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Job Interviews & Careers vocabulary · Skills, Strengths & Weaknesses

Soft skills

Meaning in job interviews & careers, with examples

nounCore term

In job interviews & careers, soft skills means: Personal and social abilities that help you work well with others, such as communication, teamwork, time management and problem-solving.

In Turkish: sosyal beceriler, kişisel beceriler, soft skills

How it is used

Contrasted with hard skills. Employers mention soft skills in job ads ('excellent interpersonal skills', 'a strong communicator'), and interviewers test them with behavioural questions.

Example sentences

  1. Technical knowledge matters, but soft skills like listening and teamwork are just as important here.

  2. My soft skills improved a lot when I started working with customers.

Common collocations

  • strong soft skills
  • develop soft skills
  • soft skills training
  • soft and hard skills
  • hard skillsSpecific, teachable abilities that can be measured or tested, such as using Excel, speaking German, coding in Python or operating a machine.
  • transferable skillsSkills you have gained in one job, course of study or activity that are also useful in a different job or industry.
  • skillAn ability to do something well, usually because you have learned and practised it, such as writing reports, coding or managing a budget.
  • team playerA person who works well with others, shares information and puts the success of the group before their own.

More terms: Skills, Strengths & Weaknesses

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