Technical Skills & People Skills
Technical Skills are the practical skills, abilities, and knowledge you have to perform a job. These are skills that are measurable and applicable to the specific job at hand. Technical skills are also called hard skills because they are concrete, objective, and gained through training and practice. Some of these skills you can actually take a course on or get a certification for. An example of a technical skill for a retail employee would be knowing how to use a point-of-sale system (POS). A retail employee cannot perform their job without knowing how to use a register if that is part of their job duties.
Some additional examples of technical skills include:
Computer skills, Windows OS, MacOS
Office 365: Excel, PowerPoint, Word, Outlook
HRIS: ADP, BambooHR, WorkDay, Paycom, etc.
Landscaping
Hand tools and power tools
Barbering and grooming
Plumbing
Stocking and merchandising
Cooking
Cleaning
Statistics
Analytics
Computer programming
Bilingual/multilingual
Marketing and sales
Automotives
Public speaking and presenting
People Skills are the skills that are behavioral and qualitative. It's harder to quantify these sort of skills because they are more subjective. Another term for people skills is soft skills and these are characteristics that you can often times take with you to any job or industry. They impact how you perform in a job and can affect your role for better or worse. For example, some people skills that many of us use at work include problem-solving or time management. These skills don't necessarily have a metric, but can make the difference in your job performance.
Here are some more examples of people skills:
Teamwork: how well you perform in a group effort.
Communication: how you build relationships and how you interact with others.
Emotional Intelligence: the ability to control and manage your emotions.
Adaptability: adjusting to change and being flexible in a fast-paced environment.
Time Management: how you manage your schedule and make enough time for tasks.
Critical Thinking: the ability to analyze information and make informed decisions.
Leadership: being able to effectively lead and influence your peers or group.
Punctuality: being on time or completing tasks on time.
Have you ever worked with someone who had a poor work ethic or someone who struggled with people skills? These sort of employees can negatively impact productivity at work or even affect a work environment for the rest of the team. Working with people you can't rely on or having to step in for them often can add more stress to your job. The thing about people skills is that it can be difficult to teach someone how to be adaptable or motivated or think critically on the job. Employers (if they are good employers) can hand people the ropes or resources to enable employees to be successful, but ultimately it is up to the person to bring the people skills to the job. I personally believe that people skills are just as important, if not more important, than technical skills. However, people skills alone cannot guarantee success in a job. You need technical skills to advance and make progress in your field of work.
Technical Skills and People Skills go hand-in-hand. Having the attainable skills and the mindset can put you ahead in your career. A mistake that many of us make is leaning in too much into one set of skills and not take into consideration the opportunity to grow or expand on new skills. Truthfully, I find that many of us focus on the people skills without making a strong effort to learn the technical skills required for most jobs. A lot of people who are college graduates do this (me). Marketing yourself as a "determined, motivated, flexible, creative, dependent individual" can only take you so far. You need the technical skills to show employers you have what it takes. My personal mistake was always prioritizing people skills. I always thought and recognized that my people skills were in good standing, but I had few technical skills that proved why I was a good candidate for a company. On paper, like a resume or CV, employers want to see the skills you bring to the table. They want to know what your background is and if you meet the technical skill requirements they are searching for. Typically, the people skills show themselves in the interview process. You can often times observe and evaluate a candidate for who they are during an interview when the good questions are asked. Keep in mind that every company/employer may have a different criteria or specific expectations, but when going through hundreds of applications, they may be filtering candidates by those who meet the minimum requirements found in the posted job description.
My recommendation is to learn the required technical skills needed for the job you want and develop them for improvement. For example, if a job is looking for someone who can create presentations, learn how to use PowerPoint or Google Slides. If they need someone who can do data entry, practice your typing skills to get faster and more accurate. Of course, you will learn the daily skills needed for a job while on the job, but having a foundation on certain abilities from past experiences, having learned through a class, or simply practicing can make you stand out. Challenge yourself. Look at the job descriptions for the types of jobs that interest you to see what type of employee companies are looking for. Learn a programming language, learn how to use a computer software, learn how to use a power drill, learn how to make drinks, learn how to give a presentation. Whatever it is that interests you, learn how to do that skill and improve on it. You can even go on YouTube and learn specific skills for FREE. A current goal of mine is to learn SQL because I believe that will make me more marketable to companies in my field in the future. I have already found good YouTube videos to learn the basics, but I know that I will need to apply myself to actually learn.
Even starting with a basic understanding can put you ahead or you'll find out if that isn't the type of skill/job for you. There are also a lot of great resources you can pay for (or get a free trial of) to learn certain technical skills and even get certified.
Here are some I recommend:
Coursera: Learn new job skills in online course.
Google Certificates: Flexible online training programs.
LinkedIn Learning: Certifications, credentials, and continuing education.
Santa Ana College: Continuing education.
Take a course at your local community college.
Ask a friend or family member who already has the skill to teach you.
Talk to your employer about what you can do to move up or move departments.
As for the people skills, I think it really has to come from within you to make things happen. I believe that self-awareness plays a big role in being successful in your profession. When you are aware of your strengths and weaknesses and you recognize them, you can then set an action plan on how to improve and develop the skills you want to improve upon. Reframing and bettering these skills can be intimidating because they really are factors that make our personality. Criticism on our people skills can feel like an attack to our identity as a whole if we are not open to feedback. It can be hard to hear an employer or coworker tell you how you lack in certain areas if not communicated appropriately. Whether that's practicing patience, time management, communication, or even managing emotions, stepping out of your comfort zone can be difficult, but taking even small steps to get better is a big win at the end of the day.
Some recommendations:
Be open to constructive criticism and feedback.
Ask for open feedback.
Ask what you can do to level up.
Challenge yourself by stepping out of your comfort zone.
Practice self-awareness.
Know what you are good at and what you can work more on.
Ask for mentorship or guidance from people you look up to.
In closing, I believe that people should find the means to educate themselves in order to find a profession they like and thrive in. I am not referring to education as in college education, although that is an option, but education that is more in the sense of personally developing and furthering yourself post-high school. This could come from a trade, a certification, direct work experience, or even life experience. I don't see any of these being on top of one another. It is personally up to a person to determine what is important to them. We could all benefit from having both technical skills and people skills. There is always time to learn a new skill, and take on a new job when the interest is there.
