An overwhelming number of companies say that soft skills are better than hard skills. The study, by CareerBuilder, showed that 77% of employers say the less tangible skills often associated with the candidate’s personality are more important than a hard skill that they’ve learned. What soft skills should you be looking for in your next hires?
Top Soft Skills to Look for in a Job Candidate
Here’s the truth about that job description you’re trying to hire for: It’s the soft skills that matter. You can have two candidates with exactly the same credentials and experiences, but the best person to hire is the one that exhibits a strong work ethic and emotional maturity. Soft skills, those traits that are not learned but just a part of who the candidate is, are the skills that employers should take note of these days. What are soft skills?
Soft skills are the ones that can’t be taught. While the employee may understand the software or the job itself, without strong soft skills they simply won’t be a good addition to your team. While hard skills can be taught on the job or in class, soft skills are a unique part of the person’s fiber and makeup. Some of the best soft skills that employers are looking for today include:
- Innovation and creativity. You’re looking for an employee who can see enough of the big picture to make suggestions that will improve workflows or production. These are the employees who, instead of seeing a challenge and complaining, try to find a way to work around it. These logical thinkers are just naturally great at developing solutions and keeping things moving forward.
- Communication skills, both written and verbal, are critical to almost every type of job these days. You use these skills to talk with your team or your boss or a client. Great communicators can do all of these things and they can write an email just as well as they can verbally describe a task. The candidate may have even taken a class on how to communicate effectively, but it’s the act of communication itself that is the soft skill you are looking for in your next hire.
- Time management skills are critically important if you have a remote workforce. These days, many businesses do. But time management can help the average employee prioritize their tasks without asking a supervisor to tell them what to do next. Time management soft skills help employees organize their life and their work. These are the employees who are more productive on the job but also know how to keep the at-home crises under greater control. Ask candidates about how they organize their day. Do they use calendars or some kind of app? Even a paper calendar can be highly effective. The idea is that they have a system and it works. That’s the kind of soft skill you’re looking for in a good employee.
Want Further Help in Finding Top Candidates?
PeoplePlus gets to know our candidates so that we can bring you a better mix of hard and soft skills. We pre-vet our candidates to help you find the right match, saving you time and helping ensure a better hire. Find out how we can help your business. Call on us today.
