How can you assess soft skills in addition to technical skills?

Behavioral interview questions: Incorporate behavioral interview questions into your hiring process to assess soft skills. Reference checks: Contact references provided by the candidate, and inquire about their experiences working with the individual. Assessment tools: Utilize validated assessment tools or personality tests designed to measure soft skills. Situational exercises: Design situational exercises or role-play scenarios during the interview process to observe how candidates respond to real-world situations that require soft skills. This can help you gauge their ability to handle interpersonal challenges and make informed hiring decisions.

Soft skills development are very important. These findings by LinkedIn emphasize the need for individuals to not only focus on their technical expertise but also actively develop and showcase their soft skills to stand out in the job market and succeed in their careers. I have had clients, especially senior ones who seek to further develop their communication skills so that they can uplevel in their career. Remember that confidence and communication are the two pillars of a successful career.

The strategy we use to assess candidates in our executive search practice: 1) DEFINE - Define 5-6 dimensions of soft skills that you want to prioritize (e.g. EQ, Growth Mindset, etc.) 2) DOCUMENT - Create a matrix to score candidates on a 1-5 scale. Decide what each score means in your process. 3) EVALUATE - To score candidates, the 3 most useful techniques we've found: - Behavior Interview Questions - Situational Exercises - References It's important to ask the same questions with all your candidates. 4) DECIDE - After you've scored candidates, you'll get an idea of how they compare, strengths, and potential gaps. We use this same process for technical skills. If you want an example, reach out. I'd be happy to share it with you!

As a career counselor working with high school students, it's crucial to emphasize the significance of soft skills as these skills impact future advancement opportunities. Soft skills contribute to personal growth, better academic performance, and future career success. They are highly valued by colleges and employers, as they indicate a student's potential to thrive in various environments. We can encourage students to reflect on their abilities and seek feedback from teachers, mentors, or peers. Additionally, extracurricular activities, group projects, and volunteer work can serve as practical experiences to develop and showcase soft skills. This way students can be better prepared for their academic journey and future careers.

There are many ways to improve soft skills. Networking and collaborating with people online are secret weapons. Career professionals should join professional clubs and communities. Online communities are also great ways to improve communication and collaboration. For the past three years, audio apps have helped many professionals in improving their communication skills. I am a big proponent of using audio apps and engaging in those online communities and conversations too. This is a great legacy and benefit of the pandemic. I am able to engage in communities and forge relationships worldwide.

Demonstrate soft skills in your job search documents (resumes and cover letters) and in interviews. Resumes: Highlight key soft skills relevant to the job in the resume summary/professional profile section. Do not list them (teamwork, leadership,communication). Incorporate them throughout the experience section by describing how they were used in specific roles or projects and use action verbs and quantifiable results whenever possible. Cover letters: Tailor each cover letter to the specific job or opportunity and explain how you use the key words. E.g., describe a situation where effective communication or problem-solving skills made a difference. Interviews: Demonstrate soft skills in interviews by your behaviors in the interview.

If you don’t have a good understanding of the difference between soft skills and technical (or hard) skills think about it this way: Soft skills are mostly behavioural. Things that we cannot verify with a degree or a certification for example: team player, business acumen, time management, etc. Hard skills (or technical skills) are things that you can verify: SQL knowledge test can be done, Excel certification, language skills test, etc. It can be difficult to understand where we stand in regards to soft skills. There are 2 ways to help us learn more: 1) personality test (I like the 16 personalities and high 5 tests. They’re very good, you get deep understand and it’s free) 2) Asking feedback to our co-workers, family and friends

Soft skills is all about sayin right thing at the right with empathy. You have to adapt as per the situation whether you are at an interview then would be more formal structure whereas at a conference when you meet delegates you have to shift as per the person you are meeting and respond to what other is looking to hear from you or want to discuss about but a semi formal setting rather than a question and answer.