Why soft skills matter in a technical job

Singapore is flocked by technical experts all over the world, but a common misconception runs around the industry saying highly technical. Believe it or not, technical jobs demand soft skills too.

To get and secure a job, more often than not a repertoire of technical skills is necessary. However, beyond a candidate’s technical skills and his flawless academic background, is being endowed with soft skills all that important in a technical role?

More often than not, the key to successfully hiring candidates is to evaluate how well they fit into the company and its culture. The way someone interacts and communicates with others can make or break the efficiency of work on the job.

For example, you may be applying for an IT role, but if you lack the necessary soft skills to pass the interview or even progress within your career, chances are that coveted job will be given to someone who appears more impressive during interview.

In general, there are four categories of soft skills: interpersonal skills, communication skills, teamwork and problem solving. These four fundamental skills are essential in building relations with customers, co-workers and supervisors at work and progressing within your career.

Communication skills

One of the more important soft skills would be a good grasp of oral and written communication skills. One of the reasons for that is because IT professionals rarely work individually.

They are constantly interacting with other employees, clients, and vendors. As such, they require a strong set of oral and written communication skills to successfully communicate their ideas to others so that misunderstanding is minimised or even eliminated.

Interpersonal skills

Another important skill is interpersonal skills. Having good interpersonal skills is the ability to deal and interact with people in a positive manner.

While honing your technical skills during your studies and career, you will also learn how to interact well with different people you meet along the way and throughout your entire professional career.

You get to win your customers over with a positive working attitude and this will make them want to come back to you for more business dealings time after time.

Thus, to stand out from the players in your industry, acquiring this set of interpersonal skills is as important, if not more important than technical skills if you want to have future prospects in your career.

When people think of soft skills, people usually assume it to be merely people’s skill. However if you look at the big picture, being equipped with soft skills means that you are more able to effectively use your technical abilities and knowledge and make an impact in your quality of work.

These soft skills complement your hard skills and are needed for success in the workplace. Without a doubt, academic qualifications and technical abilities may secure you an interview, but having soft skills is the key to set you apart from other candidates with similar academic background.