{
    "componentChunkName": "component---src-templates-blog-page-js",
    "path": "/blog/soft-skills-the-secret-to-hiring-more-successfully",
    "result": {"data":{"contentfulSkillmeterBlogPost":{"url":"soft-skills-the-secret-to-hiring-more-successfully","title":"Soft Skills: The secret to hiring more successfully?","description":{"description":"<p>Imagine … you are conducting an\r\ninterview and you come across Bob, 24, Graduate from a well-established university.\r\nYou invite him to participate in a technical test in order to find out the\r\nlevel of expertise he has on several programming languages. You notice that he works\r\nquickly, pays attention to detail and according to the test result has highly\r\nadvanced technical skills. You think “This is the one I really need in my\r\nteam!” The interview process continues and then you meet your last candidate.\r\nHer name is Monique, 27, a passionate self-taught web designer who comes across\r\nas a very likeable person with good soft skills. Her technical test result was\r\nnot outstanding, nevertheless it was good. You decide to choose between these\r\ntwo candidates. You invite both to an in-house “Experience Day” hoping that\r\nafter spending some more time with them you will be able to make up your mind\r\nwho to hire.</p>"},"body":{"body":"<p>Imagine … you are conducting an\r\ninterview and you come across Bob, 24, Graduate from a well-established university.\r\nYou invite him to participate in a technical test in order to find out the\r\nlevel of expertise he has on several programming languages. You notice that he works\r\nquickly, pays attention to detail and according to the test result has highly\r\nadvanced technical skills. You think “This is the one I really need in my\r\nteam!” The interview process continues and then you meet your last candidate.\r\nHer name is Monique, 27, a passionate self-taught web designer who comes across\r\nas a very likeable person with good soft skills. Her technical test result was\r\nnot outstanding, nevertheless it was good. You decide to choose between these\r\ntwo candidates. You invite both to an in-house “Experience Day” hoping that\r\nafter spending some more time with them you will be able to make up your mind\r\nwho to hire.</p><p>You ask Bob and Monique to work on\r\nthree little projects with other team mates. At the end of the day you challenge\r\nyour colleagues by asking the crucial question: “Who should we hire?” The whole\r\nteam – without exception - told you that Monique would be a dream to work with.\r\nWhy? They were impressed with her for several reasons. Let me tell you more\r\nabout it. </p><ul>\r\n<li><strong>Her networking skills. </strong>When she arrived at the\r\noffice she greeted everyone by name. Team members were positively surprised about\r\nthe fact that she already knew the names of all other team members. When asked\r\nhow she did it, she replied by saying “I looked at your website and memorised all\r\nstaff members’ names.” During lunch she was an excellent communicator and\r\nnetworker. It wasn’t difficult to interact with other team members because\r\nthanks to her research on LinkedIn she knew what peoples’ personal interests\r\nwere and conducted great conversations. Since some of their interests were\r\nsimilar to hers, finding a common ground with them was very easy for her.   </li><li><strong>Her team working skills.</strong> She was a real asset for\r\nthe team. She made several suggestions and knew how to give constructive\r\nfeedback to other team members’ ideas in an assertive way without being\r\noffensive. When asked to do some research about a topic on the internet she was\r\nthe one who instantly rolled up her sleeves and got started. She was focused on\r\nthe final outcome and shared the same passion and goals to create something\r\nunique. </li><li><strong>Her problem solving\r\nskills.</strong>\r\nWhen the team after so much hard work was suddenly faced with a technical issue\r\nshe didn’t complain about it but tried to come up with a solution. Actually not\r\njust one but two and she helped her team to sort out the issue. In her previous\r\ncompany she was faced with a similar problem and was very confident in solving\r\nthe same problem one more time. </li><li><strong>Her communication and\r\npresentation skills.</strong> When the team received a new enquiry from a client to build\r\na responsive website she was listening attentively at the clients’ needs. She\r\nwas able to turn the website’s features into the client’s benefits in a very\r\npositive and confident manner. The result was that she successfully won the\r\nclient over on the phone. Bingo! </li><li><strong>Her work ethic.</strong> Without complaining she\r\nstayed one hour longer at the office in order to make sure the project will be\r\ncompleted on time as expected. She demonstrated great initiative throughout the\r\nday and did not need to be constantly told what to do next. </li></ul><p>Are you wondering what happened to\r\nBob? His technical superiority was certainly clear but he felt so intimidated\r\nby Monique’s attitude and people skills that his self-confidence completely\r\nvanished. He did not connect well with other team members, was perceived as\r\nhighly arrogant and thus didn’t seem to be a great fit for that company. </p><p>So, what can we learn from this\r\nexperience? In today’s workplace you need soft skills (so called people skills/interpersonal\r\nskills/emotional intelligence) as well as hard skills (known as technical\r\nknowledge). What do you think is more important? Many research studies show\r\nthat hard skills are important but it is the soft skills that will make a\r\ncompany more successful in the long run. An employee with great soft skills is\r\nin higher demand than one that is a technical genius but doesn’t get along with\r\nothers. Employers nowadays want to hire people who already have great soft\r\nskills from Day 1. Many companies nowadays are prepared to offer further\r\ntraining if a person’s technical skill or knowledge in a certain area is\r\nlimited. That is something that can be learnt quickly but the right attitude is\r\nsomething you either have or you don’t have. </p><p>I remember often telling jobseekers\r\n“It’s the hard skills that will get you the interview, but it’s your soft\r\nskills which will finally get you the job!” or how did John Rockefeller say it?\r\n“I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than any other skill.”&nbsp;</p>"},"authorName":"Karin Schroeck-Singh","authorBio":{"authorBio":"Karin Schroeck-Singh is a passionate Public Speaker, eBook Author, and a freelancing Online Content Producer. She has an MBA from the University of Leicester (UK) and gained 18 years of international work experience in Italy, the UK and India."},"publishedOn":"2015-07-13T09:39:28.690Z"}},"pageContext":{"id":"ed7fe0b2-d7a1-587b-9c5a-bf7f2a8e83e2"}},
    "staticQueryHashes": []}