Practical skills are the technical and foundational skills that an employee needs in order to do a job – but the softer, more intangible skills are the ones that make an employee great at their job. In LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends report, 92% of talent professionals said that soft skills are equally or more important to hire for than hard skills, and 89% said that when a new hire doesn’t work out, it’s because they lack critical soft skills. As a recruiter or hiring manager, it’s important to consider these soft skills, to identify which ones you need to look for, and to understand how to identify them in a candidate.
Soft skills to look for in candidates
Though there are many important soft skills, it is beneficial to prioritise:
- Adaptability and resilience
- Good teamwork skills
- Communication skills
- Problem-solving
- Professionalism
- Work ethic
- And anything else that is absolutely critical for the role
Once you’ve identified the soft skills your role requires, put them in your job advertisements – suitable candidates will likely reflect these skills in their CV or cover letter.
How to identify soft skills in an interview
To identify these skills at the interview stage, you’ll want to ask behavioural questions to understand how the candidate performs in different situations. You could ask open questions such as:
- Tell me about a time you experienced conflict at work and how you dealt with it
- Tell me about a time you made a mistake and how you handled it
- Tell me about a problem you solved at work and how you went about it
- Tell me about a time you had to make a decision without all the necessary information
- What would you do if you were assigned multiple tasks with the same deadline?
- What would you do if your manager/team members/direct reports disagreed with you?
- How would you explain ‘this technical term’ to someone from a different area of the business?
In the interests of both fairness and making direct comparison easier, standardise your interview questions and ask the same ones to every candidate.
Take note of the candidate’s general demeanor during the interview too: are they maintaining eye contact, what is their body language like, are they communicating effectively? Of course, the nerves during an interview may affect how a candidate is acting, so bear in mind that it may not be a totally accurate representation of how they normally behave.
If you’re struggling to identify soft skills in candidates at any stage of the recruitment process, or you aren’t finding candidates with the right soft skills for your business, Optimum Recruitment are happy to help. We understand the importance of these skills and prioritise a great fit that balances both technical expertise with the soft skills that make for exceptional talent. If you’d like to find out how we can help, please get in touch.
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