I often advise PhD students on career planning and the many options available to them in and out of academia. When I ask about specific skills, a lot of them focus only on their research/technical skills, i.e. “hard skills” such as genetics, cell biology, computer science, chemistry or pharmacology. When I inquire about “soft skills,” I am often met with looks of confusion. This blog provides a few examples of “soft-skills” to help scientists build and realize these important “other skills.”
Teamwork skills
