The Soft Skills Paradox: Why We Value the Wrong Things

If I were to build a shed, I’d hire people to pour the concrete base, frame the walls, put up the siding, and handle the roofing. I’ve built sheds like the one I just described, but I wouldn’t hesitate to hire people now.

Like Sheds, I’ve written resumes, but not at an executive level. I’m not familiar with the nuances, and I don’t have the direct experience to know how to phrase things properly. Still, I’d hesitate or outright refuse to hire someone to write my resume.

And here’s the rub: if I mess up the shed, it might look rough, but the consequences aren’t life-changing. On the flip side, if I mishandle writing my resume, I could stay on the job market longer than necessary, costing my family in several ways. Those are significant trade-offs — yet my hiring preferences are reversed.

The same dynamic is seen in fields like engineering and marketing. Engineers are often seen as indispensable to a business. Marketers? Usually, the first to go. Yet, without marketers driving interest and awareness, those engineers wouldn’t have financial backing.

That’s the crux of the issue: We tend to undervalue soft skills while placing hard skills on a pedestal. We hesitate to hire help for nuanced tasks like writing resumes because we tell ourselves, “How hard can it be?” But maybe it’s time to rethink that perspective.