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Try for freeA list of the top soft skills, per industry, every recruiter should be looking for
Cultivating a strong talent pool is crucial to a company's—and a recruiter's—success. But sometimes a recruiter will make a hire based on the technical skills and achievements of a candidate, only to discover less than 90 days later that the new hire isn't deemed a good fit by the existing team, and they are let go.
So what went wrong? Often the answer lies with a person's soft skills or (lack thereof).
What are soft skills, and why do they matter?
In 2019, LinkedIn's Global Talent Trends reported that 92% of talent acquisition professionals indicated that soft skills are as important to hire for as hard skills. And 89% said that when a new hire doesn't work out, it's because they lacked critical soft skills.
Focusing on a candidate's hard skills— the skills that are quantifiable and relate directly to the job they would be doing—may feel more natural. After all, managers and team members alike will expect that a new hire possesses the capacity to do the job they were hired to do. However, it is just as important to hone in on soft skills.
Soft skills affect how employees collaborate with their team, and can ultimately influence a hire's reputation at the company. They will eventually play a role in an employee's success because every employee has to work with other people in some capacity, whether it be a manager, a client, or a peer.
Just as you are diligent when ensuring a candidate has the appropriate hard skills and technical experience for a role, it’s important to apply that same diligence to evaluating a candidate’s set of soft skills. That way, when they come in they are set-up for success. You can find the most talented graphic designer in the city, but if they can't take feedback very well, they are almost useless to the company.
Mastering this talent acquisition component can save your company thousands of dollars and countless hours of training by reducing employee turnover.
According to Lattice, the estimation of money lost due to poor hires is astounding. "Consider a 150-person company with an 11% annual turnover rate. If you spend $25k per person on hiring, $10k per person on development, and lose $50k of productivity when refilling a role, your annual cost of turnover would be about $1.57 million. Reducing this by just 20% would immediately yield over $300k in value."
It is demanding and time-consuming to train a new employee. It interrupts a team's daily operations, productivity, and rhythm. So a bad hire ends up costing more than money, it amounts to lost time, depleted energy, and a resentful team forced to pick up the slack until a replacement comes along.
Additionally, a high turnover rate could begin to raise some eyebrows around the office, leading to a toxic work environment.
On the other hand, finding candidates with strong soft skills will result in a more brilliant team. Happier employees have been reported to be more productive, more loyal to their employer, and more inspired at work.
How do I test candidates' soft skills?
Once you come to see the importance of soft skills, you may wonder how to hire for them.
Common behavioral questions could include:
- Tell me a time you had creative differences with a client, and how you handled the situation.
- When was a time you went above and beyond to satisfy a client?
- When was a time you made a grave error in judgment? How did you communicate this to your team and/or manager?
- How do you organize your day? Take me through your morning before work.
- Tell me a time you noticed the quality was being compromised on a project, and how you handled the situation.
With open-ended questions, you're able to learn how they approached the problem, and if they found success. You're able to get insight into their critical thinking skills and interpersonal communication style, and see how self-aware they are as an employee.
Assessing soft skills with screening tests
Another way to assess a candidate’s soft skills is to provide the space for them to demonstrate their skills via screening tests. Many employers are turning to cognitive ability tests which measure how candidates think and situational judgment tests, which measure how well candidates respond in different situations.
As an added benefit, screening tests tend to be more objective than interviews, ensuring all candidates were tested across the same parameters and given equal opportunities to showcase their skill set.
Here are a select group of screening tests best suited for testing soft skills:
- Personality test - A personality test measures an individual’s behavioral characteristics. As the name suggests, personality tests are meant to explore the candidate's personality traits and ensure fit within the team they would be working with and the clients they could potentially service.
- Situational judgment - These are meant to measure the candidate's situational judgment and how they would make decisions within specific contexts. Situational judgment tests are particularly effective when testing for managerial and leadership requirements.
- Cognitive ability tests are designed to measure mental skills like attention to detail, problem-solving, critical thinking, numerical reasoning, and reading comprehension — many of the same skills ranked as top soft skills across industries. Situational judgment tests measure skills like leadership, time management, and communication.
Assessing soft skills during interviews
The interview process allows recruiters another great opportunity to learn about a candidate's soft skills. A practical and popular option is behavioral interviews.
Contrary to traditional interview questions, behavioral interviews focus less on what a candidate did in a role. Instead, behavioral interview questions focus on concrete examples and past experiences showcasing the candidate’s communication and working style.
If you choose to use screening tests as a first step, you can then cross-reference the results and dig deeper with your candidate.
A great next step could include formulating questions to verify that a candidate does in fact have excellent communication skills as concluded per the screening test. Additionally, this step can allow you to understand the gaps in their time-management or any other soft skills noted from the test.
