{"id":2357,"date":"2019-05-07T04:00:19","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T04:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/horner-au.ap.applyflow.com\/uncategorized\/3051-2\/"},"modified":"2024-11-12T02:19:59","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T02:19:59","slug":"3051-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/3051-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Soft Skills Increasing in Demand"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>\u201cWe just need someone with the right attitude and that will fit our culture. We can train them on the technical skills.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This is a common request we hear from our clients which reflects the current trend of soft skills being increasingly in demand.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/app.box.com\/s\/c5scskbsz9q6lb0hqb7euqeb4fr8m0bl\/file\/388525098383\">LinkedIn\u2019s Global Talent Trends 2019 Report<\/a>, soft skills have always been important however they are increasingly vital today. The rise of automation and artificial intelligence means that hard skills alone are no longer enough to be successful.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What are soft skills?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>As defined by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indeed.com\/career-advice\/resumes-cover-letters\/soft-skills\">Indeed<\/a> job site, \u201csoft skills include any skill that can be classified as a personality trait or habit. Interpersonal skills and communication skills are more specific categories of soft skills that many employers look for in job candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The top five soft skills in 2019, as defined by <a href=\"https:\/\/app.box.com\/s\/c5scskbsz9q6lb0hqb7euqeb4fr8m0bl\/file\/388525098383\">LinkedIn<\/a>, are<\/p>\n<p>1. Creativity<\/p>\n<p>2. Persuasion<\/p>\n<p>3. Collaboration<\/p>\n<p>4. Adaptability<\/p>\n<p>5. Time Management<\/p>\n<p>Other important soft skills include communication, conflict resolution, critical thinking, dependability, empathy, flexibility and problem solving.<\/p>\n<p>The soft skills required will change depending on the industry, organisation\u2019s culture and the particular role.<\/p>\n<p>For example, soft skills required for a Warehouse Worker could include dependability, communication, adaptability and collaboration.\u00a0\u00a0 Whilst a role in Management would require all the top soft skills of creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability and time management along with problem solving, empathy and critical thinking.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>How important are soft skills?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>According to the <a href=\"https:\/\/app.box.com\/s\/c5scskbsz9q6lb0hqb7euqeb4fr8m0bl\/file\/388525098383\">LinkedIn report<\/a>, the results showed that it\u2019s more important to hire for:<\/p>\n<ul style=\"list-style-type: square\">\n<li>soft skills = 30%<\/li>\n<li>soft and hard skills = 62%<\/li>\n<li>hard skills only = 8%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><strong>How to assess soft skills?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Assessing soft skills can be more difficult than assessing hard skills. Here are 5 ways Horner may assess the soft skills of a candidate:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. Screening<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Horner utilises customised phone screening templates to determine suitability to a role. Relative to the selection criteria of each vacancy, an initial assessment is made regarding soft skills and cultural fit along with proven experience availability and remuneration expectations. \u00a0Candidates can sometimes highlight their relevant soft skills in the resume, cover letter and LinkedIn profile.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Interviewing<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Horner utilises behaviour based interview technique and situational questions to evaluate candidates. Behaviour based interviews use past behaviour as a predictor of future performance. Generally the questions will start with \u201cTell about a time when\u2026\u201d Candidates are asked to provide specific examples of their experiences as a way of demonstrating they can meet the critical requirements (pre-determined competencies) of a job.<\/p>\n<p>Situational interview questions are hypothetical. Situational questions are based on what a candidate would be likely to face if they landed the job such as \u201cWhat would you do if you were assigned multiple\u00a0tasks with the same deadline?\u201d to assess adaptability.<\/p>\n<p>The candidate\u2019s body language, eye contact and communication skills in the interview as well as how they conduct themselves through the recruitment process also allow soft skills to be assessed.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Psychometric testing\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Psychometric testing can be introduced within the screening and selection process in order to gain an understanding of a candidate\u2019s soft skills, attributes, cognitive abilities and work style preferences and provides the tools to select people who fit into the company\u2019s culture. Psychometric testing evaluates several factors such as emotional control, stress tolerance, self confidence, adaptability, independence, responsibility, initiative, competitiveness, social awareness, empathy and influence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Group Assessment \/ Inductions<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Seeing how a candidate interacts and conducts themselves in a group situation also provides an opportunity to assess soft skills such as communication, collaboration, conflict resolution and emotional intelligence.<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Reference Checking<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Conducting a thorough reference check is vital to assess soft skills. Whilst hard skills are fairly straight forward to assess, soft skills are more subjective. Horner uses a comprehensive 40 question reference check which is completed with previous direct report managers to address all areas of a person\u2019s history including skills verification, attitude and qualifications\/licences.\u00a0 The format also allows for additional structured questions addressing specific competencies and\/or specific questions addressing concerns raised during the interview.<\/p>\n<p>To find out how Horner can assist you to define and assess soft skills for your next recruitment hire, contact your Horner Consultant or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/enquiry-form\/\">send us an enquiry today<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cWe just need someone with the right attitude and that will fit our culture. We can train them on the technical skills.\u201d This is a common request we hear from our clients which reflects the current trend of soft skills being increasingly in demand. According to LinkedIn\u2019s Global Talent Trends 2019 Report, soft skills have&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":2358,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[24,22],"tags":[57,58,26,56],"class_list":["post-2357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all","category-clients","tag-hard-kills","tag-interviewing","tag-recruitment","tag-soft-skills"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/2358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.horner.com.au\/af-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}