What are Personal Skills? – Summer Series

What are personal skills? 

Personal skills, also known as soft skills, are traits and abilities related to how individuals interact with others and manage their own behaviour. These skills relate to how you express yourself, and can be extremely important as you progress in your career as a professional. Unlike hard skills, which are easily quantifiable, personal skills are more nuanced and often developed through experience and reflection. 

Developing personal skills can sometimes be seen as more difficult than developing hard skills as they are not quantifiable, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Through online training, you’re able to develop new skills, enhance your personal strengths, and eradicate potential weaknesses which help you with your professional and personal development. 

What are the different types of personal skills? 

There are multiple different personal skills that can all be developed through training and development. These include:  

• Communication: The ability to convey information clearly and effectively, whether in writing or verbally. 
• Time management: Skills that help you prioritise tasks and manage your time efficiently. 
• Teamwork: Collaborating effectively with others to achieve common goals. 
• Problem-solving: The capability to identify issues and devise effective solutions. 
• Adaptability: Being flexible and open to change in dynamic environments. 
• Leadership: Inspiring and guiding individuals or teams towards achieving objectives. 
• Critical thinking: Evaluating information and making reasoned decisions based on analysis. 
• Emotional intelligence: Understanding and managing your emotions, as well as empathising with others. 
• Creativity: The ability to think outside the box and develop innovative ideas. 
• Conflict resolution: Skills that enable you to navigate and resolve disagreements constructively.  

These are all skills that you would have developed whilst growing up in different scenarios, and so most people will already have a baseline level of most soft/personal skills. 

Why is it important to develop personal skills?  

According to studies, 84% of managers and employees believe that new hires must possess strong soft skills and demonstrate them throughout the hiring process. In today’s competitive job market—characterised by economic uncertainty, technological advancements like AI, and frequent redundancies—possessing a diverse skill set is vital for standing out among candidates. 

At each stage of your career, there will be different personal skills that you may look to develop. For example, a student looking to get their first job may decide to develop their communication and teamwork skills in order to thrive in a retail environment, or someone rising through the ranks may look to learn leadership skills in order to put themselves forward for promotion to team leader in the near future. 

Developing these skills can open up new opportunities, increasing your confidence, furthering your skillset, and enhancing your earning potential. 

How can you develop your personal skills? 

Our online qualifications hub makes it easier than ever to develop and enhance your personal skills.  

We have a huge range of online courses, including fully funded qualifications through the Adult Education Budget, short qualifications you can complete in less than a few hours, commercial courses that you can purchase with no eligibility criteria, or even adult apprenticeships. 

Our courses are tailored for your needs. If you’re struggling with the current state of the job market and need to develop your skills for Job Interviewing, our 20 minute course in Preparing for a Job Interview would be perfect to help your develop your skills in communication.  

Whether you’re looking to improve your time management skills, develop teamwork, or improve your customer service skills, our online qualification hub has a range of courses that provide the knowledge and training needed to further your personal skills. 

Explore our full range of personal skills courses today and stay up to date with #SummerSeries on Facebook & Instagram to make sure you’re the first to know about our new blogs.