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6+6 ways to measure soft skills for recruiters

30.10.2017 Print

Soft skills, such as communication, relationship building, leadership, or strategic thinking, are very important for performing many jobs and cooperating with colleagues. However, measuring these skills in job candidates isn't easy. You can't rely on what you read in their CVs, what the candidates say about themselves at job interviews or on what their former colleagues say. So how can you assess soft skills better?

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The following recommendations, based on the practices of leading technology companies, were published by John Sullivan, a recognized Human Resource Management Consultant from Silicon Valley and Professor of Management at San Francisco State University.

Simpler and less effective ways to measure soft skills

  1. When communicating with a candidate's former or current superiors and colleagues, don't ask whether the candidate is a team player or whether he can think strategically. Ask the reference provider to name what specific soft skills the candidate has.
  2. Give reference providers a list of soft skills relevant to the job and ask them to rate which of them are the candidate's strengths and weaknesses.
  3. During job interviews, ask candidates to compile a list of the soft skills they find essential for the job and to rank these according to importance.
  4. Then ask candidates to rate their own soft skills from the strongest to weakest.
  5. During the interviews, give candidates real problems that require specific soft skills in order to solve them.
  6. Ask candidates to identify the problems and mistakes that led to the failure of the particular process or project you give them.

More complex and effective ways to measure soft skills

  1. Get online tests from a trusted provider involved in your recruitment process. However, they can only help you if you know in advance what skills or personality assumptions predict success in particular jobs.
  2. Evaluate soft skills in situations when candidates don't expect it. Ask for ratings from, for example, receptionists, taxi drivers or coffee shop workers who met the candidate when the recruiter was not there.
  3. Offer candidates short-term projects they can work on directly in your company.
  4. Prepare scenarios for job interviews for candidates to show their soft skills in practice with the participation of real employees and possibly other candidates.
  5. Continue evaluating the candidates' soft skills even after they become your employees - during training and onboarding.
  6. Take advantage of the latest findings in neuroscience. Today there are software solutions based on artificial intelligence and machine learning that are able to analyze job interview recordings. These programs can evaluate the candidates' soft skills with regard to how they talk, how they look and how they move, much better than people.

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Article source LinkedIn Talent Blog - recruiting strategies, tips and trends on the LinkedIn social network
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HR metrics Headhunting and recruiting Onboarding and adaptation Information technology for HR John Sullivan