Soft skills Soft skills Soft skills are a combination of people skills, social skills, communication skills, character of personality traits, attitudes, career attribute, social intelligence and emotional intelligence quotients among others that enable people to navigate their environment, work well with others, perform well, and achieve their goals with complementing hard skills. The Collins English Dictionary defines the term "soft skills" as "desirable qualities for certain forms of employment that do not depend on acquired knowledge: they include common sense, the ability to deal with people, and a positive flexible attitude." Since 1959, the U.S. Army has been investing a considerable amount
Emotional intelligence needed to succeed in their roles. Also, emotional intelligent employees have better resources to cope with stressing situations and demanding tasks, which enable them to outperform in those situations. For instance, Law et al. (2004) found that EI was the best predictor of job performance beyond general cognitive ability among IT scientist in computer company in China. Similarly, Sy, Tram, and O’Hara (2006) found that EI was associated positively with job performance in employees from a food service company. In the job performance – emotional intelligence correlation is important to consider the effects of managing up, which refers to the