When we think of hiring a new employee, the first thing that often comes to mind is qualifications—degrees, certifications, technical know-how, and hands-on experience. While these hard skills are essential for job performance, they’re not the full picture. Increasingly, employers are discovering that soft skills—the less tangible traits like communication, adaptability, and emotional intelligence—are just as vital, if not more so, than hard skills.
In today’s competitive and collaborative work environments, hiring based solely on technical ability is a risky move. The best candidate on paper may not thrive if they lack the interpersonal and emotional tools to work well with others, manage conflict, or adapt to change. That’s why it’s crucial to identify the key soft skills your company values before launching the search for a new hire.
Let's explore why soft skills matter, how to determine which ones are important for a specific role, and provide practical examples to guide your hiring process.
Soft skills are personal attributes and behaviors that determine how someone interacts with others and navigates their work environment. Unlike hard skills, which can be taught and measured through tests or certifications, soft skills are more subjective and harder to quantify.
Common examples of soft skills include:
These traits contribute to a positive workplace culture, boost productivity, and often determine long-term employee success far more than technical expertise alone.
Hiring for experience vs potential
A technically brilliant employee who cannot work well with others can disrupt team cohesion. In contrast, someone with moderate technical abilities but strong interpersonal skills can uplift an entire team. Hiring for soft skills ensures that your workplace remains collaborative, respectful, and productive.
For customer-facing roles, soft skills can make or break your brand’s reputation. A candidate with excellent communication and empathy can create loyal customers even when things go wrong. On the other hand, a technically competent employee who lacks people skills may damage customer trust.
The workplace is constantly evolving—new tools, new business models, unexpected challenges. Employees with adaptability, problem-solving abilities, and emotional resilience are better equipped to face change and help others through it.
Soft skills often set apart high-potential employees from the rest. An employee who shows initiative, takes responsibility, mentors others, and manages conflict well is more likely to rise to a leadership role and drive company growth.
When employees have strong emotional intelligence and interpersonal skills, they are more likely to engage in healthy communication, resolve conflict constructively, and create a positive work environment. This, in turn, reduces turnover, burnout, and disengagement.
Recruiting without retention is very expensive.
Not every position requires the same soft skills. A successful salesperson may need to excel at persuasion and relationship-building, while a great Operations Manager might benefit more from leadership, communication, and problem-solving skills. That’s why it’s critical to define which soft skills are most important for a role before you post the job ad or interview candidates.
Here’s a step-by-step approach:
Step 1: Analyze the Role
Look beyond the job title and examine what the role truly entails day-to-day. Ask:
Step 2: Review Your Top Performers
Examine the traits of your current top performers in similar roles. What makes them successful? Often, it’s not just what they do, but how they do it. Do they take initiative? Handle stress well? Mediate conflicts in the team?
Step 3: Identify Dealbreaker Gaps
Think about past hires who didn’t work out. Was it due to a lack of technical skill or a shortfall in soft skills? Patterns here can guide your future hiring criteria.
Step 4: Align with Company Values
Every company has a unique culture. If collaboration, agility, and humility are part of your core values, then look for candidates who exhibit those qualities. The better the alignment, the more likely the new hire will thrive.
Why employers should hire A-Players.
Let’s consider a few examples of roles and the soft skills that might be most important:
Once you've identified the soft skills that matter for the role, the next challenge is how to assess them. Since soft skills are less quantifiable, traditional resumes won’t tell the full story. Here are some methods that can help:
Ask questions that require candidates to describe past behavior in specific situations. For example:
Pose a hypothetical scenario and ask the candidate how they would handle it. This can be especially effective for customer-facing roles or leadership positions.
Involve future colleagues in the interview process to get their sense of the candidate’s interpersonal fit and team compatibility.
There are tools and assessments that can measure traits like emotional intelligence, communication style, and personality compatibility. While not foolproof, these can provide an additional layer of insight.
When checking references, ask specifically about soft skills. For example: “How did they handle feedback?” or “What was their approach to teamwork and conflict resolution?”
In the end, technical skills may get someone in the door, but soft skills are what help them succeed, grow, and contribute to the organization over time. Companies that take the time to identify, prioritize, and evaluate soft skills in their hiring process will find themselves with employees who are more collaborative, adaptable, and aligned with company culture.
In a world where technical tools and processes can be taught, soft skills remain the key differentiator between a good hire and a great one. So, before your next hire, pause and ask: What soft skills does this role really need? The answer may be the key to your next superstar employee.
No organization can grow faster than its ability to recruit and retain enough of the right people. BR1 can help!
Until next time, keep building your strong team one hire at a time!