Hiring for Soft Skills – The Missing Piece in Talent Acquisition

The words dynamic, volatile, and ultra-competitive hardly begin to describe the evolving job market that continues to keep leaders awake at night. Employers are presented with one wake-up call after another as they try to adapt to the seismic change driving how we attract and retain top talent. Technical skills are not enough in today’s world of work. In solving the people puzzle, we’ve learned that:  

• Soft skills are better predictors of success than prestigious degrees and credentials. 69% of U.S. executives say they plan to prioritize hiring candidates with soft skills. (LinkedIn) 

• A focus on skills management and flexibility rather than rigid roles and responsibilities, leads to better performance. (Forbes)

• Remote work is good for business. It helps attract and retain talent and minimizes distractions that cause businesses to lose $600 billion a year. (Fast Company) 

• Employees want choices. Nearly three-quarters of surveyed employees (74%) prefer hybrid or fully remote jobs, and 76% said having flexibility in when and where they work influences their desire to stay with an employer. Although some employers are seeing the benefits of flexible work options, only 38% of them offered remote or hybrid opportunities by the end of 2024. (Robert Half) 

• The business case for employee experience and well-being is strong:  Those who feel cared for by their employer are 92% more likely to feel engaged at work, 65% more likely to be loyal, and 56% more likely to be productive at work. (ADP)  

Why Soft Skills Are More Important Than Ever 

Soft skills, or people skills, enable people to interact amicably and cooperatively with others, help resolve conflicts and problems, build stronger relationships and trust, and foster flexibility and adaptability. Soft skills are considered by many recruiters and leaders to be equally, or even more important than hard skills. Soft skills don’t replace technical skills, which tend to be tactical. They are more strategic, serving to complement and enhance other skills.  

Other things to know about soft skills include: They foster critical thinking, innovation, communication, and teamwork. Emotional intelligence and empathy are two of the most valued soft skills in today’s leaders. In a recent LinkedIn study, 89% of HR professionals said bad hires usually lacked required soft skills. 

In the past, employers didn’t give much thought to the value of soft skills. Mostly, they expected that employees would come to work on time every day, have the competence to get their work done, and comply with the rules. How people felt about work and their work environment didn’t factor in this comparatively simple exchange of work for pay.   

Today, work is many times more human. New generations, technologies, and expectations are causing leaders to prioritize their people first. There are several reasons soft skills have become critical drivers of business success over the past few years: 

• The rise of culture fit. (When values and behaviors align across the organization, employees feel comfortable and connected, perform at their best, and are more likely to stay.

• More adaptability in a fast-changing world. (Resiliency and flexibility enable organizations to seize new opportunities, remain competitive, and thrive in dynamic environments.) 

• The power of communication. (Clear, relevant messaging is the foundation for cohesive teams.)  

• Data-backed insights. (Data enables better decisions that lead to superior performance in profitability, operational efficiency, employee retention, and brand recognition.  

• Use of AI. (A powerful tool in recruiting, AI streamlines skill assessments, reduces biases, and increases efficiency and accuracy in the screening process for better hiring outcomes.)  

• A prevalence of remote and hybrid work options. (Dispersed teams increase the need for people-centered leaders with targeted communication strategies and other soft skills that keep team members connected and engaged.)  

• Changes in employee expectations. (Employees look for things like work-life balance, flexibility, and a sense of wellbeing from their employers, all of which require leaders with soft skills.) 

The Challenges of Hiring for Soft Skills 

Skills-based hiring puts the focus on the strengths and capabilities candidates offer an organization rather than on traditional qualifications like educational level and experience, which are still important to consider, but in reality, less critical. Since AI and other technologies cannot replace interpersonal interactions, it’s important for recruiters and hiring managers to look beyond the traditional ways we’ve evaluated candidates to recruit and retain today’s talent with new and deeper insight.     

Evaluating soft skills, like adaptability, problem-solving, and collaboration, aligns closely with the evolving workplace needs and trends of today. According to ADP, 90% of surveyed companies using a skills-based hiring process reduced their wrong hires, and 94% agreed that skills-based hiring is more predictive of on-the-job success than resumes.  

It's natural that both hiring companies and candidates want to put their best foot forward when “selling” themselves to the other. However, resumes and job titles don’t tell the whole candidate story just as websites don’t define the entirety of a company’s culture. Digging deeper to discover cultural fit is how you find alignment and ensure successful hires. Be open to adopting new strategies and processes.  

Best Ways to Assess Soft Skills in Candidates 

 Our competitive talent market makes it difficult to find people with the right skills, both technical and soft, to reach our business potential. And because we must do more with fewer employees, it’s more difficult to keep the people we’ve found when they feel overworked or burned out. This challenging environment makes it even more important to find people who fit our culture and have the emotional intelligence to thrive in uncertain circumstances. 

There are a number of ways to assess candidates’ soft skills listed below. Incorporating them into your hiring process helps ensure you find your unique “right” people. Try a mix of new and traditional methods to ensure the most complete picture of a candidate’s skills. 

Behavioral Interviewing Techniques: Based on the belief that past performance is the best indicator of future performance, behavioral interviewing assesses candidates’ ability to meet specific job requirements based on experience. Candidates describe how they handled real-world situations, providing clarity about what they would actually do in similar circumstances. Recruiters should look for evidence of successful remote work in a candidate's history and ask specific questions about their experience and strategies for staying productive and connected while working remotely. Consistency in interview questions and process is important in this assessment. (TalenTrust’s Precision Interviewing course provides a useful roadmap for hiring managers.)  

Situational Judgment Tests & Role-playing Scenarios: These real-world simulations help assess a candidate’s problem-solving and collaboration abilities. 

Personality & Culture Assessments: TalenTrust recommends using PREVUE. Their science-backed assessments and hiring tools include aptitude, motivations, and personality tests that provide a full picture of your candidates, helping you find the ones that fit the job and your culture.  

Reference Checks with a Soft Skills Focus: Ask open-ended questions that feel safe and don’t put former employers in a box, such as “What advice can you offer about how to manage this person for the best outcomes?” Or “What should I know about managing this person?” 

How to Help Your People Develop Soft Skills  

 Lifelong learning is a trait linked to the development and enhancement of soft skills. The continuous pursuit of new knowledge and experiences fosters key soft skills like adaptability, critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and emotional intelligence. These skills help people navigate complex and changing work environments. When lifelong learning is one of your cultural values, you will naturally attract more people with soft skills. Following are ways that support employees in developing the soft skills they need to succeed in your organization. 

Onboarding & Training Programs: A thoughtful, personalized, and welcoming onboarding experience is a showcase for the soft skills your company values, and it sets expectations for how to behave in your culture from day one. Equally effective training programs nurture communication, empathy, teamwork, and other values you want employees to feel and practice. 

Mentorship & Coaching Initiatives: Pair employees with leaders or mentors with technical expertise to enhance professional development. Making these connections in week one, or soon after, will instill an immediate sense of belonging and purpose and speed productivity. 

Encouraging a Feedback-driven Culture: Continuous feedback plays a crucial role in improving interpersonal effectiveness and enhancing productivity. On an individual level, it promotes self-awareness, identifies areas for improvement, and allows for timely adjustments. On a cultural level, feedback fosters a culture of open communication, which can strengthen trust and relationships and enhance collaboration.   

TalenTrust recommends TINYPulse as a platform. It provides an innovative employee feedback and engagement software solution that empowers companies to measure and enhance culture and performance.   

In Conclusion 

Businesses today must do more with fewer humans. While technical skills are recognized as valuable and necessary, there is increasing demand for more-difficult-to-define soft skills. People with soft skills play a powerful role in promoting healthy and thriving workplaces. I strongly advise leaders to focus on recruiting people with the soft skills they value most to ensure the best person for the job.