by Emily Heaslip
In the world of hiring, soft skills have recently become the holy grail
of recruiting. Soft skills – emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills like communication
and empathy – are among the most in-demand qualifications a candidate can bring
to the table.
According to one LinkedIn survey, more than half of nearly 300 hiring
managers reported that the lack of soft skills among job candidates is limiting their company’s productivity.
Recruiters are getting creative in trying to find new hires with talent in communication, time
management, negotiating, writing, listening, problem solving, and decision
making. Soft skills – the more intuitive EQ – are seen as a better predictor of
success than hard skills, which can be taught or trained.
Why are soft skills the best predictor of success? How can hiring
managers design a recruitment process that takes these skills into account?
The Case for Soft
Skills
Soft skills are in-demand in nearly every company and every industry. A Wall Street Journalsurvey of 900 executives found that 92%
said soft skills were equally important or more important than technical
skills. But 89% of those surveyed said they have a “very or somewhat difficult
time finding people with the requisite attributes.” Likewise, LinkedIn’s 2018
Workforce Report discovered that the four most in-demand soft skills are leadership, communication, collaboration, and time
management.
Are soft skills a better predictor of success? According to one author,
yes. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence at Work, found in
his research of 500 executives that emotional intelligence – soft skills – was a better predictor of top performance than previous
experience or IQ. CEOs at some of the world’s top companies (Amazon, Xerox, and Tesla, to name a few) lead with emotional intelligence have designed their
entire corporate structure around soft skills.
And soft skills aren’t just great for creating a fulfilling and pleasant
work environment. The link between profit and leaders with high emotional
intelligence is clear. In one study, CEOs whose employees rated them high in character
had an average return of 9.35% over a two-yearperiod, nearly five times as much as
companies with CEOs who had low character ratings. The case for recruiting for
soft skills is strong: but, there’s something to be said for balancing good
leadership and communication with individuals who have honed their talent.
Don’t Ignore Hard
Skills
Have some recruiters overcorrected in their search for candidates with
high EQ? Maybe, says one expert.
Cal Newport, author of So Good They Can’tIgnore You, believes that to have a successful
career, you must develop skills that make you an expert in something. There
will always be a market for those with a depth of knowledge in one thing;
certain fields will always demand new hires with niche skills and technical
training. Newport argues that he more mastery you have in a skill or field, the
more control and satisfaction it’ll give you in your career.
While it’s true that technical masters do become top CEOs – Steve Jobs
and Bill Gates come to mind – other experts note that eventually, soft skills
and emotional intelligence must be learned. Many programmers, for example, have
some of the basic hard skills that it takes to run a company. However, they fall short on key EQ
traits like listening. The best leaders can learn soft skills over time, but
start as an expert in something.
How to Hire for
Hard Skills and Emotional Intelligence
Unfortunately, soft skills can’t be found on a resume, which is what makes hiring for them
so difficult.
Companies who hire successfully with low turnover have learned how to
construct their interview process to cover hard and soft skills. These
recruiters ask candidates to perform tests mimicking real-world scenarios to get the best prediction of their
success in the company. These skills tests then get triangulated with
psychometrics and attitude testing.
Plus, the advent of AI has made it possible to weigh soft skills vs.
hard skills equally. Where in the past a candidate might wow a recruiter in the
interview, but have no mastery over their field, an algorithm can’t be easily biased by a resume or stellar presentation. Smart companies have even begun to
customize their interview process for certain soft skills that are applicable
to each open position: so your extroverts become your top sales people, while
your listeners join your HR team. There’s a place for both hard skills and soft
skills in the workplace: it’s up to your hiring team to find the right
combination for success.
Originall Post: https://vervoe.com/blog/hard-skills-vs-soft-skills-are-eq-and-emotional-intelligence-the-best-predictors-of-success/
No comments:
Post a Comment