Hard Skills Vs Soft Skills: What Do You Need To Get Ahead In Your Career?

What types of skills are most in demand among companies and hiring managers in 2025? If you’re looking to make yourself more employable, there’s a strong chance you need to expand your skill set to land your next job.

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs report predicts large skills disruption over the next five years, with employers expecting 39% of workers’ core skills to change. The report highlights that the key skills job seekers will need vary from highly technical ‘hard’ skills to more interpersonally focused ‘soft’ skills.

The prevalence of both skill types reflects “the important role of technical proficiency, strong interpersonal abilities, emotional intelligence, and a commitment to continuous learning [and] demonstrate respondents’ expectation that workers must balance hard and soft skills to thrive in today’s work environments,” the report states.

So, what exactly are the differences between hard and soft skills, and how can you develop them to succeed in your career? Read on to find out.

What are Hard and Soft Skills?

As a jobseeker, it’s important to have a well-rounded skill set that includes a mix of both hard and soft skills in order to appeal to employers.

“The term soft skills usually refers to interpersonal skills, including leadership, teamwork and

communication,” explains Chris Garnett, head of postgraduate careers at Alliance Manchester Business School. “They can also include elements that may be based on hard skills like critical thinking, decision-making, and problem-solving.”

“Hard skills are usually defined as a technical skill set learned through training or on the job. They are usually quantifiable and can be a base requirement for a role,” he adds.

Examples of hard skills include financial analysis, data analytics, market research, operations management, and project management. These skills are crucial for roles in key post-business school industries such as finance, consulting, marketing, and operations, explains Ceri Willmott, director of careers consulting and professional development at Imperial College Business School.

Across different career paths, the impact of soft and hard skills can vary. “An important modern distinction between soft and hard skills is that hard skills are job-specific and can quickly become outdated due to advances in AI and technology, whereas soft skills are transferable to

different jobs and industries and stay relevant throughout a career,” explains Dr Hayley Dawson, founder of the workplace training platform, Let’s Talk Human Skills.

Which Skills are Most Important in the Workplace?

A combination of hard and soft skills is necessary to succeed at work in every sector and, arguably, every job. But certain skills are more in demand than others.

The WEF report found that the top three skills employers seek in candidates today are analytical thinking, resilience, flexibility and agility, and leadership and social influence. In fact, the top five core skills for employers in 2025 are all soft skills, according to the report.

“We could see the lifespan of hard skills shorten as automation becomes more embedded in the workplace. To stay current, the need for skills like curiosity and lifelong learning is expected to rise between now and 2030,” explains Dr Dawson.

“The majority of employers I speak to highlight confidence, curiosity and experimentation,

adaptability, and being an easy person to work with as priorities for their workplaces,” she adds.

Which hard and soft skills you flex in a job interview or at work depend on your role, seniority and industry. Combining both gives you the strongest chance of success in the modern workplace.

“Hard skills, such as financial analysis, data analytics, and technical expertise, are necessary for executing specific tasks and making data-driven decisions,” adds Ceri from Imperial. This is why they are considered crucial in fields like finance and consulting.

“However, as professionals advance, soft skills including leadership, communication, and emotional intelligence become more valuable. These skills help individuals navigate complex workplace dynamics, lead teams, and influence stakeholders, ultimately driving career growth and organizational success,” she says.

Your Options for Skill Development

So now that you know you’ll need both hard and soft skills in your toolkit, how can you develop them? There are many ways to learn and practice both hard and soft skills, no matter your confidence level. Dr Dawson shares her top tips for skill development:

1. Keep a skills log

Keep a record of the projects you do, plus the hard and soft skills you used. Include how comfortable you felt using the skill, how often you used it and where you need to improve. You’ll soon be able to spot any gaps in your skill set.

2. Start skill swapping

Pair up with someone from a different field and teach each other your hard skills. For example, a marketer could learn coding basics from a software engineer, while teaching them compelling storytelling. Skill swaps expand your hard skills and enhance your communication, collaboration and adaptability.

3. Identify the skills required for a task

Hard skills are more obvious skills, so you know when you’re developing them. But it’s not always clear when you’re developing soft skills. Before you start a project, ask yourself: What skills are needed for this task?

You may need to put together a presentation for a client, but it’s never just reporting the data and designing the slides. It’s also collaborating with your team, implementing feedback, and communicating while delivering the presentation. Keep this in mind as you complete the work and measure your results.

4. Seek opportunities to develop your soft skills

While hard skills can be easier to develop in entry-level or mid-level roles through training and repetition, developing soft skills involves seeking out opportunities. Is there a problem no one knows how to fix? That’s your chance to get curious and ask questions to solve the problem. Is someone unwell on the day of a big presentation? Now’s your opportunity to step up and present yourself.

5. Become a balanced lifelong learner

Actively engage in learning opportunities to achieve a well-rounded skill set. To learn hard skills, take courses, certifications, or practice through hands- on projects. And for soft skills, put yourself in situations that require teamwork, collaboration, leadership, or flexibility.

Interested in accelerating your career progression? Use our quiz to find out if staying where you are or pursuing a new role is your best path to success.