find it difficult to keep up with a “start-up spirit”.
Secondly, the achievements of an employee or a manager do not depend only on his or her technical mastery. A good employee is defined above all by his or her ability to work in complex and unforeseen situations. If the workload increases suddenly, will the employee be able to control his stress and identify the priorities to carry out his projects? In a tense social context, will a human resources director be able to show humility, listening and empathy towards employees? Following a negative appraisal interview, will an employee be able to take a step back from his or her behavior and work and readjust his or her posture?
Finally, as the last question implies, soft skills represent a margin of progress for an employee or a manager. Indeed, the ability to analyze one’s failures, taking a step back from oneself and accepting criticism are all qualities that allow an employee to evolve. On the contrary, a manager with an impeccable profile on paper but unable to question himself will not have any room for improvement. While it may be interesting in the short term to hire this type of high-performance technician, it can quickly become a burden in the long term. There is no question here of neglecting an employee’s hard skills, which are still necessary for him or her to be operational. However, a balance must be found between technical skills and human qualities.
Our conviction: the need for soft skills for our managers
This balance between technical skills and human qualities, WAYDEN strives to find it on a daily basis. Indeed, our interim managers are seasoned managers, with rich and diversified experience and specific technical skills. However, our interim managers are above all men and women with their own personalities, capable of pragmatism, leadership, adaptability and composure. At WAYDEN, we share the following conviction: the manager must go beyond technical skills.
1 https://www.monster.fr/conseil-carriere/article/cv-et-competences-comportementales
