What are soft skills?
According to Coders Lab, soft competencies, also known as soft skills, are a set of qualities that allow an individual to function efficiently in the professional sphere. These can range from skills related to effective communication with other team members to assertiveness, creativity or the ability to work in deep concentration. “Softness” of this group of competencies is that it is more difficult (if possible at all) to assess their level, and, as a rule, there are also no certificates proving the possession of such qualities.
How do soft skills affect a career in IT?
While our blog is primarily geared toward the realities of IT recruitment, the vast majority of statements made in this article are universal and will apply equally to a programmer, an English teacher or an insurance agent. While the importance of individual competencies may clearly vary from industry to industry, there is no profession where only hard skills matter.
Soft skills in recruitment
The importance of soft skills can be seen at the first contact with the employer - during the recruitment process, the candidate must be able to “sell” their abilities to get the job they want. Negotiation skills, a cooperative or assertive disposition directly translate into a salary, a more favorable mode of work and opportunities for development in the organization.
First days at work
Soft skills also facilitate onboarding, which, despite the efforts of HR and the manager, can often be very stressful. Faced with building relationships, implementing the specifics of processes and experiencing many new stimuli, an employee with greater resistance to stress will be more productive, and his mental state will not deteriorate. Let's also remember that soft skills include the ability to learn quickly, and the benefits of having it are obvious to everyone 🙂
Professional development and building a position in the organization's structure
It is during the course of work that soft skills are used the most - regardless of the level in the hierarchy, the ability to communicate effectively, precisely express one's thoughts or properly manage one's time helps increase productivity.
On the role of soft skills, we fully agree with the author of the post on Bulldogjob - soft skills translate into:
- Better promotion perspectives - there is no role in technology organizations that does not involve the use of some soft skills. The already mentioned effectiveness in communication and effective time management, combined with efficient teamwork, are a good foundation for heading into management positions that require a better understanding of the business aspects of technology and involve more frequent contact with the public.
- Greater job stability in the future - due to increasing automation, a large part of our duties will be taken over by AI, which is able to work faster, cheaper and more efficiently. In terms of hard skills, we are already losing to computers, but over the next several years we are likely to maintain one fundamental advantage - we have much more developed soft skills and are able to make relationships.
- Greater competitiveness in the job market - unfortunately, while acquiring hard skills may require a lot of time and commitment, it is possible for almost everyone. In the case of soft skills, such as creativity or resourcefulness, it may not even be possible to clearly improve your profile against other candidates. Of course, there are areas where you are able to make real progress, but as a rule, this will be more difficult than mastering a new programming language, technology or tool.
- Greater flexibility when it comes to choosing a work mode - in an era of increasing popularity of hybrid work, the ability to adapt quickly combined with a high level of concentration allows you to work effectively from home. On the other hand, communication skills and efficient conflict resolution are key when working in the office. People who handle interpersonal relations and managing their own work well are much more likely to maintain a stable and comfortable position in the organization.
I am not good with interpersonal relations. Will a job in IT be right for me?
According to Forbes, employers are paying attention to soft skills because they improve the transfer of knowledge between seniors and juniors, easier resolution of serious problems and effective implementation of long-term projects. All of the mentioned occurrences are highly desirable and their occurrence undoubtedly supports the company's growth, but note that not every member of the organization has to be responsible for teaching his or her colleagues, and project management is in the hands of managers, but no longer necessarily those in engineering positions.
It should certainly be said that soft skills are very useful and facilitate work, improve career prospects and it is definitely better to have them than to be completely devoid of them. However, this does not mean that there is no place in the IT industry for people who handle human relations less well than average.
If you, the candidate, have solid technical skills and deserve to be called a specialist, you will find a job in IT, even if communicating with people is not your strength. Soft skills are an unquestionable advantage and play an extremely important role in terms of matching you to the organizational culture of your future employer. However, we can assure you that there are companies on the market that do not strive to build strong relationships among the people employed there.
How to improve my soft skills?
If you identify a poor level of soft skills in yourself, it's worth considering whether you can do something about it. By becoming aware of the problems you face, you will probably take the biggest step toward improving your attractiveness in the job market. That's already a lot, but the solution to your problem is still a long way off. So let's consider how to raise the level of particular soft skills that employers are particularly looking for.
Teamwork skills
When it comes to teamwork skills, the key is to develop patterns of effective communication - giving constructive feedback that is not emotionally charged, asking factual questions, being understanding of people who make mistakes and adopting an empathetic attitude may at first require you to think more carefully about the words you say and to play the role of the interlocutor intensely, but we can guarantee that as time goes by, you will master these skills so much that it will be completely natural and easy for you to use them.
Effective time management
This is one of the few soft skills that virtually everyone is capable of acquiring. Effective management of your daily schedule will become simpler when you start using the methods that work best for your senses - visual people are helped by drawing colorful plans, auditory people should repeat their goals to themselves several times, and for kinesthetic people, walking around while setting up the duties for the day may be a suitable method. It is equally important to set realistic goals - if at this point you are far from being an organized person, start harmonizing your life gradually - introduce a fixed time for eating meals, introduce 2 shuffles carried out at the same time every day, or divide tasks into smaller chunks to see the results of your work faster.
Stress resilience
Stressful working conditions unfortunately occur in many companies and IT departments. The ability to cope with prolonged emotional tension is important, because without it, sooner or later you will suffer serious professional burnout, and the risk of mental problems also increases. Our surveys show that excellent ways to combat stress at work are regular physical activity, breathing exercises and introducing healthy eating habits. Many people also benefit from psychotherapy sessions and changing their working conditions, but we are aware that this is not always possible.
Summary
Soft skills are becoming more and more important every year, and it's hard to find an occupation in which they don't now play a key role. Thanks to the development of this group of competencies, sooner or later you will increase your attractiveness on the labor market, as well as improve your mental comfort and increase your productivity at work. Remember - personal development is a continuous process, which cannot be made up with intensive, but short-term actions. Nevertheless, we are already keeping our fingers crossed for you and encourage you to read other posts on our blog. Thanks to them, you will better understand the world of recruitment and increase your chances of getting an attractive job!