Soft skills are defined as a set of personal qualities that allow you to connect to a customer. This differs from hard skills, which are the technical requirements that are used to resolve technical problems. Anything that allows you to connect to the customer while communicating the technology in terms that are more understandable can be considered soft skills.

Soft skills include active listening, oral communication, nonverbal communication, conflict resolution, professionalism, and empathy. Although it's far from exhaustive, this list contains the most common soft skills that employers require.

Soft skills have become such a direct part of all types of job training that they now have been categorized into these four areas:

• Problem solving related to cognitive skills
  
  It is no mystery that help desk jobs require the ability to solve problems. Why would this be listed as a soft skill since it requires technical knowledge? Problem solving requires not just analytical skills, but also judgment. The ability to judge a customer’s skill level, their personality, and their current emotional level will all help you to determine not only what is wrong, but also how to most appropriately respond to the problem.
  
  Problem solving soft skills involve analyzing and critiquing as big of a picture of what is happening with a customer or workplace problem as possible. Problem solving can also be a team effort, and the ability to successfully communicate the big picture and details of a problem to others and to successfully accept input from others while trying to solve a problem are all essential problem solving soft skills.
• Teamwork skills
  
  Teamwork skills include the ability to relate and work with others. This means all co-workers, even the ones you dislike or don’t get along with. Leadership and the ability to support others as they lead are also important teamwork skills. It is essential that each individual take the correct role within a team.
  
  Roles should be dependent upon each individual’s strengths and weaknesses. It is important to recognize your strengths and weaknesses along with those of your teammates so that you can emphasize and encourage strengths, and help strengthen weaknesses.
  
  A difficult but necessary aspect of team skills is the ability to help others improve their weaknesses and not allow this to disrupt the problem solving goal. You must also allow others to help you with your weaknesses. This requires a solid understanding of personalities and culture, strong interpersonal skills, and lots of patience.
• Oral communication skills
  
  Oral communication skills include the capability to be clear and concise while effectively communicating ideas verbally. Help desk technicians not only talk to customers, but must also communicate with co-workers, management, and marketing personnel. Did we mention that help desk technicians will need to effectively communicate with customers? Although communication within a company is essential, it is the ability to understand the customers’ needs and solve their problems that ensures a company’s success.
• Personal qualities
  
  Personal qualities include the personality and characteristics that drive an individual to do their best work, to continually learn essential new skills and knowledge, to demonstrate integrity and honesty at all times, and to always be professional to everyone.
  
  This means that all organizational rules and policies are followed, customer property is respected, and customers are always told the truth, to list just a few examples of how personal qualities are important to help desk technicians. Another important personal quality is the ability to self-manage. This includes setting your own goals, making sure that you meet your deadlines, and prioritizing ability.

The soft skills listed above are important in order to help with the internal and external environment of an organization. They affect teamwork and employee interactions in any workplace. More important for a technical support technician, soft skills allow you to connect on a personal level and lead to customer satisfaction. This reassures the customer that you will be able to provide needed assistance.

Although all customers have a problem that needs to be solved, in the long run it is more important how problems are solved than merely solving them. Customer satisfaction often has more to do with how a customer is treated when their problem was solved. Although technical support technicians must maintain and expand upon their technical skills, soft skills keep the technician employed.

Loyal customers will usually remember a business because of how they are dealt with by a representative of the company. Specifically, customers look for qualities such as:

• Ability to communicate effectively about a question or problem
• Characteristics of the person who is helping them
• Tone of the person who is helping them
• Solutions are explained simply and in plain language
• Friendliness and receptiveness
• Feeling like they have been heard
• Capacity to respond to the customer's needs

Notice that solving the problem doesn't rank as the top priority. This is an extremely important aspect, but feeling heard, understood, and being treated with respect by a helpful technician are more important aspects when it comes to customer satisfaction.