The range of work delegated to an expert is determined by their talents, often classified into two categories: hard and soft skills. The first group consists of skills and knowledge required for particular occupations. However, the HR manager will also be interested in your soft skills once they assess your professionalism, technical competence, and program competency (for IT professionals, for example). Here is why.

Everyone is born with natural and learned talents from years of education and social interaction, which we progressively develop within our careers or personal circumstances. In other words, just like with hard talents, these abilities support effective professional development and enable you to produce high-quality work.

Just think of how hard it would be to choose team members who are all specialists with the same level of education, academic standing, and familiarity with the required technology. A person’s soft skill set determines the range of potential careers; the more competencies they possess, the more opportunities they will have for future professional growth.

Let’s say an expert wants to advance professionally rather than continue doing the same tasks on the same projects or at the same firm every year. If so, they must work to enhance their non-technical and technical abilities. Soft skills, such as self-study, self-discipline, and growth drive, are crucial for any junior specialist.

The capacity to convince others, as well as the capacity to make arguments and support judgments, are necessary to be eligible for the middle position. Assume someone possesses traits like accountability, initiative, and the capacity to organize both their own and other people’s tasks. Then, they might try their hand at more senior development, team lead, senior manager, etc. positions, which include greater responsibility.

You might wonder, “Why do I, as a freelancer, need these soft skills?” If an expert with some experience asks such a question, their absence of certain soft skills may be the exact cause of some of their job failures and the low volume of orders.

Regardless of the specifics of the work, these are the kinds of skills that require attention: curiosity, the capacity to interact with clients and coworkers, time management and task delegation expertise, dispute resolution and conflict resolution skills, and the willingness to make necessary changes to previously completed work without adding undue stress to oneself or others. If you are uncomfortable right first, don’t give up; sometimes character traits aren’t the only thing that makes someone feel comfortable; experience may also help.

Consider carefully any soft skills you may be lacking; you may get assistance from specialist books, courses, training, and customer feedback.