As the work environment changes, so do the skills that employers look for in potential employees. There are two types of skills – hard skills and soft skills. Hard skills are learnable abilities that you can quantify; they are taught in schools, universities or other classes. On the other hand, soft skills relate more to the way you work; they are interpersonal attributes or personality traits.
The following are the top soft and hard skills of 2022:
Soft Skills:
- Creativity: Use of original ideas.
- Persuasion: Ability to convince/influence others.
- Collaboration: Ability to work with others.
- Adaptability: Ability to adjust to new conditions.
- Emotional Intelligence: Capacity to be aware of, control and express one’s emotions and handle interpersonal relationships.
While soft skills are more about your innate personality, don’t fret if you don’t have some or even all of these skills. It is possible to learn these skills by observing others, self-help books and many other methods. The key is to keep an open mind, understand where you stand now and make an active effort to change your mindset. If you find it hard to control your emotions, figure out why and then move to make small changes to shift your attitude. Learning soft skills requires practice and then more practice to master.
Hard Skills:
- Blockchain: A system that maintains a record of transactions made in cryptocurrency.
- Cloud Computing: Using remote servers to store, manage, and process data.
- Analytical Reasoning: Ability to look at information and find patterns and discern insights.
- Artificial Intelligence: Ability to harness the power of machine learning and deliver more relevant and innovative products and services.
- UX Design: Ability to use User Experience to create products that provide meaningful and relevant experiences for users.
- Business Analysis: Ability to identify business needs and determine solutions.
- Affiliate Marketing: Arrangements in which online retailers pay a commission to an external website for traffic or sales generated from referrals.
- Sales: Ability to understand consumers and sell a company’s products or services.
- Scientific Computing: Ability to develop machine learning models and extracting & utilizing data from systems.
- Video Production: Developing video content.
Hard skills are “easier” to learn in the sense that they are quantifiable. There are numerous courses available online or at schools & universities to teach you any of these skills. Investing some time and money into learning some of these skills could make you a very sought-after employee. However, it is important to remember that you do not need to have all these skills to get a job. Learn and master one or two skills that stand out to you or feel you could do well in. The lists are also not exhaustive; there are plenty of other skills employers are looking for, and you do not necessarily have to focus on these. It is essential to have a diverse skill set and play on your strengths.
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