What are hard skills?

Hard skills are specific abilities,

capabilities and skill sets that an
individual can possess and demonstrate
in a measured way. Hard skills are
learnable skills that enable individuals
to perform job-specific tasks, or that
may be required for a specific job.
While looking for new employees,
employers will look at a candidate's
hard skills listed in their resume. While
job-specific hard skills are sought after,
so can proficiency in more general hard
skills -- such as fluency in a second
language.
Hard skills typically focus on specific
tasks needed to complete a job, like the
use of specific software, tools or other
equipment. They can be gained from
experience or learned through training,
schooling, apprenticeships, online
courses and certification programs.
Certifications, degrees and licenses can
show a potential new hire has these
skills.
As an example, a cloud engineer may
want the hard skills shown in Figure 1.

Fig
ure 1. Cloud engineer hard skills might
require experience in subjects including
APIs, programming, web services,
virtualization and security.
Types of hard skills
There are many types of hard skills, as
they are skill sets that pair with any
profession. Some examples of hard
skills fall under specific categories, such
as the following:
Analytical skills
 Data analysis.
 Data and metric interpreting.
 Data mining.
 Google Analytics or Google Search
Console.
 Research.
Computer skills
  Computer software knowledge.
 Communication and collaboration
tools.
 Microsoft Office Suite.
 Presentation software.
 Trello.
Communication skills
 Academic writing.
 Blog writing.
 Copywriting.
 Foreign language speaking.
 Proposal writing.
Marketing skills
 Conversion Rate Optimization
(CRO).
 Email marketing.
  Pay per click (PPC) advertising.
 Search engine optimization (SEO).
 Social media.
Technical skills
 Computer-aided design (CAD).
 Machine learning (ML).
 Natural language processing (NLP).
 Programming languages.
 User interface design.
Additional skill examples
Automotive services and design.
Budgeting.
Graphic design.
Photo and video editing.
Project management.
How to acquire hard skills
Although some individuals can have
innate abilities that make it easier for
them to learn a hard skill either through
formal lessons or in informal ways,
most people develop hard skills through
some sort of educational process.
For example, some people have a
natural sense of numbers that makes it
easier for them to learn basic as well as
complex math, yet they -- as well as
others -- learn math through a series of
lessons.
Individuals learn hard skills in various
ways, including learning them in
traditional schools, colleges and
vocational education programs.
Individuals can also learn hard skills
through apprenticeships, mentoring, on-
the-job training and hands-on training.
Individuals can teach themselves hard
skills, too, through books, online
platforms and even through trial and
error.
Certificates, diplomas, licenses and test
scores are often used as proof that an
individual has achieved a certain level
of proficiency for a particular hard skill
or set of hard skills.
A driver's license, for instance,
demonstrates that an individual has
demonstrated a minimum level of
proficiency as determined by the
government agency issuing the driver's
license. A commercial driver's license
shows that an individual has achieved
another, higher level of proficiency.
Hard skills can also be considered
technical skills.
Hard skills vs. soft skills
Soft skills, unlike hard skills, are
characteristics or capabilities that are
nearly impossible to quantify or
measure in an objective way. So,
judging one's soft skills is a subjective
exercise.
Some soft skills are described as
intangible; for example, being a good
listener is a capacity that describes an
individual's ability to hear a speaker's
words and understand and empathize
with the speaker. Although someone
could measure the ability to correctly
hear the speaker's words, the soft skill
comes in the listener's capacity to
understand and empathize -- a skill
that's practically impossible to quantify,
measure and compare against someone
else using objective standards.
Soft skills are often called interpersonal
or people skills.
Additionally, soft skills can describe an
individual's own characteristics;
examples of such soft skills include
having a good work ethic or working
well with others.
Individuals generally have a disposition
that favors the expression of specific
soft skills, but there is an element of
nature vs. nurture as well. There aren't
traditional degree programs or
vocational programs focused on soft
skills, but colleges, schools,
organizations and even companies do
indeed invest in developing soft skills in
individuals.
Individuals can seek out learning
opportunities and activities on their
own to cultivate soft skills within
themselves as well.
Why hard skills are important
Nearly all jobs today, including most
professional positions, require hard
skills.
Job descriptions frequently list a series
of hard skills needed to be hired, and
they also often list the preferred proof
of those skills, such as degrees or
certificates, that each job applicant
needs in order to be considered for the
position.
Possessing specific hard skills
demonstrates one's ability to
successfully perform the job and fulfill
its duties.
For many professions in many
companies, the possession of hard skills
is important to ensure a company's
financial success; however, in some
instances, the worker's hard skills are
critical to preventing catastrophic
results. A surgeon, for example, must
have very specific hard skills to ensure
against unnecessary harm to a patient;
a pipefitter must also be exacting in his
or her application of hard skills to
ensure against something like a gas
leak.
Furthermore, many employers seek out
soft skills, finding that interpersonal
skills are needed -- sometimes in equal
measure to their hard skills -- for
individuals to successfully complete the
jobs they're assigned to do.
Measuring hard skills
Hard skills are demonstrable and
quantifiable; individuals who possess
hard skills can be tested to prove their
capacity in each hard skill they possess.
There are objective metrics that can be
applied to the hard skill, not just
subjective judgment.
Furthermore, an individual's proficiency
in any particular hard skill can be
measured against the proficiency of
other individuals who possess that
same hard skill.
Typing, for example, is a hard skill. Two
individuals with the ability to type can
be tested for speed and accuracy, with
their scores determining which
individual is more proficient in the skill.
Certifications, degrees and licenses can
also show an individual has a certain
aptitude for a hard skill. Hiring
managers can measure an individual's
hard skills by giving them a test during
the interview process.
Hard skills to include on a resume and
where to list them
Some of the most in-demand hard skills
include the following:
 AI.
 Business and data analytics.
 Cloud and distributed computing.
 Data presentation.
 Digital marketing.
 Google Analytics.
 HTML/CSS/Javascript.
 Middleware and integration
software.
 Project management.
 Machine learning.
 Mobile development.
 Network and information security.
 Software revision control systems.
 Structured Query Language (SQL).
 Statistical analysis and data mining.
 User interface design.
  Web architecture and development
framework.
On a resume, a list of an individual's
most relevant skills should be placed in
a skills section.
First, determine what hard skills
employers in the applying industry are
looking for, then place the most
relevant skills in the skills section of the
resume. To help create a list of skills,
job seekers should find the most
relevant hard skills by researching the
general job position and the specific job
ad.
Hard skills in a job ad will include work
experience needed, along with a list of
skills required. These will include a mix
of soft skills, like personality traits or
communication skills, and required
hard skills.

Fig
ure 2. DevOps engineers might want to
have hard skills like coding, network
optimization and provisioning on their
resumes.
The skills section should be placed near
the top of the resume so employers can
quickly see the experience of the
interviewee. Hard skills can also be
referenced by providing examples in an
accomplishments section -- this helps
show employers that an individual is
able to use their hard skills to be
successful in a job.
The cover letter is another place to
show an individual's hard skills. In a
cover letter, hard skills can be
mentioned as part of a story about
work experience.
Learn more about valuable hard skills
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to succeed as an IT manager and IT
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