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Job Interviews & Careers vocabulary · Skills, Strengths & Weaknesses

Hard skills

Meaning in job interviews & careers, with examples

nounCommon term

In job interviews & careers, hard skills means: Specific, teachable abilities that can be measured or tested, such as using Excel, speaking German, coding in Python or operating a machine.

In Turkish: teknik beceriler, mesleki beceriler, hard skills

How it is used

Usually listed in the skills section of a CV and in the requirements part of job ads. Certificates and tests are often used to show them. They are also called technical skills.

Example sentences

  1. The hard skills for this job are SQL, Excel and basic statistics.

  2. You can learn hard skills on a course, but attitude is much harder to teach.

Common collocations

  • hard and soft skills
  • list your hard skills
  • in-demand hard skills
  • soft skillsPersonal and social abilities that help you work well with others, such as communication, teamwork, time management and problem-solving.
  • skillAn ability to do something well, usually because you have learned and practised it, such as writing reports, coding or managing a budget.
  • qualificationAn official certificate or degree you get after finishing a course or passing an exam; also a skill or quality that makes you suitable for a job.
  • upskillTo learn new skills or improve the ones you have, often so that you can keep up with changes in your job or industry.

More terms: Skills, Strengths & Weaknesses

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