Hiring managers and employers creating a job spec to attract job seekers to a vacant position, or preparing to conduct a job interview, have the task of determining what soft skills to include in their job descriptions. Hard and soft skills are crucial to employers wishing to hire a candidate who will succeed with the business and potentially enjoy career growth in years to come.

So, to attract and choose the right candidate, a hiring manager needs to know what soft skills are, how they are different from hard skills, and which soft skills to include in a job description.

In this article, we cover these topics, exploring:

• What are soft skills?
• Soft skills versus hard skills
• Soft skills examples

What Are Soft Skills?

Soft skills can be described and defined in several ways and are most often referred to as interpersonal skills, character traits, people skills, transferable skills, or non-technical skills.

Key soft skills are required in almost every job, helping employees complete job description duties and tasks, communicate effectively with co-workers, maintain a good work ethic, and build interpersonal relationships. Soft skills can be more important than hard technical skills for some jobs, especially those that rely on emotional intelligence, critical thinking, and verbal communication.

Soft Skills Vs Hard Skills

You can think of soft skills as human skills. These social skills are not usually taught or learned in a classroom but developed over years of experience interacting with other people, at home, school, and work. On the other hand, a hard skill is evidence of technical knowledge, usually gained through formal education, in a classroom, online, during training seminars, or work experience.

Read What Hard Skills To Include In A Job Description.

For example, people managers require soft skills, including strong leadership skills, a positive attitude, effective communication, and emotional intelligence. Computer programmers need hard skills, such as coding, learned through online training or a Computer Science Degree.

Soft Skills Examples

Hiring managers should look for the right soft skills when advertising a job. Job seekers may include them in their job application, CV, resume, or cover letter. You can also test for them during the applicant’s job interview. 

We provide many free interview process resources for employers, and you will find them in our interviews hub.

10 IMPORTANT SOFT SKILLS EMPLOYERS SHOULD SEEK:

1. Communication skills
2. Problem-solving skills
3. Adaptability
4. Leadership skills
5. Teamwork
6. Work ethic
7. Responsibility
8. Emotional intelligence
9. Positive attitude
10. Professionalism

There are more soft skills than these, many of which fall into one of the top ten soft skills list categories. Let’s identify those next so you can pick all the right soft skills related to your job vacancy, ready for inclusion in your job descriptions.

Read How To Define What People Do In Their Jobs.

1. COMMUNICATION SKILLS

If you are listing soft skills in your job description in preparation for advertising jobs online, here are the communication skills that will help you build out a candidate profile:

• Active listening
• Clarity
• Negotiation
• Non verbal communication (body language)
• Persuasion
• Presentation
• Verbal communication
• Written communication

2. PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS

Sost skills related to problem-solving include:

• Complaint resolution
• Creative skills (creative thinking)
• Critical thinking skills
• Information analysis
• Information gathering
• Innovation
• Organisation
• Planning
• Prioritisation
• Problem-solving
• Testing
• Time management

3. ADAPTABILITY

Specific examples of soft skills related adaptability include:

• Adaptable
• Flexibility
• Ideation
• Open-mindedness
• Own ideas
• Own initiative
• Learning willingness

4. LEADERSHIP SKILLS

We recently covered leadership skills in detail in our article What Leadership Skills To Include In A Job Description. Soft skills employers for management and leadership roles should consider including the following in their bullet point skills list or job description text:

• Change management
• Coaching
• Decisiveness
• Delegation
• Integrity
• Influential
• Leadership
• Mentoring
• Motivation
• People skills
• Persuasion
• Problem-solving
• Strategic thinking
• Team building
• Time management
• Trustworthiness

5. TEAMWORK

The best soft skills examples for roles where candidates will collaborate with their co-workers include:

• Collaboration
• Constructive feedback
• Honesty
• Relationship management
• Respectful
• Supportive
• Teamwork
• Trust

6. WORK ETHIC

Linked to productivity, additional soft skills focusing on work ethic include:

• Dependable
• Disciplined
• Openness
• Persistent
• Productive
• Punctual
• Strong work ethic
• Time management skills

7. RESPONSIBILITY

Responsibility is an important soft skill for almost any potential employee, particularly those who hope to see career success and move into more senior roles:

• Accountability
• Diligence
• Ownership
• Personal development
• Project management
• Responsible
• Time sensitivity (time sensitive tasks)

8. EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Emotional intelligence is one of the top soft skills for jobs ranging from managers to therapists and customer services:

• Compassion
• Emotional intelligence
• Empathy
• Humility
• Judgement
• Patience
• Self-awareness
• Social skills

9. POSITIVE ATTITUDE

Positivity skills are required soft skills where an optimistic viewpoint is beneficial. These key skills go hand-in-hand with other soft skill categories such as leadership skills and teamwork:

• Motivated
• Passionate
• Positive
• Self-motivated

10. PROFESSIONALISM

Employees who work with professionalism are vital for jobs where the individual is in contact with customers, partners, and even internally with co-workers:

• Professional
• Resilience
• Respectfulness
• Time management
• Work life balance

Complete Top Soft Skills List

Here is a complete soft skill list of 75+ high demand interpersonal skills, leadership skills, and character traits:

1. Accountability
2. Active listening
3. Adaptable
4. Change management
5. Clarity
6. Coaching
7. Collaboration
8. Compassion
9. Complaint resolution
10. Constructive feedback
11. Creative skills (creative thinking)
12. Critical thinking skills
13. Decisiveness
14. Delegation
15. Dependable
16. Diligence
17. Disciplined
18. Emotional intelligence
19. Empathy
20. Flexibility
21. Honesty
22. Humility
23. Ideation
24. Information analysis
25. Information gathering
26. Innovation
27. Integrity
28. Influential
29. Judgement
30. Leadership
31. Learning willingness
32. Mentoring
33. Motivated
34. Motivation
35. Negotiation
36. Non verbal communication
37. Open-mindedness
38. Openness
39. Organisation
40. Ownership
41. Own ideas
42. Own initiative
43. Passionate
44. Patience
45. People skills
46. Persistent
47. Personal development
48. Persuasion
49. Planning
50. Positive
51. Presentation
52. Prioritisation
53. Problem-solving
54. Productive
55. Professional
56. Project management
57. Punctual
58. Relationship management
59. Resilience
60. Respectful
61. Respectfulness
62. Responsible
63. Self-awareness
64. Self-motivated
65. Social skills
66. Strategic thinking
67. Strong work ethic
68. Supportive
69. Team building
70. Teamwork
71. Testing
72. Time management skills
73. Time sensitivity
74. Trust
75. Trustworthiness
76. Verbal communication
77. Work life balance
78. Written communication

Soft Skill FAQs

Next, we answer your soft skill frequently asked questions: