LinkedIn recently released their 2019 report, Global Talent Trends: The 4 trends transforming your workplace. In this four-part Recruitment Marketing series, we will explore the four industry trends you need to know to future-proof your workplace. Part 1 of this series focuses on how to accurately assess soft skills to make the right hiring decision.
Soft skills are becoming increasingly important with the rise of automation and AI. Hard skills alone aren’t enough for success! Traditionally, employers decided where people worked, at what cost, and how much information they were willing to share. Many of us can appreciate that power dynamic has changed. Technology has empowered employees to access more information and hold employers to a higher standard.
Today, candidates expect transparency, flexibility and accountability. At the same time, organisations have greater requirements for their people too, not only in their technical capabilities, but also through important skills such as creativity, collaboration and adaptability.
“Both are embracing a more equal employer-employee relationship—not just because it looks good, but because it’s good for business.”
LinkedIn surveyed more than 5000 talent professionals and hiring managers to collate their 2019 Global Talent Trends report. After speaking with these experts and using behavioural data from the platform, LinkedIn has identified four trends impacting our workplaces: soft skills, work flexibility, anti-harassment, and pay transparency.
Soft skills: where machines can’t compete
“While hard skills may get a candidate’s foot in the door, it’s soft skills that ultimately open it.”
Soft skills are becoming increasingly important with the rise of automation and AI. Hard skills alone aren’t enough for success.
And while the half-life of many hard skills is shrinking, soft skills stay relevant: a particular programming language may go out of fashion, but creativity, adaptability, and collaboration skills will always be valuable. Many companies still struggle to accurately assess soft skills, despite their growing value. If companies want a hiring strategy for the future, they need to change how they identify and hire for soft skills
80% say soft skills are increasingly important
“Most hiring and firing decisions come down to soft skills.”
That’s not to say that hard skills don’t matter, they certainly do! Programmers need to write code and salespeople need to sell. But since there are simple ways to assess for these skills, the chances of someone coming on board without them are reduced.
Identifying these skills is more challenging. Sometimes you’ll discover poor then too late, after you have made a hire!
“As the data shows, bad hires are almost never a matter of hard skills alone. Talent professionals know this, which is why they prioritise soft skills alongside hard skills during the hiring process.”
Do you have a formal process to assess these skills accurately?
“68% of talent professionals say the main way they assess soft skills is by picking up on social cues in interviews. She seemed upbeat, so she’s probably a good collaborator; he seemed nervous, so he’s probably not a good leader. The problem is that these perceptions aren’t predictive, and worse, they’re often unconsciously biased. Unfortunately, this unstructured approach is extremely common—which is probably why so many struggle to assess soft skills accurately and consistently.”
Here’s how to accurately assess soft skills
Determine desirable skills
What soft skills does your organisation need to succeed? Assess your top performers to determine the traits that they share, and consider what skills you might need for other challenges in the future.
Define skills for the role
“Along with looking for skills needed company-wide, make sure your hiring managers and recruiters agree on the most important soft skills for a given job. Be sure to clearly define any soft skills you’ll be assessing: since they’re less tangible than hard skills, it’s important to confirm everyone is on the same page. Identify and define the skills needed for the role.”
Use tech and online tools for prescreening
“Tools like Koru, Pymetrics, and others let candidates take quick online assessments as they apply.”
Assess the way candidates answer questions or play games. These tools can assess these skills systematically, in a less biased way. You can then use insights to guide your interviews to understand candidates’ strengths and weaknesses.
Beware of bias
Inconsistent, unstructured interviews are highly susceptible to unconscious bias, particularly with respect to assessing soft skills.
“For example, you might prefer a candidate because they remind you of yourself (similarity bias), but chalk it up to their “leadership potential” without defining or measuring it.”
Structure your interviews
“There’s nothing wrong with asking behavioural and situational interview questions, so long as you’re using them consistently. Train interviewers to ask a standard set of questions suited to the skills you’re targeting. This allows you to easily compare evaluations, even if they’re done by different interviewers.”
Ask behavioural, problem-solving questions
Present candidates with a problem with hard skills (e.g., outlining a 90-day plan to launch a product) and introduce constraints and conditions (e.g., only give them 30 days, or double the budget). Then assess their capabilities by seeing how they adapt to change, build on feedback, and communicate their approach.
While it’s important to assess for hard skills, having structured methods to accurately assess soft skills will ensure you will make the right hiring decision.
Does your organisation use any of the above strategies to assess for soft skills? Share a comment below.
Source
LinkedIn’s 2019 Global Talent Trends: 4 trends transforming your workplace