In terms of hiring, this means technical competence may be steadily less important. In fact, you can make a strong argument that soft skills take clear precedence.
The Value in Soft Skills
“Hiring the right candidate based on technical knowledge without looking at social skills is like designing a race car with a powerful engine and substandard steering and braking systems,” writes Steven Hunt, Ph.D. “Your car is likely to go somewhere fast, but not necessarily in the direction you want; it may even hurt a lot of innocent bystanders along the way.”
Technical skills play an undeniably crucial role in hiring, but they’re typically evident and easy to evaluate. You can speak with a previous employer, review the resume for degrees and certifications, or ask the candidate to take a test to evaluate his or her competence.
Soft skills, on the other hand, aren’t nearly as simple to look for or evaluate. Unfortunately, that means many hiring managers give little beyond a cursory glance to these facets -- when they should do more.
Soft skills such as communication, leadership, critical thinking, work ethic, flexibility, and empathy matter more than we often assume. They tell us who a person is at the core and provide a sense of what that individual could become in the future.
They also help to shape the identity of your company culture. “Soft skills are foundational to building relationships, to successfully leading teams and projects, and to creating an organizational culture that people enjoy being a part of,” Heather Muir writes for Mandel Communications.
When certain technical skills become obsolete and business processes change, soft skills remain. They’re the backbone of the individual and give a more accurate sense of who that person will be, regardless of external factors.
How to Evaluate Soft Skills
If soft skills were easy to evaluate, more companies would likely give them greater weight in the hiring process. But in fact, they’re not as challenging to identify as many executives believe.
Here are some simple techniques you can use to get an idea of how a job candidate’s soft skills line up.
1. Ask Candidates to Rank Their Soft Skills
It’s not uncommon for interviewers to ask candidates whether they have a particular soft skill or not. But this is a pretty basic and weak approach. (How many candidates are going to say they have none?)
Instead, offer a list of soft skills and ask the candidate to rank themselves on their strongest to weakest. “The force ranked list can quickly reveal which of the soft skills they believe they have and the ones they consider themselves to have as the strongest,” HR consultant Dr. John Sullivan writes.
“If they rank any of your essential soft skills towards the bottom of the list or not at all, you should be concerned.”
2. Speak to References and Compare
After asking a candidate to rank his or her soft skills in an interview, follow up with the references and past employers and ask those people the same question. Is there consistency between the way candidates view their soft skills and how employers evaluate them?
This will tell you two things. First, it’ll tell you whether a candidate is likely to possess the soft skills you’re looking for. Second, it’ll show you how self-aware the candidate is.
3. Ask Open-Ended Questions
Open-ended questions that compel a job applicant to address soft skills are helpful in tapping into the brain of the person. Good examples include:
- How would you explain [insert complex industry idea] to someone who is in another discipline or profession?
- Tell me about a time in the past when a subordinate disagreed with something you did. How did you handle this situation and would you do anything differently today?
Find the Right Candidates
If the majority of your hiring process involves analyzing technical competence and totaling achievements on a resume, you might want to reevaluate your approach. These elements are certainly worthy of vetting, but you also need to pay attention to such items as communication skills, teamwork, adaptability, leadership, and critical thinking.
Soft skills tell you more about the person and his or her potential performance in the job, and will help you make smart hiring choices that align with brand values.
