what are hard skills 
hard skills are technical skills required for a job they are learned abilities acquired and enhanced through education and experience hard skills are important for your resume as employers look for them when hiring hard skills alone don t translate into success as employees also need other skills such as soft skills unlike soft skills hard skills can be quantified for example a hard skill might be proficiency in a second language while a soft skill could be the ability to work well on a team understanding hard skillshard skills are technical skills needed to perform a job or land a new one they are typically industry specific for example a financial analyst would need a different set of hard skills from a carpenter but hard skills can also be valuable across industries for example fluency in a second language could potentially benefit both the analyst and the carpenter employers and recruiters look for hard skills listed on your resume and during the interview process it s best to back up your hard skills with a certificate degree or other qualification that shows a level of achievement experience is also seen as a qualification that validates expertise in hard skills some prospective employers test the hard skills of job candidates someone interviewing for an editing job for example might have to take an editing test 1hard skills focus on practical abilities and skills whereas soft skills focus on behaviors and personalities such as social and communication skills soft skills are less tangible and harder to teach employers typically look for a hybrid of hard and soft skills soft skills are more intrinsic to personality and more difficult to judge quickly but they may be as important on the job over time 2hard and soft skills are critical for success at almost any job and having both on your resume is essential when job hunting types of hard skillsthe types of hard skills needed to be qualified and successful in a job depend on the industry employers typically list hard skills required in job descriptions common hard skills include 31according to data published by linkedin in september 2022 the top trending hard skills are 4hard skills vs soft skillshard skills generally have rules that remain the same regardless of the business industry or even culture in which they are practiced the rules of soft skills can change depending on company culture and the expectations of colleagues for example the rules for how a programmer creates code are the same regardless of where the programmer works however a programmer may communicate effectively to other programmers about technical details but struggle when communicating with senior managers about a project s progress or support needs hard skills can be learned via education training or apprenticeships and on the job the levels of competency can be defined and there is a direct path for achieving them for example in the field of accounting you can take basic and advanced accounting courses earn a degree gain work experience and pass the certified public accountant cpa exam soft skills are not often found in the curriculum of a school or college however they are taught in programs that help people develop communication skills teamwork or people management skills some common soft skills include 2ask your employer if they offer or pay for any leadership training or team building programs for employees if your employer wants you to improve one of your hard or soft skills many companies will cover hard and soft skill programs for their employees example of hard skillsaccounting is a profession that requires a relatively rigid set of hard skills proficiency in the microsoft office suite especially excel is a given familiarity with industry specific software such as tax preparation software and intuit s quickbooks is also required accountants need to know how to prepare and interpret financial statements and other accounting reports develop efficient financial reporting mechanisms and plan and implement accounting controls some of the other skills that accountants need might be categorized as soft skills they must be able to communicate effectively with clients and be diplomatic when dealing with external auditors 