The Oxford Dictionary describes soft skills as "Personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with other people". Although traditionally soft skills may have been thought to play a minor role (especially in the scientific world) they are core skills that are now thought to be crucial in the development and advancement in the scientific career and in life. "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives" famously said by writer Annie Dillard.

According to Dom Bernard (March 2019, http://www.virtualspeech.com) soft skills are those personal attributes that influence how well you can work and interact with others and are essential for your success, your company's success and indeed your personal success. And since for most of us, a significant part of our day is spent at work (90,000 hours), we can safely say that your job can a make a huge impact on your happiness and quality of life.

As stated previously since the importance soft skills vs hard skills is often undervalued in the scientific career, there is far less training provided for them. Scientists from STEM fields have dedicated much effort, time and passion developing "hard skills" when, in fact, establishing relationships, creating trust, negotiating, public speaking, or scientific writing (and many more) are essential for a successful career.  The lack of soft skills can be a limiting factor for a person's full potential and can possibly be detrimental to your advancement in the scientific career as well.

Automation and AI will result in a greater proportion of jobs relying on soft skills. It is interesting to note that 94% of recruiters believe that people with strong soft skills will have a better chance of success that employees with years of hard skill experience. (ICIMS Insights 2017)

Do your soft skills need improvement?

We at Skills4Science specialize in helping the Scientific Community develop and/or enhance Soft Skills. At our workshops we have a diverse range of training topics to strengthen this very important skills, including and not limited to Problem Solving, Networking,  Public Speaking, Written Communication and Transformational Leadership.

We help research centers, universities, and start-ups in the field to design the best training plans for individuals, teams and institutions.

Please contact Sofi Facal Belli at skillsfourscience@gmail.com and visit our website for more information: www.skills4si.com.