What are soft skills, and why do they matter?

In 2019, LinkedIn's Global Talent Trends reported that 92% of

talent acquisition professionals indicated that soft skills are as
important to hire for as hard skills. And 89% said that when a new
hire doesn't work out, it's because they lacked critical soft skills.

Focusing on a candidate's hard skills— the skills that are

quantifiable and relate directly to the job they would be doing—
may feel more natural. After all, managers and team members alike
will expect that a new hire possesses the capacity to do the job they
were hired to do. However, it is just as important to hone in on soft
skills.

Soft skills affect how employees collaborate with their team, and
can ultimately influence a hire's reputation at the company. They
will eventually play a role in an employee's success because every
employee has to work with other people in some capacity, whether
it be a manager, a client, or a peer.

Just as you are diligent when ensuring a candidate has the

appropriate hard skills and technical experience for a role, it’s
important to apply that same diligence to evaluating a candidate’s
set of soft skills. That way, when they come in they are set-up for
success. You can find the most talented graphic designer in the
city, but if they can't take feedback very well, they are almost
useless to the company.
Mastering this talent acquisition component can save your
company thousands of dollars and countless hours of training by
reducing employee turnover.

According to Lattice, the estimation of money lost due to poor

hires is astounding. "Consider a 150-person company with an 11%
annual turnover rate. If you spend $25k per person on hiring, $10k
per person on development, and lose $50k of productivity when
refilling a role, your annual cost of turnover would be about $1.57
million. Reducing this by just 20% would immediately yield over
$300k in value."

It is demanding and time-consuming to train a new employee. It

interrupts a team's daily operations, productivity, and rhythm. So a
bad hire ends up costing more than money, it amounts to lost time,
depleted energy, and a resentful team forced to pick up the slack
until a replacement comes along.

Additionally, a high turnover rate could begin to raise some

eyebrows around the office, leading to a toxic work environment.

On the other hand, finding candidates with strong soft skills will
result in a more brilliant team. Happier employees have been
reported to be more productive, more loyal to their employer, and
more inspired at work.
How do I test candidates' soft skills?
Once you come to see the importance of soft skills, you may
wonder how to hire for them.

Common behavioral questions could include:

Tell me a time you had creative differences with a client, and how
you handled the situation.
When was a time you went above and beyond to satisfy a client?
When was a time you made a grave error in judgment? How did
you communicate this to your team and/or manager?
How do you organize your day? Take me through your morning
before work.
Tell me a time you noticed the quality was being compromised on
a project, and how you handled the situation.
With open-ended questions, you're able to learn how they
approached the problem, and if they found success. You're able to
get insight into their critical thinking skills and interpersonal
communication style, and see how self-aware they are as an
employee.

Assessing soft skills with screening tests

Another way to assess a candidate’s soft skills is to provide the
space for them to demonstrate their skills via screening tests.
Many employers are turning to cognitive ability tests which
measure how candidates think and situational judgment tests,
which measure how well candidates respond in different situations.

As an added benefit, screening tests tend to be more objective than

interviews, ensuring all candidates were tested across the same
parameters and given equal opportunities to showcase their skill
set.

Here are a select group of screening tests best suited for testing soft
skills:

Personality test - A personality test measures an individual’s

behavioral characteristics. As the name suggests, personality tests
are meant to explore the candidate's personality traits and ensure fit
within the team they would be working with and the clients they
could potentially service.
Situational judgment - These are meant to measure the candidate's
situational judgment and how they would make decisions within
specific contexts. Situational judgment tests are particularly
effective when testing for managerial and leadership requirements.
Cognitive ability tests are designed to measure mental skills like
attention to detail, problem-solving, critical thinking, numerical
reasoning, and reading comprehension — many of the same skills
ranked as top soft skills across industries. Situational judgment
tests measure skills like leadership, time management, and
communication.
Assessing soft skills during interviews
The interview process allows recruiters another great opportunity
to learn about a candidate's soft skills. A practical and popular
option is behavioral interviews.

Contrary to traditional interview questions, behavioral interviews

focus less on what a candidate did in a role. Instead, behavioral
interview questions focus on concrete examples and past
experiences showcasing the candidate’s communication and
working style.

If you choose to use screening tests as a first step, you can then
cross-reference the results and dig deeper with your candidate.

A great next step could include formulating questions to verify that

a candidate does in fact have excellent communication skills as
concluded per the screening test. Additionally, this step can allow
you to understand the gaps in their time-management or any other
soft skills noted from the test.

List of top soft skills for each industry

Now that you know what soft skills are, why they are important,
and how to spot them — all that is left is knowing what to look for
in a candidate.

There are some desirable traits and attributes that span every
industry (such as 'communication' and ‘attention to detail’), but it
is also imperative to understand the soft skills that are specific to
success in different roles.

For example, you may be hiring for a graphic designer for the
creative team and a human resources generalist on the HR team.
You would want both team members to be communicative, though
likely in different ways.

The creative hire should be collaborative, able to take client

feedback, and apply it to a project, whereas the human resources
generalist should be compassionate, able to identify the needs of an
employee, and provide the appropriate tools.

Below is an outline of the most common industries with an

accompanying list of the most desirable soft skills for the field. At
a high-level, the list will outline how the soft skill plays an
important role in the success of the employee, highlighting what
recruiters should and will be looking for when interviewing.
Note that roles can be incredibly complex, especially at younger
companies or companies with unique products or services. We
recommend taking a deeper dive into our blog for more details and
information related to hiring.
Business Development & Sales
Those within the business development and sales industry are
garnering new client opportunities as well as maintaining an
existing pipeline to grow business and generate sales.
List of top soft skills for Business Development & Sales roles:
Communication - Important when speaking with clients
Persuasion - Critical when procuring new business and speaking to
a product/service
Responsibility - Essential when hitting goals and ensure
accountability
Confidence - Important to procuring trust with clients and making
business decisions
Resilience - Essential when dealing with rejection
Creative & Digital Media
Those in the creative and digital media industry are working, either
in-house or with clients, to produce promotional materials with the
intent to generate traffic via online platforms (ie, websites, social
media, advertisements).

List of top soft skills for creative & digital media roles:

Collaboration - Ensuring the client's vision is being executed

Feedback - Able to give and receive constructive criticism from
client and team
Time management - Can juggle several projects at once
Lifelong learning - To keep up with new trends and software
Marketing
Marketing teammates ensure the company is creating,
communicating, and delivering cohesive messaging to a set of
consumers.

List of top soft skills for marketing roles:

Diligence - Pays attention to editing and is thoughtful with content

Ideation - Can creatively pivot for last-minute requests
Teamwork - Can accomplish tasks as a team member, not the sole
contributor
Analysis - Can understand consumer feedback and provide sound
recommendations
Customer Service
Those in this field resolve customer issues, answer questions,
capture feedback, and identify opportunities for operational
improvement and excellence for the company.

List of top soft skills for customer service roles:

Discipline - To abide by store/company rules and guidelines
Clear communication - Important when speaking with customers
Empathy - Being sensitive to customer concerns and issues
Active listening - Essential when resolving issues with team
members and customers
Education
Those within the field of education are working with students to
create curricula, educate students and inspire them.

List of top soft skills for education roles:

Ability to influence - Critical for classroom management and

getting children's attention at a moment's notice
Diligence - Invested in the accuracy of messaging to children,
parents, and the district
Organization - Important for lesson planning and day-to-day
classroom management
Relationship Management - Crucial when working with parents
and fellow teachers
 ‫تطوير األعمال والمبيعات‬
‫يكتسب أولئك الذين يعملون في مجال تطوير األعمال والمبيعات فرصًا جديدة للعمالء‬
‫‪.‬باإلضافة إلى الحفاظ على خط أنابيب موجود لتنمية األعمال التجارية وتوليد المبيعات‬
‫‪:‬قائمة أفضل المهارات الشخصية ألدوار تطوير األعمال والمبيعات‬
‫التواصل ‪ -‬مهم عند التحدث مع العمالء‬
‫اإلقناع ‪ -‬أمر بالغ األهمية عند شراء عمل جديد والتحدث إلى منتج ‪ /‬خدمة‬
‫المسؤولية ‪ -‬ضرورية عند تحقيق األهداف وضمان المساءلة‬
‫الثقة ‪ -‬مهمة للحصول على الثقة مع العمالء واتخاذ القرارات التجارية‬
‫المرونة ‪ -‬ضرورية عند التعامل مع الرفض‬
‫الوسائط اإلبداعية والرقمية‬
‫يعمل أولئك الذين يعملون في صناعة الوسائط اإلبداعية والرقمية ‪ ،‬إما داخليًا أو مع‬
‫العمالء ‪ ،‬إلنتاج مواد ترويجية بقصد توليد حركة المرور عبر المنصات عبر اإلنترنت‬
‫‪(.‬مثل مواقع الويب ووسائل التواصل االجتماعي واإلعالنات)‬

‫‪:‬قائمة بأفضل المهارات الشخصية ألدوار الوسائط اإلبداعية والرقمية‬

‫التعاون ‪ -‬ضمان تنفيذ رؤية العميل‬

‫ردود الفعل ‪ -‬قادرة على إعطاء وتلقي النقد البناء من العميل والفريق‬
‫إدارة الوقت ‪ -‬يمكنه التوفيق بين عدة مشاريع في وقت واحد‬
‫التعلم مدى الحياة ‪ -‬لمواكبة االتجاهات والبرامج‪ Ÿ‬الجديدة‬
‫تسويق‬
‫يضمن زمالء فريق التسويق أن تقوم الشركة بإنشاء رسائل متماسكة والتواصل‪ Ÿ‬معها‬
‫‪.‬وتقديمها لمجموعة من المستهلكين‬

‫‪:‬قائمة أفضل المهارات الشخصية ألدوار التسويق‬

‫االجتهاد ‪ -‬يهتم بالتحرير وهو مدروس بالمحتوى‬

‫التفكير ‪ -‬يمكن أن تتمحور بشكل إبداعي لطلبات اللحظة األخيرة‬
‫العمل الجماعي ‪ -‬يمكنه إنجاز المهام كعضو في الفريق ‪ ،‬وليس كمساهم وحيد‬
‫التحليل ‪ -‬يمكنه فهم آراء المستهلكين وتقديم توصيات سليمة‬
‫خدمة العمالء‬
‫يقوم العاملون في هذا المجال بحل مشكالت العمالء واإلجابة على األسئلة والحصول‬
‫‪.‬على التعليقات وتحديد فرص التحسين التشغيلي والتميز للشركة‬

‫‪:‬قائمة أفضل المهارات الشخصية ألدوار خدمة العمالء‬

‫االنضباط ‪ -‬االلتزام بقواعد وإرشادات المتجر ‪ /‬الشركة‬

‫اتصال واضح ‪ -‬مهم عند التحدث مع العمالء‬
‫التعاطف ‪ -‬أن تكون حساسًا لمخاوف العمالء وقضاياهم‬
‫االستماع النشط ‪ -‬ضروري عند حل المشكالت مع أعضاء الفريق والعمالء‬

‫‪:‬قائمة أفضل المهارات الشخصية ألدوار التعليم‬

 ‫ أمر بالغ األهمية إلدارة الفصل وجذب انتباه األطفال في أي لحظة‬- ‫القدرة على التأثير‬
‫ استثمر في دقة الرسائل لألطفال وأولياء األمور والمنطقة‬- ‫االجتهاد‬
‫ مهم لتخطيط الدروس وإدارة الفصول الدراسية اليومية‬- ‫التنظيم‬
‫ أمر بالغ األهمية عند العمل مع أولياء األمور وزمالئهم المعلمين‬- ‫إدارة العالقات‬
Human Resources
Employees on the HR team are responsible for taking on
challenges related to the experience and well-being of employees.

List of top soft skills for human resources roles:

Compassion - Important when interacting with employees and

learning about their issues at work and sometimes, at home
Interpersonal Communication - Crucial when working with people
and high-stress levels
Conflict Resolution - Can mediate issues related to employee
relations
Equity - Needs to separate emotions from work to make sound
business decisions
Trustworthy - Critical to gain executives' and employees' buy-in to
influence change
Medical
Working within the healthcare industry to treat and heal suffering
patients.

List of top soft skills for medical roles:

Adaptability - Can tailor their disposition to meet patient needs

Flexibility - Can shift priorities as updates are made
Patience - Important when handling patient questions or
complaints
Pragmatic approach - Can communicate clearly when talking about
sensitive topics or delivering difficult news over the phone
Persistence - Important to be unwavering in the pursuit of answers
for patients
Technology
Those within the technology space are typically working with
various teams to resolve a spectrum of technology-related
problems.

List of top soft skills for technology roles:

Humility - Critical when working with other team members who

may be asking for help
Teamwork - Able to work collaboratively and independently
Lifelong learner - Continues to stay updated with industry trends to
keep the business’ product and services competitive
Leadership - It’s important an engineer is open to helping others
with their personal development
Self-Starter - Able to recognize problems within systems and take
action to resolve
Softs skills will always matter in business
With the business world being an ever-changing landscape, it can
be expected that some trends and industry norms will shift and
change with time.

Dress codes have evolved; most employees bounce around jobs

multiple times within their careers; the younger generations are
finding more creative outlets for income. But no matter how
progressive business becomes, having soft skills will always be
crucial to a team's success.

In the end, recruiters and hiring managers are in the business of

finding incredible talent to drive a company’s mission and add
value to existing teams. Soft skills are an important component to
ensure the greatest candidates are sourced and hired on, and
contribute to a company’s ultimate success.