Journal of Business & Management Studies JBMS 14|Volume 3|Issue 1|2017 1 Research Article RELATIVE VALUE OF HARD SKILLS AND SOFT SKILLS FOR HIRING EMPLOYEES IN MANUFACTURING SECTOR Erus Angelo A. Lumague 1 1 Bulacan State University, Philippines Correspondence should be addressed to Erus Angelo A. Lumague Received February 03, 2017; Accepted April 05, 2017; Published April 28, 2017; Copyright: © 2017 Erus Angelo A. Lumague et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Cite This Article: Lumague, E. (2017). Relative Value of Hard Skills and Soft Skills for Hiring Employees in Manufacturing Sector. Journal of Business & Management Studies, 3(1). 1-5 ABSTRACT The Hiring process is a crucial part of a company’s success. Thus, it is imperative that companies must have an active strategy order to have an effective hiring process. An Hr manager is one of the vital people that are needed to establish an effective hiring process. Thus, the primary purpose of this study is to help improve the selection process specifically by means of understanding the relative value of hard and soft skills. The understanding of the relative value will support improve the selection process because companies will have an in-depth understanding of the needs of their corporation regarding employee skills. The study will help companies improve recruiting process it will also benefit future researcher to establish the similar study to be conducted on other business sectors other than manufacturing sector. It is revealed in the research that the relative value of hard and soft skills is almost similar. On the contrary, it also shows that the effects are much inclined on the importance of hard skills. Finally recommendations that are endorsed are; Give priority in understanding the relative value of hard and soft skills. HR managers should better understand the relative value of hard and soft skills. Conduct a further study on the benefits of understanding the relative value of hard and soft skill. Revisit the hiring process to align the perception in the significant difference in hard and soft skills and the relative value. Conduct a further study on the need of the company regarding skills. Similar studies may be regulated in other business sectors to further validate the results of the study. KEY WORDS: Hard Skills, Soft Skills, Relative value, manufacturing sector, evaluation process, selection process. INTRODUCTION In hiring employees, there are many different factors that a human resource manager should consider. An HR manager may balance on the idea of hiring an employee based on the concepts of ‚hard skills‛ and ‚Soft skills.‛ Based on the website www.investopedia.com, a well- known website regarding the business world, hard skills is defined as ‚specific, teachable abilities that can be termed and measured. By contrast, soft skills are less tangible and tough to quantify. Examples of hard skills include job skills like typing, writing, math, reading and the ability to use software programs; soft skills are personality-driven skills like etiquette, getting along with others, listening and engaging in small talk.‛ An HR manager should be able to analyze the ‚relative value‛ of the said skills to determine what kind of employee is suited for the job in a certain business sector. ‚Relative value‛ in economics can be defined as a method of determining an asset's value that takes into account the value of similar assets. Captivating into account the idea of ‚relative value‛ an hr manager may have a clearer vantage point on exploring the value hiring employees in the context of different business sectors. The hiring process is a critical element in a company; it may make or break the overall outcome of business. Thus, it is imperative that an HR manager knows how to critically analyze and measure the skills of a person that wants to be a part of the company. Interviewing the www.advancejournals.org Open Access Scientific Publisher