Why hiring for soft skills is so important

When you’re hiring for your business you obviously want to get people in with the right hard skills for the role but soft skills should also be top of your list.

Soft skills are becoming increasingly important in today’s world – according to a recent study on LinkedIn 89% of hiring professionals believe that a hire that lacks soft skills can be costly to a business, with 92% of respondents saying soft skills matter as much or more than hard skills!

What are soft skills?

Soft skills are defined as skills that are related to personality, whether it be business acumen, listening skills, organisation or problem solving. Soft skills can be applied to any role, business or profession.

According to HubSpot, there are 7 essential soft skills that every candidate should possess:

1. Emotional Intelligence
2. Being a team player
3. Ability to learn and grow
4. Openness to Feedback
5. Adaptability
6. Active Listening
7. Work Ethic

How can you identify soft skills in an interview?

You can use the interview process to identify soft skills in a candidate by asking event based and problem solving questions:

• Tell me about a time you had to problem-solve
• What was your last professional challenge and how did you overcome it?
• How do you prioritise tasks when you have multiple deadlines to meet?
• Give me an example of the last time you felt pressure or stress, and tell me how you dealt with it.

You can also judge a candidate’s organisational skills by how prepared they are for the interview.

You also want to look out for listening skills, whether they keep eye contact throughout the interview and see how engaged they are – ask yourself: does the conversation flow?

Soft skills are becoming increasingly important to the hiring process, by looking at hard and soft skills you can ensure you make the right hire for your business.

If you are hiring for your business, we can help! As specialists within the property, surveying, construction and conveyancing sectors we have the expertise to support you. Find out more and get in touch today!