©Freepik

When it comes to work skills, they can be broken down into two types: hard skills and soft skills. They're pretty different from one another, but both are necessary to be successful on the job. Let's take a look at the differences between the two.

Hard skills are concrete skills that are specific to your job and are required for you to do your work. For example, if you're a chef, cooking would be a hard skill, or if you're a computer programmer - coding. Soft skills are interpersonal or people skills that can be used in every job. These include communication, teamwork, and adaptability. Hard skills are generally learned through school, training, or previous work experience. They're more objective, meaning that once you've learned the information or task, you would then possess that skill. Soft skills are more difficult to develop, you'll need to practice them over time in the real world with others. They come naturally to some people, while others may not have such an easy time with them, hard skills are easy to measure.

Employers can get a good idea of your hard skills by looking at your education, previous experience, and certifications, soft skills are harder to evaluate, they can't be communicated well through your cover letter or resume, instead, employers usually have to wait until an interview or your first few weeks on the job. To get a good idea of your soft skills despite their differences, you'll need both hard and soft skills.