Soft skills are interpersonal skills that are used to approach work and relationships. Examples include adaptability, organization, communication, leadership, and problem-solving.
The increase in automation is making employees’ soft skills more important than ever. In many cases, soft skills are more important than hard skills. Whereas hard skills can be taught, soft skills cannot.
As a result, uncovering a candidate’s soft skills during an interview should be as important as learning about their technical expertise. These methods can help.
Learn how to discover a candidate’s soft skills during an interview.
Determine the Required Soft Skills
Make a list of the soft skills that are required to carry out the job duties and responsibilities. Include the skills that may be needed in the future.
Clarify which soft skills are essential, which would be nice to have, and examples of each skill. Use this list to develop your interview questions.
Talk with the hiring team about the soft skills you are searching for. Get everyone on the same page for increased results.
Use Soft Skill Screening Tools
Choose a predictive soft skills assessment tool such as Pymetrics to determine the level of a candidate’s soft skills. These tools may ask candidates to answer questions or play neuroscience-based games. Then, the tools’ algorithms analyze the results and provide an easy-to-understand report card.
The use of soft skill screening tools helps accurately determine a candidate’s strengths and weaknesses. The results help predict how successful a candidate would be in a role. This information can be used to make hiring decisions.
Ask Problem-Solving Questions
Have each candidate solve a real-world problem, such as outlining a 60-day launch for a new product. Then, ask the candidate to walk you through the launch. Next, have the candidate adapt the launch based on a constraint, such as a lower budget. Use the results to see how the candidate performs.
For instance, focus on whether the candidate remains flexible and communicative as they overcome the challenge. Also, provide feedback to see how the candidate implements your suggestions. Additionally, share your ideas to determine the candidate’s collaboration skills. These activities help determine how the candidate would apply their soft skills in the role.
Do You Need Help with Interviewing?
Partner with Corps Team for help uncovering candidates’ soft skills during interviews. Reach out today.
