Both the soft skill and the hard skill are essential for a person to succeed but people may often find it hard to differentiate between the two.
Here are a few factors by which skills can be put into 2 different categories;
Definition:
Soft skill refers to a broad term which include people skills, management skills, communication and general characteristics relevant to personality traits. Hard skills are job related skills that are specific to a particular role or responsibility that a person may have.
Development:
Soft skills are usually taught in various forms and may not always require a formal setting. They are developed through real world experiences and interactions. Hard skills are taught in professional institutions such as schools and colleges and typically follow a course like structure to be taught.
Measurability:
Soft skills cannot be measured on a scale as it subjective to various situations and the state of mind of a person or their behaviour. It is mostly assessed through observation and feedback. Hard Skills can be measure on both theoretically as well as practically through exams, tests and practical scenarios. An exact score to rate hard skills is achievable.
Transferability:
Softs skills being unattached to a particular role can be transferred across various roles and play an important part in adding finesse to any position a person takes up. Hard skills are attached only to a particular profession or role, once the role changes the skill may be considered redundant and may need to be replaced with a whole new skill set.
Some common soft skills are problem solving, listening skills, emotional intelligence and styles of communication.
Some commonly used hard skills are computer software knowledge, graphic designing, data analysis, copywriting and accounting.
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