Does Soft Skills Matter

Hi Everyone

I hope I posted this thread in the correct place.

I had a Job Interview on Tuesday and today found out that I did not get the position because my client facing skills in other words my soft skills were not very good.

I have been looking around and it seems many HR people hire people who have great client facing skills, soft skills and a lack of IT experience.

What do you think about this?

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Comments

aordal

A few years ago I would have said no it doesn't matter. But in today's world, it's almost more important that you know how to communicate with other people properly. The one thing I've heard over and over, "It doesn't matter how smart you are, but if you can't talk to people nobody will hire you."

So yeah, personally I don't know how to tell you to brush up on those skills. Maybe there's some books out there. But ya, that's something you need to work on.

skrpune

"soft skills" are VERY important if you're going to be dealing with customers/clients. You can be the best tech in the world, but if you're unable to deal with people well, then you won't be a good help desk or support tech. IT skills are easily trainable, soft skills not so much.

Vogon Poet

Even though the term is greatly overused, all positions are customer service positions, whether they say so or not.
Go in, be friendly, try to chit-chat a little. No one wants to hire Nick Burns (Your Company's Computer Guy from SNL).

Bokeh

My gf just got done dealing with someone with no soft skills. Her co. is not big enough to have a full time IT person, so they have a guy on call. The other day, new laptops came in for three people. He unboxed them, set up the printers and vpn, and their proprietary software ... THEN LEFT. No training, no nothing.

He was called on the phone to ask why he didn't remove the boxes to the trash or storage room? "What is in the box is what I deal with, not the containers. I am not a janitor or cleaning crew."

What about training?
"Come on, they are just replacements for their desktops, if they don't know how to use the programs on a laptop its not my problem!"

The CEO overheard this conversation, and his contract was terminated immediately.

eMeS

In my experience, "soft skills" are often the most important factor in employment decisions.

Some suggestions that might help:

Appearance - Wear clean clothes, shave, dress professionally, make sure your shoes are tied, the list can go on forever. The takeaway is, "you only get one chance to make a first impression". Make sure you maximize that one chance. One pet peeve of mine...people that have poor dental health. Smile often and be able to smile without making people wince.

Speech - Learn to speak and deliver yourself in a 1 on 1 setting. Learn how to formulate and deliver a presentation to a small or large audience. Develop your ability to communicate technical experts to non-technical audiences. Everyone is non-technical about something. In my experience, the best way to develop these skills is through Toastmasters. I did this many years ago and I believe it was one of the best and most cost-effective learning experiences I've undertaken.

Grammar and Punctuation - Your ability to correctly use grammar and punctuation affects others perception of your. In an online forum such as this, we don't require perfection here, and everyone gets away with not being perfect in this area. However, in a job interview the setting is totally different, requiring a higher-level mastery of language.

The title you chose for this thread is a good example of not paying attention to grammar. (Although here you won't really be penalized). I'm reluctant to pick on your about this because there will likely be one or more errors in my response. The point is, the audience and the situation determine the requirements for grammar and punctuation.

Understand the difference between "to", "too", and "two". Know when to use "myself" in speech (hint, it's called "reflexive"). Understand basic sentence structure, etc....

Integrity - Simply put, do what you say you're going to do. If you agree to be somewhere at a certain time, don't be late.

Attention to Detail - Did you ever hear the phrase "the devil is in the details"? Do you know why that phrase exists? My theory is that this phrase indicates clearly that there is something valuable realized when accuracy and precision are achieved.

There are many other areas that can fall under "soft skills". The point of why these skills are important is because when someone hires you for a job, they are hiring you to be a representative of their company. How you represent yourself or someone else can have an impact on revenue and profits.

Best wishes,

MS

HeroPsycho

Data001 wrote: »

Hi Everyone

I hope I posted this thread in the correct place.

I had a Job Interview on Tuesday and today found out that I did not get the position because my client facing skills in other words my soft skills were not very good.

I have been looking around and it seems many HR people hire people who have great client facing skills, soft skills and a lack of IT experience.

What do you think about this?

Most people who interview you either have no IT hard technical experience, or they haven't done that kind of stuff for years.

Not to say it's right or fair, but who do you think they would like more on an emotional level, a brilliant guy with no people skills, or a not so bright guy with excellent people skills?

When the technical skills are ridiculously disparate between the two candidates, sure, the techie usually wins, but when it's close enough that the non-techie can't tell, which is most of the time, the person with the soft skills usually wins.

Eventually, you are able to discern how "techie" your interviewer is, and it's even better to adapt to those situations to dial up and down the geekiness to the right level. I secured my current job because I:

A. Showed interest in the person who interviewed me by asking about his role in the company. When it was apparent he was a technical architect/lead consultant, I dialed up the geekiness to some degree but presented answers in easy to understand ways and stressed, "when explaining this concept to a customer, I'd describe this by...."
B. At the end of the interview, I made small talk about major trends in IT like virtualization, what the company was looking to do in that space, etc.

Couple this with a solid resume that looks professional and is free from typos, good communication skills, professional appearance, good attitude, etc.

I interviewed late in the game for the position and leapfrogged everyone.

Of course, I also had the technical skills to back it all up, too.

ladiesman217

HeroPsycho wrote: »

Most people who interview you either have no IT hard technical experience, or they haven't done that kind of stuff for years.

Not to say it's right or fair, but who do you think they would like more on an emotional level, a brilliant guy with no people skills, or a not so bright guy with excellent people skills?

When the technical skills are ridiculously disparate between the two candidates, sure, the techie usually wins, but when it's close enough that the non-techie can't tell, which is most of the time, the person with the soft skills usually wins.

Eventually, you are able to discern how "techie" your interviewer is, and it's even better to adapt to those situations to dial up and down the geekiness to the right level. I secured my current job because I:

A. Showed interest in the person who interviewed me by asking about his role in the company. When it was apparent he was a technical architect/lead consultant, I dialed up the geekiness to some degree but presented answers in easy to understand ways and stressed, "when explaining this concept to a customer, I'd describe this by...."
B. At the end of the interview, I made small talk about major trends in IT like virtualization, what the company was looking to do in that space, etc.

Couple this with a solid resume that looks professional and is free from typos, good communication skills, professional appearance, good attitude, etc.

I interviewed late in the game for the position and leapfrogged everyone.

Of course, I also had the technical skills to back it all up, too.

Nice one!

ehh where did you learn your soft acting skills? j/k

maumercado

Soft skills training is easy, make friends with basic computer knowledge (office use and maybe even photoshop) that download lots of unuseful stuff, that get a lot of viruses and want to know how not to, but dont know how, heck like a grandma using a computer, they will force you to explain how you fixed it, without using tech words...
That will be a start...

After you aquire mastery skills in talking to people, who knows... you can start approaching hotties and picking up dates... who knows?

... Or you can aquire those skills to be a social engineering expert... which is the same skill use to pick up women... hehehe

HeroPsycho

maumercado wrote: »

... heck like a grandma using a computer...

There ain't no party like my nana's tea party!

YouTube - Flight of The Concords "Mother Flippin"

P.S. Yes, this is just an excuse to reference motherflippin'.

BradleyHU

Vogon Poet wrote: »

Even though the term is greatly overused, all positions are customer service positions, whether they say so or not.
Go in, be friendly, try to chit-chat a little. No one wants to hire Nick Burns (Your Company's Computer Guy from SNL).

lol, i was tryin to remember the character's name from SNL....but this is true....soft skills are very important....

Data001

Thank you you for the advice.

A couple of things I did check my post for spelling but does not pick everything up as I have dyslexia so my spelling and grammar is not very good at times.

With the example that Bokeh made I would have asked where do the empty boxes go help made sure eveyone new how eveything worked and if there was anything else that needed to be done/fixed.

Also I do help my firends anf family with IT and have offered training.

Part of being dyslex means I not confident in social situations.

drainey

eMeS mentioned Toastmasters. I'd definitely recommend this or something similar. As an IT person you will find yourself needing to talk to many people, most on a 1 to1 level, but a group setting isn't unusual either. These can be dept. meetings, training sessions, etc. Plus you never know when you will find yourself dealing directly with an executive level person, perhaps even THE boss. You will need to be comfortable in all of these situations. Plus in many companies the Executive level people (not counting the CIO) usually are very non techy but want you to explain what was wrong and how you fixed it, in terms they can understand.

The more you can get exposure to these kind of situations the more comfortable you will become dealing with them. Plus you will learn to gauge your audience, (1 or many doesn't matter) and that will help tremendously. Some interviewers are strictly professional, some are "chatty" types, and the rest fall somewhere in between. Learning to guage them will help you know when to stick to business and when to make small talk. The ability to move fluidly from being professional to more open and friendly and back again is the essence of "soft" skills. And that is what the interviewer is really looking for.

Slowhand

eMeS wrote: »

In my experience, "soft skills" are often the most important factor in employment decisions.

Some suggestions that might help:

Appearance - Wear clean clothes, shave, dress professionally, make sure your shoes are tied, the list can go on forever. The takeaway is, "you only get one chance to make a first impression". Make sure you maximize that one chance. One pet peeve of mine...people that have poor dental health. Smile often and be able to smile without making people wince.

Speech - Learn to speak and deliver yourself in a 1 on 1 setting. Learn how to formulate and deliver a presentation to a small or large audience. Develop your ability to communicate technical experts to non-technical audiences. Everyone is non-technical about something. In my experience, the best way to develop these skills is through Toastmasters. I did this many years ago and I believe it was one of the best and most cost-effective learning experiences I've undertaken.

Grammar and Punctuation - Your ability to correctly use grammar and punctuation affects others perception of your. In an online forum such as this, we don't require perfection here, and everyone gets away with not being perfect in this area. However, in a job interview the setting is totally different, requiring a higher-level mastery of language.

The title you chose for this thread is a good example of not paying attention to grammar. (Although here you won't really be penalized). I'm reluctant to pick on your about this because there will likely be one or more errors in my response. The point is, the audience and the situation determine the requirements for grammar and punctuation.

Understand the difference between "to", "too", and "two". Know when to use "myself" in speech (hint, it's called "reflexive"). Understand basic sentence structure, etc....

Integrity - Simply put, do what you say you're going to do. If you agree to be somewhere at a certain time, don't be late.

Attention to Detail - Did you ever hear the phrase "the devil is in the details"? Do you know why that phrase exists? My theory is that this phrase indicates clearly that there is something valuable realized when accuracy and precision are achieved.

There are many other areas that can fall under "soft skills". The point of why these skills are important is because when someone hires you for a job, they are hiring you to be a representative of their company. How you represent yourself or someone else can have an impact on revenue and profits.

Best wishes,

MS

I agree with all of these, 100%. Soft skills do matter, (grammar is important, especially when you're talking about professional writing like on a resume or an inquiry about a job). Those soft skills, like being able to conduct yourself in a professional manner and being able to speak and spell clearly and correctly are learned all throughout life. It's part of the reason that you have to take general education classes in college: they do help you develop all the skills and habits eMeS listed. Knowing how to write and speak clearly is important, but being able to do some basic math, (beyond adding and subtracting,) and having a little bit of general knowledge about more than just your job is often helpful in making you a bit more versatile in how you present yourself. Every little bit helps.

bellhead

There are a couple of things I will point out to you.

1.) How to win friends and influence people. This will really help you out. Be a good listener. This is what the book is all about.

Also take some personality tests, find out your strengths and weaknesses from these tests. There are courses out there which will help you out. These are not college courses but professional developement types which derive from this book.

For myself I had a problem with this. Here is a little of my background.

I had a problem with being a good listener for several years and couldn't understand why people didn't want to carry on conversations with me. It stemmed from where I couldn't look at people why they talked. I would listen to them but not make eye contact. My eyes would wander and people would take as they were boring me but it was me who wasn't being a good listener. Make eye contact with them, nod, ask them about something they said, to have them expand on it. I did less than half the talking during my last interview, the company I am consulting for sat in on the interview with the client, and my contact later told me it was a wierd interview for him because I was listeneing more than talking which during an interview is not the norm.

Good luck to you in the future.

kripsak

Soft skills is one of the most basic and often overlooked skill in IT. When you start off in IT, you will start off being the front man of the business.

We had a guy once quit on us because he just couldn't communicate that well on the phone with customers and other departments.

You wanna get that EXP up in soft skills real quick, start hitting on waitresses, bank teller chicks, drive thru hotties, etc...

Jordus

HeroPsycho wrote: »

Most people who interview you either have no IT hard technical experience, or they haven't done that kind of stuff for years.

Not to say it's right or fair, but who do you think they would like more on an emotional level, a brilliant guy with no people skills, or a not so bright guy with excellent people skills?

When the technical skills are ridiculously disparate between the two candidates, sure, the techie usually wins, but when it's close enough that the non-techie can't tell, which is most of the time, the person with the soft skills usually wins.

Eventually, you are able to discern how "techie" your interviewer is, and it's even better to adapt to those situations to dial up and down the geekiness to the right level. I secured my current job because I:

A. Showed interest in the person who interviewed me by asking about his role in the company. When it was apparent he was a technical architect/lead consultant, I dialed up the geekiness to some degree but presented answers in easy to understand ways and stressed, "when explaining this concept to a customer, I'd describe this by...."
B. At the end of the interview, I made small talk about major trends in IT like virtualization, what the company was looking to do in that space, etc.

Couple this with a solid resume that looks professional and is free from typos, good communication skills, professional appearance, good attitude, etc.

I interviewed late in the game for the position and leapfrogged everyone.

Of course, I also had the technical skills to back it all up, too.

Well this makes it sound like you have none (soft skills). but whatever

Daniel333

Having come from Sales into IT, I can assure you that the majority of people I meet in IT need serious work on their softskills, and those that don’t need "serious" could still use pointers. Including myself I assure you.
Like any skill if you stop trying to improve it, it will get worse. So does it matter? Certainly.
You could be the greatest IT guy in the world, but in every job and every social situation there is someone who you will have to read to determine your tone, body language, verbiage and rate of data exchange. This person can be an un-compromising or self righteous personality that in reality has authority over you, or your paycheck.
Get out a date, party, debate and don’t just read self improvement books but use the skills!
The skills here, the tone you take and even the speed you speak in will determine the result of all the rough moments with a client.

HeroPsycho

Jordus wrote: »

Well this makes it sound like you have none (soft skills). but whatever

I don't get it...

Sepiraph

Ask yourself this question: How would you like to work someone with poor 'soft' skill on a daily basis?

Data001

I am trying to understand but nobody can tell me what are soft skills.

To me the words "soft skills" mean nothing and how can you mesure, improve or lean nothing.

So if anyone define what are soft skills means and how to improve them or how to lean.

To me working in IT means keeping the IT Systems Servers/PC's and telephones systems running and helping users with computer problems not talking about what happen in Big Brother or what is going on in the Office. I am there to do a job.

miller811

Data001 wrote: »

I am trying to understand but nobody can tell me what are soft skills.

To me the words "soft skills" mean nothing and how can you mesure, improve or lean nothing.

So if anyone define what are soft skills means and how to improve them or how to lean.

To me working in IT means keeping the IT Systems Servers/PC's and telephones systems running and helping users with computer problems not talking about what happen in Big Brother or what is going on in the Office. I am there to do a job.

Have you taken the A+ certification yet?
It spends some time going over soft skills and situations.

Unfortunately, in a competitive market we now find outselves in, your definition of working in IT will not get you far/ if even started. It is not ok, to just be able to do the job, there are hundreds or thousands who are capable of that....

Soft skills are personal attributes that enhance an individual's interactions, job performance and career prospects. Unlike hard skills, which tend to be specific to a certain type of task or activity, soft skills are broadly applicable.
Soft skills are sometimes broken down into personal attributes, such as:

optimism
responsibility
a sense of humor
integrity
time-management
motivation.

and interpersonal abilities, such as:
empathy
leadership
communication
good manners
sociability
the ability to teach.

It's often said that hard skills will get you an interview but you need soft skills to get (and keep) the job.

Data001

Yes I have an A+ in Hardware and Software and had a look in the book and there is no info on soft skills.

I have had about 8+ years in IT and so I have the experience and I have just now got my first MCP.

As I have stated above in my post I am dyslexia so I have trouble with try to get my point across and try to unders people but I can remember how an entire network works and can remember IP addresses and passwords from 2 - 3 years ago.

Also check this link as there quite a few people who have Dyslexia or some kind of learn disability and who were clever and manage to do things that most peole would have said were impossible.

Dyslexia My Life, Dyslexic and Learning info

miller811

Data001 wrote: »

Yes I have an A+ in Hardware and Software and had a look in the book and there is no info on soft skills.

I have had about 8+ years in IT and so I have the experience and I have just now got my first MCP.

As I have stated above in my post I am dyslexia so I have trouble with try to get my point across and try to unders people but I can remember how an entire network works and can remember IP addresses and passwords from 2 - 3 years ago.

Also check this link as there quite a few people who have Dyslexia or some kind of learn disability and who were clever and manage to do things that most peole would have said were impossible.

Dyslexia My Life, Dyslexic and Learning info

I am well aware of learning disabilities, my daughter has one. Unfortunately that means you will have to work harder to overcome it, there are no other options. I was unware of your skill set, because they are not identified under your user name...

Here is a cut and paste from the Sybex book A+

Chapter 11 Understanding Professionalism and
Communication 563
Using Good Communication Skills 566
Elicit Problem Symptoms from Customers 569
Have the Customer Reproduce the Error 569
Identify Recent Changes 570
Use the Collected Information 570
Using Appropriate Behavior 570
Punctuality 570
Accountability 571
Flexibility 572
Confidentiality 572
Respect 572
Privacy 575
Putting It All in Perspective 575
Summary 576

The best way I could explain this if there were two bars that you liked to go to, and have a few adult beverages.
Bar A has good prices, good beverages, but the bartender treats you like crap ( he does not engage the customer, does not thank them for their business, does not make them feel weclome.... "Feels I am here to make drinks and not friends" (similar to I am here to fix your computer and not make small talk or fiends):::

Bar B has the same prices, beverages, but has a friendly bartender, who appreciates his customers, cuts up with them, takes an interest in them, communicates with them..

Which bar would you go to, when you headed out at night?

It is very difficult to say, do X,Y,Z and you will become a people person... or have good soft skills, it is something you have to work on. I have worked in Field Service for 24 years, servicing thousands of sites, customers, etc.... You want the customer to think "thank GOD you are here", when you walk in the door, not, "oh crap that jerk is here to work on the system again". That is done by communication and action, and building relationships with your customers. During an interview process, employers are looking from someone to set them at ease, as that is what they are expecting of the employee when they are sent to repair a problem.

Hope that helps...

phantasm

Soft skills are very important in the IT world. All of my interviews have started very casual with a basic chit chat session to see how you converse with people. They ask questions about you and your professional experiences to see how you respond. Then they get into the technical aspects of the interview.

My first job, at a healthcare company, I interfaced with everyone from the techs who took blood to the CEO and the board members who owned the company. Now, I interact with customers daily resolving issues with their circuits and identifying issues with their CPE. If you can't communicate and think outside the box, you're almost useless in the tech world. Gone are the days of being smart and just fixing computers, now you have to deal with people as well.

Afterthoughts:
In college I had to take public speaking, I hated the class but I feel it helped me out. I've also taken classes in psychology and human development which I feel benefited me as well.

NOCup

Every skills are important but you don't need to be the best. Just use your head when you speak. First impression is the most important part. Lot of people make mistake by thinking if I treat customers like friends, they will like me. That's a NO NO. Remember first impression. If you speak to a customer for the first time, always be professional. Let the customer gets to know you first.

I am in a Cisco VoIP support position. I don't really get to see the customer all that much. So I can be the ugliest person out and it wouldn't matter as long as I don't say any thing stupid or unprofessional, I'm okay. If you are applying for a a sale or customer service position that would require you speak to customer face to face, how you look will count toward your interview.

blargoe

People skills and personality these days might be "THE" factor in deciding who gets many of the positions out there. Companies shouldn't have trouble finding the right skill set if they're smart and know how to conduct a search for candidates, it's going to come down to other more intangible things like who would fit best into the team or who has the best interview, who is the most confident, or whatever makes them "feel" good on an emotional level.

That actually scares me a little, as I've move up in the IT ranks I've had to deal with people outside of IT less and less to where it's almost never these days, which is comfortable for me but a recipe for disaster if something happens and I get squeezed out of a job. I need more than a slight brush up myself.

BigTex71

Data001 wrote: »

I am trying to understand but nobody can tell me what are soft skills.

To me the words "soft skills" mean nothing and how can you mesure, improve or lean nothing.

So if anyone define what are soft skills means and how to improve them or how to lean.

Google. Learn it, know it, use it.

Any time you do not know what something is, Google it. With the advent of the internet and great search engines like Google, there is no excuse to not research something you do not know. Why ask on a bulletin board and have to wait for someone to answer? You have the power at your fingertips (literally!) to find the answer quickly and easily yourself.

I am a network administrator and I find myself using Google several times a week. I feel that I know a lot about IT, but I know that I don't know everything.

If you look up the definition of soft skills and feel that it still means nothing, then you might want to look for a position as a programmer or something.

Tin_Man

I believe you need both however they vary when they're actually used. I think you need soft skills to get past the interview process & land the job. IT skills to keep the job.

I worked with a guy awhile ago who had terrible social skills he was a nice guy but would freak out if something went wrong. Just yelled at everyone. Could be quite funny to watch. However he was head and shoulders above everyone else from an IT standpoint. So in large part he was able to get away with it.

Another example is a guy who had great social skills, but was clueless about any IT. He had his MCSE too!! (true definition of paper cert Didn't know how to setup a shared drive!!! I mean come on.... )Anyways off my point. He got away with it for awhile because he his soft skills were that good. Until the day the server crapped out and he was called upon... He was let go shortly after

As long as your not a drone and can actually carry on a conversation with someone, you should be fine.