Soft skills are innate traits of an individual, or traits that the individual has improved by attending specific courses or traits that derive from previous valuable experiences in which he has developed these skills.
How much are attitudes, rather than just hard skills, valued today during a job interview?
How much have job descriptions changed from this point of view in the post-pandemic era, favoring attitudes and socio-relational skills, rather than mere technical skills?
We, in fact, often talk about soft skills: let's analyze together what soft skills are and how they should be considered within an effective job description that generates a positive alignment with the job profiles of the best candidates.Soft skills are all those transversal skills and competences related to the personality of the individual and his relational / emotional / social sphere. These are all the skills that are not associated with specific technical responsibilities, but which are instead linked to interactions with other people (colleagues, bosses, workplace partners) and to the ways in which a person can work on his own.
Here are some examples of soft skills
- Creativity
- Problem solving
- Adaptability
- Sociability
- Personal-leadership
- Skills in planning and work management
- Management of stress and conflict situations
- Ability to manage and select useful information in decision-making processes
- Change management
- Self-esteem and self-confidence
- Empathy and emotional intelligence
These are characteristics that the individual possesses as innate, or that he has improved by attending specific courses or that derive from previous valuable experiences in which he has developed these skills.
How to use soft skills within a job description
Not all soft skills are required or suitable for every role, as one might think. But then how to identify the right ones for our recruitment?It is important to analyze concretely and in detail the dynamics that involve in the professional figure the job description is referring to: is this a top role in the company organization chart? Individual leadership and the ability to prevent and manage conflicts, rather than the culture of feedback or the ability to identify business goals will be crucial factors compared to team work skill, which would be of little influence in the sought role. Likewise, the ability to negotiate and communicate effectively will be useful features for buyer or sales account roles, just as creativity and problem solving skills will be key elements in an interior design profile recruitment process.
At first glance it may seem like a simple mechanism but it is by no means a step that can be taken for granted: soft skills are essential for identifying candidates with the most suitable features for the job profile on which the attention is focused. These are often skills that can only be measured during the selection process throughout individual or group assessments or in the actual interview phase, because they are difficult to find and analyze by simply reading a CV and a cover letter, although well crafted. Identifying and selecting the most suitable soft skills to compose an effective job description is an extremely delicate phase, because you need the sensitivity and the ability to understand the relational and organizational dynamics that are daily involved in a professional role rather than another.
Glickon Seek allows you to verify those soft skills even in the pre-screening phase: many of our customers decide to include tests, in the application process, to verify skills such as logical-mathematical thinking, collaboration skills, effective communication, leadership and emotional intelligence.
Soft skills: why are they considered so important?
Soft skills are a object of great attention these days because companies are increasingly interested in attracting and retaining talents within their teams and thus they need to select technically trained professionals but above all individuals skilled in managing relationships with colleagues, to promote and spread a positive corporate climate and also to improve an effective stress management that can be helpful within different scenarios, in particular with the new hybrid ways of working, which are increasingly frequent.
In fact, situations of stress and internal conflict can originate from multiple factors: changes at the board, misunderstandings with customers and suppliers, uncomfortable situations with office colleagues, or increasingly frequent performance difficulties in such a volatile macro-economic scenario. These are just a few examples that are occurring more frequently and for which it is important that people are as resilient and flexible as possible, able to carry out their tasks even in stressful situations that should not become ordinary, but must rather be contained and managed by relying on well-being policies and listening to the needs of their employees.
From this point of view, the positive impact of “suitable” soft skills becomes strategic: in the case of a business manager, for example, attention to the result is important, but also knowing how to manage employees, support them in times of difficulty and gratify them for their efforts, helping to ensure not only excellent performance but also to spread the culture of feedback and a calm and relaxed corporate environment, aimed at growth.
It is therefore very important that each company and each recruiter are able to objectively and strategically assess which soft skills are more in line with the value and organizational system of the company, to ensure satisfied and loyal future colleagues and activate, more and more complete and transversal, internal employee experience dynamics: starting from designing a job description perfectly aligned with the values of the company and with the most appropriate interpersonal skills for the position sought.
