When it is time to fill positions in your company, you want to make sure that you are not only getting employees who have the right education, qualifications, and experience, but you also want to make sure your future staff has soft skills. For many employers, this is one of the more challenging parts of the hiring process. Let’s look at a few ways you can screen for soft skills.
Why Soft Skills Matter So Much
Soft skills are crucial to the successful completion of many different types of jobs. You could even say that soft skills are necessary for every job. Soft skills include skills such as communication skills, time management, working as part of a team, and others. One of the reasons why soft skills are so important is because they are often overlooked. Soft skills can sometimes fly under the radar and not get the type of attention they need.
When a job applicant has a very impressive educational background it could be tempting to ignore their soft skills. The truth is, many people can get through their college years without ever developing the soft skills necessary to carry out tasks in the regular workforce. It is especially important that employers screen recently graduated students for soft skills. This is the group that is usually lacking in this department.
How To Screen For Soft Skills
Many hiring managers and recruiters like to use the interview as the time in which they look for soft skills. For instance, punctuality to the interview will give you an indication of how well this person manages time.
When the recruiter is conducting the interview you will be able to evaluate the applicant’s communication skills. It is also smart to be evaluating the applicant’s communication skills when you are emailing them prior to the interview. Being able to communicate effectively through email is very important to real-life success and the smooth flow of productivity in the workplace.
Beyond this, there are other ways you can evaluate an individual’s soft skills. Some employers include as part of the hiring process, simulations in which an individual will need to accomplish certain tasks within a certain time frame. It could also be helpful to assign simulations in which a candidate must work with others in order to complete a task. These types of screenings could be conducted following the interview as a post-interview evaluation.
More Help
To better ensure that new hires have the soft skills necessary for their new positions, you could include soft skills training as part of their onboarding process. Unfortunately, most soft skills are looked over in high school and college. This puts employers at a distinct disadvantage. It also puts job applicants at a disadvantage as well.
Making up for this lack of soft skills, however, is not impossible. There are many online training programs that can help individuals strengthen this area. In-office training could also be an option.
Reality Check
The reality is, however, most soft skills are learned through trial and error. Perhaps this is why most high school or college graduates come into the workplace without many of these skills. For many people, these skills are developed through experience, through making mistakes and bad choices, and then making better choices.
If you are dealing with new hires who lack soft skills, be patient, find teachable moments in which you help them to better develop soft skills as they go. If you are evaluating a candidate who does have an employment history, then you could discuss their soft skills with past employers during an employers check.
Soft skills can feel difficult to evaluate effectively during the hiring process. Use these few tips to help you better screen for these important skills.
