Hard and Soft skills: Developing 21th century skills.


В этом модуле мы будем разбираться, что такое soft skills и hard skills, и нужны ли они вам.

Have you ever heard of hard skills and soft skills? What are they? Do you need them? Would you like to develop them in yourself? 

As a rule, people start thinking about this sort of things when they are looking for a job. While preparing for a job interview in a new company, you’d better update your CV (or resume) in order to make sure you’ve mentioned all the knowledge and personal qualities of yours that might be useful and seem attractive to your future employer

It’s a great resume. 
I have to finish my resume. 

What is a resume or CV?

A resume is a short written account of your education and your previous jobs that you send to an employer when you are looking for a new job SYN CV 

Resume is common for American English, while CV (from Latin Curriculum vitae) – for the British variant of the English language. You can use either of these words thought, it’s up to you))  

Однако в английском языке также есть глагол to resume. Послушайте, как он произносится. 

Do you wish to resume your captivity.

У глагола resume есть два значения. Первое значение - to start doing something again after stopping or being interrupted. Послушайте, как этот глагол употребляется в этом значении.

And I'm planning to resume construction.
 I am ready to resume my duties. 

И второе значение глагола to resume - if an activity or process resumes, it starts again after a pause.  

The game will resume.
We believe his heart will resume normal function.

Meanwhile, it’s time for us to stick to the major topic of our module, HARD and SOFT SKILLS.  

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 actually do your work. For example, if you're a chef, cooking would be a hard skill, or if you're a computer programmer, coding would be an example.

Discussion point: What are your hard skills? Or what concrete skills do you need to be successful in your future career? By the way, the adjective concrete means “definite and specific”. Make up a list of concrete skills that are required for your future job. Discuss the list with your groupmates. 


Здесь мы встречаем интересное и полезное выражение on the other hand, которое употребляется, когда мы хотим рассмотреть какой-то вопрос или проблему с другой точки зрения, переводится «с другой стороны».

On the other hand, safety first.

Иногда это выражение употребляется в паре: On the one hand, ….. on the other hand, ….

On the one hand and on the other hand.- All right. 
So what are these things called soft skills?

Soft skills is a catch-all term referring to various behaviors that help people work and socialize well with others. In short, they are the good manners and personality traits needed to get along with others and build positive relationships. Unlike hard skills, which include a person's technical skill set and ability to perform certain functional tasks, soft skills are broadly applicable across job titles and industries. It's often said that hard skills will get you an interview but you need soft skills to get and keep the job.

Having the technical skills and knowledge to successfully execute our job duties is only one part of being the best we can be in the workplace. In addition to these hard skills, we also need soft skills. No matter what our position, organization or industry, we work with people. Taking the time to build effective soft skills can lead to a more efficient, more harmonious and more productive workplace as well as to our own overall job happiness and satisfaction.

Soft skills encompass both innate personality traits such as optimism and abilities that can be practiced such as empathy. Like all skills soft skills can be learned. Soft skills are personal characteristics that allow us to effectively relate to others. Applying these skills helps us build stronger work relationships, work more productively and maximize our career prospects. 

Often we place the focus of our career development efforts on hard skills: technological skills, sector-specific training, and other skills that specifically relate to our ability to get work-related tasks done. Unfortunately, development of this kind often happens at the expense of our soft skills. This is unfortunate because unlike the sector-specific training, soft skills are directly transferable to any job, organization or industry. You will need them wherever you go. They are an investment worth making

Soft skills aren't just about business or building careers they are about life and living. 

Well, let's see how attentive you've been while studying the material of the module. Go to the link given below. There, you'll find the video closely related to the topic under discussion. Be ready to do some tasks while watching! Have fun!



Soft Skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people. These are some examples of soft skills: Communication Skills, Teamwork Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Adaptability, Presentation Skills, Leadership Skills, Research Skills, Project Management Skills, Problem Solving Skills, Strong Work Ethic, Coaching Skills, Emotional Intelligence, etc.

Think what soft skills you possess, or which ones you would like to build in yourself.

These are some examples for you how you can talk about soft skills.

  1. She is an ethical person.
  2. They have management abilities.
  3. We are problem solvers.
  4. I can work under pressure.
  5. I can take criticism.
  6. I am a great team player.
  7. I am highly organized.
  8. I am a great communicator.
  9. I am adaptable to change.
  10. I can deal with difficult situations.
  11. I am an effective communicator.
  12. I am very good at making decisions.

If you want to make questions about soft skills, have a look at the following examples:

  • Do you have communication skills?
  • Do you have presentation skills?
  • Do you have leadership skills?
  • Do you have a strong work ethic?
  • Can you work under pressure?
  • Can you deal with difficult situations?
  • Can you take criticism?
  • Are you good at making decisions?
  • Are you a great team player?
  • Are you a great communicator?

These are some examples of questions and answers about soft skills.

  • Are you a great team player?
  • Yes, I am great working with people.

  • Can you work under pressure?
  • Sure, I am used to it.

  • Do you have presentation skills?
  • I think I can manage my audience really well.

  • Can you deal with difficult situations?
  • I think so, I used to work as a paramedic.



Is it enough for students to know laws of heredity, (god bless) Present Perfect, how gravitation works, and why the sky is blue?

Being a student requires many skills and abilities. It is not a one day job. A student needs to carve out these skills by practicing every day and thus takes a long time. These skills will be helpful not just in schools and colleges, but in the future as well.

Soft skills are those that can be used to convey ideas and messages in an effective manner. These skills can also be used to handle serious situations while taking care of overall scenario. the soft skills are very important in today's world where management and human resources are given prim focus.

Soft skills help to grow a powerful personality. It helps to stand out and to move forward in your everyday activities to reach your goals. These skills are thus supposed to be used in every other situation, big or small.

1 Problem Solving

will help in controlling situations that may get out of hand. These skills help in coming up with solutions for different scenarios. Increasing problem solving is very important because we live in an uncertain world, where any sort of situation can turn into an unfavorable one. Students should know how to solve situational problems.

2 Creative Thinking

3 Team Work

Working together will always help in producing more. Students must understand the importance of unity. In higher levels of work, people will have to work together, in doing so many times they will have to confront each other and argue. Many ideas may be accepted and many will be rejected. Thus it is necessary for syudents to have a practice of working in groups, understanding each other by listening each other out and coming to terms.

4 Decision Making

5 Intra-Personal Skills

Skills that help you understand yourself, your emotional intelligence, your thoughts, beliefs and opinions are known as intra-personal skills. These skills help you mold yourself into better leaders, with adequate knowledge about yourself you will know your stand on many decisions and ideas. Only when you try to understand yourself, you will be able to understand the others. You will need them the most when you have to work on certain tasks all by yourself, and when you need to know your strengths and weaknesses.

6 Inter-Personal Skills

7 Communication Skills

These are very important as the foundation of many events and organizations is the way people talk and communicate with each other. You need to understand how to face people who are aggrressive and how to talk to people who can be sensitive.

Students will find communication skills very helpful if they develop them as it will be useful in all the areas. Most of the services that careers offer deal with human beings in one way or another. Thus having good communication skills is not only important, it looks like a golden star on your resume.

Time to think!

We've announced 8 soft skills that might be useful for students to develop these days. We have mentioned 7 of them so far. One is missing. Think a bit and come up with your own idea of the last but not least soft skill! Your suggestions?

8 Leadership Skills

Someone who is quick in thinking and can make the right decisions, coordinate other people and pull off an event or a situation with smooth functioning, can spearhead as a leader. Leadership is an important soft skill that a student can use further in their career.

To conclude,

with these skills, any student will be able to reach the hights and goals that they have always dreamed of.

Специализируемся на развитии навыков говорения и понимания реальной речи на слух. Используем только оригинальные материалы.