When joining a new team, is it better to have the right soft skills and have to learn the hard skills of the job? Or vice versa?

Soft skills are more critical when joining a new team, especially in Demand Generation, where collaboration is key. This role requires working cross-functionally with product marketing, creative teams, operations, sales, and paid media, making the ability to lead through influence essential. Strong candidates can build alignment, negotiate effectively, and rally teams behind a shared vision. Emotional intelligence plays a major role in success. Reading the room, understanding team dynamics, and ...Read More

You need to come in with the non-negotiable hard skills; data analysis and communication. Those are mission critical for me. From there, it’s your soft skills that determine how fast you can adapt, learn, and make an impact. When I join a new team, my first 30 days are all about research. I focus on understanding the product, the ICP, and the markets we serve. That means spending time with sellers, sales engineers, and the market itself. I intentionally listen to marketers last, if at all. If yo ...Read More

The obvious answer is both. : ) However, if I had to select one option I would say it is better to have the right soft skills. Hard skills within demand generation are very teachable. In fact, “being teachable” is a critical soft skill to have. Oftentimes you’ll find educating yourself on demand generation hard skills is an ongoing process over the course of your career. While soft skills are too, having these skills come more naturally would be beneficial. For example, you can teach someone how ...Read More

Look, I hate to say it, but the honest truth is both are equally important in a marketing career. You simply can't have one without the other. You need soft skills to get anything done, period. Demand Gen relies on so many teams—Sales, Product, Analytics, Campaigns, Partners—the list is huge. Being able to build genuine connections and trust with those people cross-functionally is the glue that makes collaboration work and ultimately sets you up for success. But the hard skills matter a ton too, ...Read More

I think having the right soft skills is better when you're joining a new team. A lot of the time, the soft skills are very hard to teach others. They are developed over a long period of time and are a culmination of that person's years of experience on the planet: their upbringing, career path, interests, likes and dislikes, all shape how soft skills show up and they are often what make most people very unique and allow them to stand out in a field like demand generation. The hard skills can typ ...Read More

I think it depends on what level you're coming into the role and the expectations set by the company. For the foundation of any hire, I believe effective communicator, growth mindset, and curiosity are critical traits. For a company looking for an SEM expert with high growth YoY, it'll be important to ensure the hard skills are in place. Similarly for a company just starting to scale their demand gen marketing function seeking a people manager, I'd index towards domain expertise vs. soft skills. ...Read More

When starting an entry-level role, no one will expect you to have the hard skills figured out. They'll train you on those. What they will be looking for is the soft skills: can you communicate well, are you organized, hard working, a good writer, or whatever else is important for that specific role. For a mid-level role, say a Digital Marketing Specialist, the skill set flips. You will be required to be an expert in that discipline, advise and train others on that discipline, and be able to figu ...Read More