In the current labor market, companies often feel fortunate if they can find anyone to fill a role, let along someone with all of the preferred technical qualifications. Recruiters and employers often focus on these “hard skills” when filling a role, but increasingly, many are seeing the technical ability to perform the essential functions of the job as simply a baseline, with soft skills being seen as valuable assets that distinguish top candidates from the rest of the pack.
Soft Skills Matter More These Days
Soft skills, writes Kate Morgan in an article for BBC Worklife, reflect employees’ personal characteristics and behaviors. It’s become more important for employees to have these skills during the pandemic, as remote work has become more common.
Ironically, Morgan suggests that as non-human assets become increasingly important in the workplace, human qualities are becoming more desirable.
“As many of the highly technical parts of work are becoming
increasingly automated, or replaced by technological tools, companies are instead looking for workers who can problem-solve, juggle larger responsibilities and work well with others,” she says. “The ongoing labour shortage also has organisations focused on longevity: employees who have the interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence to grow into leadership positions offer a lot more value.”
Evaluating the Presence—or Absence—of Soft Skills
Judging soft skills is generally a more challenging task for recruiters. Ten years’ experience writing Java code or a degree in civil engineering with a 3.5 GPA can be conveyed in a few words on a resume and fairly easily verified in a background check. Determining whether a candidate has strong leadership potential, problem-solving skills or conflict resolution abilities requires getting to know a candidate or possibly talking to reliable references.
Employers may not be in a great position at the moment to be picky about soft skills when sifting through the available labor pool. Nevertheless, they are increasingly emphasizing the importance of such intangible qualifications when making hiring decisions.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.