In a previous blog, we talked about soft skills, the importance of developing and improving them, and how they allow a person to improve not only their own experience but that of their colleagues. While soft skills are transferrable among different fields, hard skills only apply to certain jobs. Improving hard skills is the best bet an employee can place to keep up with the ever-evolving world of their profession and this is what we will be discussing in this blog.

While being able to adapt in a working environment, collaborate effectively, and provide useful feedback, are some of the most important aspects in a workplace, it is practically impossible for someone to have a job that requires no hard skills. A person that works in PR might focus more on their soft skills since they are a big part of their job, however, even in the world of Public Relations, Marketing hard skills are required for an employee to start a career and go up the ladder.

Simply put, a great selection of soft skills combined with a great knowledge of hard skills allow an employee to showcase their potential and provide a great asset to their company: themselves

What are Hard Skills?

Hard skills are the skills that are required to perform well within a specific field/job. They are acquired through education and training, allowing people to become experts in a field. Improving hard skills -contrary to popular belief- is a harder process than improving soft skills, and the main reason for that is the fact that as time passes by, the human brain becomes more and more resistant to new information.

The younger we are, the better our brain will receive, analyze, and understand the information provided to us by others -directly or indirectly, i.e., during a class or by reading a book/thesis/research

Developing and improving hard skills beings from a very young age for a person growing up during the 20^th and 21^st century. Thanks to the Internet and how humans have managed to making the sharing of information seamless, people can develop hard skills at school, via Internet classes and courses, through online tutorials, in college, and via lectures that are available to them online or in real life. The vast majority of hard skills can be evaluated and measured, and as a result, most of the hard skills known by humans can have a certification or degree that proves this person has mastered that hard skill.

Types of Hard Skills

When it comes to listing hard skills, it is virtually impossible to mention all of them without writing encyclopedias. Simply put, hard skills are all skills a person can obtain through reading and practice combined, and contrary to soft skills, they are directly related to the nature of one’s profession, not how they communicate with others (i.e. colleagues, employers, clients, etc.).

However, some hard skills are more popular than others, depending on the era, the industry a company is active in, and the level of technology available at any given moment. Improving hard skills can therefore be a quite tricky task regarding which ones to choose to “boost”, based on the needs of an industry at the time someone starts improving hard skills already known to them.

Popular hard skills include:

• Analytical skills
  • Strategic planning
  • Deductive reasoning
  • Troubleshooting
• Data analysis skills
  • Business analysis
  • Industry research
  • Financial analysis
• Computer skills
  • Spreadsheets
  • Data management
  • Typing
• Programming skills
  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • PHP
• Marketing skills
  • SEO
  • Affiliate marketing
  • Google Analytics

All of the above are some examples that became popular during the first decade of the 21^st century, and began changing constantly since 2010, making a large number of industries become not only more inclusive when it came to the variety of hard skills employees had, but also more competitive.

Certain hard skills are considered fundamental and have so many difficulty layers that the vast majority of workers should make sure to develop them. A great example is basic computer skills, required from the vast majority of employers and companies worldwide, and here to stay

Improving Hard Skills: A matter of ambition

Salvador Dali once said that “Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings”, trying to highlight the fact that just being smart is not enough to achieve your goals, you will need to evolve to achieve that. The Spanish painter, a bulwark of surrealism, expressionism, and post-impressionism among others, was an artist who challenged everything and brought forth innovation, after exploring one of the most challenging painting movements: surrealism. He achieved greatness by constantly questioning his own art, and continuously improving hard skills that were needed for him to create the things he wanted to create.

Improving hard skills is a matter of ambition, if not an issue of “survival” for many workers in the corporate world. Developing a hard skill and mastering its basics is the key to the vault of employment while improving hard skills is the process that will allow anyone to become better in their profession, and evolve within it, as a professional, and as a person.

How to evolve as a professional

Improving hard skills is a task that for many may be hectic, often bringing forth memories of school and college years. Most people are not enthusiastic about studying, which is -most of the time- required for improving hard skills. There are several different ways to approach the process of improving hard skills, synopsized in three main categories:

• Certifications
• Online Courses
• Practicing

Certifications are the proof that someone has acquired a hard skill, also showcasing the level of their knowledge in that particular hard skill. Certifications usually require a large amount of time invested to be obtained, including time for reading, taking classes, and more.

Online courses on the other hand are a convenient way for any professional to set foot on a path that will eventually lead them into improving hard skills. They require much less effort, being available online, but usually provide certifications that are not as “heavy” within the corresponding field as college certifications.

By far the most important tool a professional has when improving hard skills is practice. Reading might be fundamental, but humans are practical animals that naturally conduct experiments to see how something works and its efficiency. Practicing hard skills is a prerequisite to improving hard skills, always keeping in mind that if the hard skill you are improving is related to hazards of any kind, you should take all required measures before practicing (i.e. improving hard skills in the chemistry field will require professionals to wear protective gear, and practice in a certified chemistry lab).

Asking makes perfect

Another great tool in the hands of professionals that are improving hard skills is coaching. Seasoned professionals that share the same hard skills with you are the best possible source of knowledge you will ever get in your field. Whether it is a colleague or simply someone you know through your work who shares the same hard skills as you but is more experienced, they are a great source of improvement, provided they are willing to help, and you are willing to ask.

Humans are social animals and have evolved greatly thanks to their ability to collaborate and learn from each other. On top of practice, asking makes perfect, and any professional who thinks they have something to learn from others is bound to evolve

Great soft skills will allow any professional to approach their seasoned colleagues and peers and learn from them, improving hard skills by learning from the source itself. As anyone who has ever worked will have already noticed after 1 or 2 years in a profession, there is no better way of learning new things than seeing them in practice, done by someone who has mastered them. Whether it is a way of programming as a software developer, a technique to write better content, or even how to operate as a doctor to fix a fractured bone, watching an experienced colleague will allow professionals to learn without worrying they might make a mistake.

Improving Hard Skills & CV

What are some reasons one might want to improve their hard skills? Most of the time, improving hard skills leads to improving the quality of your work, regardless of the field you work on. Moreover, improving hard skills allows professionals to boost their CV, increasing their chances of being hired.

Being unemployed or exploring your options does not mean you should not be improving hard skills. On the contrary, while job hunting, make sure to pick one hard skill and try to improve it. That way, you will be able to include it in your CV

When creating your CV, you should make sure that your hard skills and your soft skills are visible “early on”, so that prospective employers are guaranteed to notice them. Placing a list of your hard skills to the side of the first page or at the top of your CV will help companies and employers get an idea of who you are and what you have to offer to their business.

Tags: Employee, hard skills, improving hard skills, professional