American business is racing to beat the daunting pandemic-generated challenge: working remotely with clients and fellow team members. Remote work was always challenging. But what does this mean to the hiring process? What are companies and recruiters thinking as they screen candidates? Technical skills or Soft Skills? Which are being emphasized these days?
I sought input from a mix of business owners, recruiters, and career experts and asked them to share their approach during the Covid-19 Pandemic on how they and their clients are approaching their screening and hiring processes. I wanted to know their approaches to the weight given to hard vs. soft skills during the screening, candidate analysis, and hiring processes.
When you read the excerpts I’ve included from their responses to my questions, it becomes clear they vary widely in approach, and all mimic Mark Herchberg’s comment to me, “You need to hire for both and be very conscientious about how you do it; [and] it depends.” Mark is one of the creators of MIT’s career success accelerator program. So, here you go.
Klay Dyer, expert researcher and writer on HR and management issues says, “If business leaders are not hiring for soft skills, they certainly should be.”
Ben Lamarche, General Manager of Lock Search Group, a nationwide recruiting firm informed me, “When it comes to technical skills versus soft skills, obviously both are important. One of the things we try to do as a recruitment firm is to understand the culture of our clients’ workplaces and help them find the right fit in the candidates we supply. On the first pass I’m always just filtering based on technical skills. Soft skills are important because they can help break a tie when two candidates might have the same technical qualifications. In certain cases, they can even be assessed as being more important, depending on the role. Clients love to see soft skills in candidates generally because it shows versatility and an ability to interact with people that frankly many technologists tend to lack.”
Darrell Rosenstein, Founder, of the recruiting firm, The Rosenstein Group, says, “In my experience, I have found that whether the emphasis is on technical or soft skills largely depends on what you are hiring for. “When hiring for a long-term position, soft skills such as effective communication, collaboration, problem-solving, and listening take priority. These skills are not trainable and a candidate who lacks them will simply not be a good culture fit even if they have all the technical expertise.
“On the other hand, a candidate who has solid soft skills but doesn’t have all the technical qualities required for a role is still a good catch because then they can be trained on the technical skills and this will usually yield a good ROI.
“When hiring for temporary contract jobs, I am usually looking for technical skills because these short-term project-based positions usually require specialized expertise. There is always the worry that hiring someone who doesn’t check all the boxes when it comes to technical skills is not a good decision. But, in a job market where the majority of applicants have the technical know-how, having certain soft skills can set a candidate apart.”
Glen Munoz, Glen Munoz Music, LLC, told me, “Based on my experience, soft skills can be just as important – if not more important – than hard skills. I look for candidates with strong soft skills, a minimal baseline of hard skills and a clear history of learning and growth. These are the sort of people that can come on-board…after all – (hard skills) can be taught.” Soft skills – conversely – are extremely difficult to teach.
“Soft skills are valuable and important in any company or business, but they don’t get your foot in the door,” according to Andrew Selepak, PhD, a social media professor at the University of Florida. “When a company is hiring, they first look at whether someone has the technical skills to do the job. Someone who is a hard worker is not helpful if they can’t actually do the job. Someone who gets along well with others is not helpful, if they are using that soft skill to always ask questions when they can’t do the job. In the hiring process, soft skills get you the job and separate you from the other qualified candidates, but soft skills alone don’t make you a qualified candidate unless the job requires little to no technical skills or capabilities.”
Alex Freeburg, Owner of Freeburg Law, LLC stated, “For any job where the applicant interacts with clients, I hire for ‘soft skills’. Those are non-negotiable. Knowing that, I have also tried to cultivate technical roles that don’t require people skills. Those people do not have to interact with clients. For example, I hired a research and writing attorney, where the lack of client interaction was highlighted in the job description.”
Even though the Pandemic is still raging, for those businesses that must serve their customers F2F, the challenge of ‘people-skills’ still remains.
Dr. Joseph Salim, DMD, Owner and Founder of Sutton Place Dental Associates, a 10-15 person dental team in Manhattan NY said, “When I hire people, aside from their previous accomplishments, education, experience, employment history, or essentially their technical know-how, I try to understand their psychological makeup, common sense, and soft skills. The technical know-how gets them an interview and through the door, but it is those subtle skills that determine whether I will hire them or not.”
Dr. Salim also looks for their value system, their purpose and mission in life and how they treat others. “I want to know whether they have the necessary mental fortitude and abilities to respond to conflicts, adversities, and challenges properly and effectively. Many people can do well when the environment is suitable, and the conditions are favorable. However, many of them would not deliver the same performance level when the going gets tough and when difficult decisions need to be made.”
Jim Sullivan, President and CEO of JCSI, a superior recruiting service, indicates that, “Soft skills are what can create a positive work environment and company culture. Employers oftentimes recognize that soft skills are more difficult to teach than technical skills since they are based on personality rather than knowledge. Soft skills are also harder to quantitatively measure and are normally qualitatively measured.
“Technical skills often pertain to specific work experience required for a role. When recruiting, the technical skills can the requirements, but the skills recruiting should focus on soft skills.” In a recent Talent Chronicles interview on the JCSI website, Peter Garneau quotes “hire the smile and train the skill” – meaning recruitment teams should really emphasize those soft skills when interviewing and onboarding new candidates.”
“For almost all roles we hire for soft skills.” says Michael Alexis, CEO of Teambuilding, a team building vendor to Apple, Google, and Jonson &Johnson. Michael also went on to say, “We want to find people who are clear communicators, reliable on deadlines, and get along as part of a team. For some roles, like a director level position it may be helpful for someone to have practical, on the job experience, but in most cases we actually prefer the absence of those hard skills; we would rather train people up in our methods and systems. This approach is true in sales, marketing, operations, customer service and other roles. Note: one hard skill we do look for is fast typing speeds, which can be an excellent predictor of productivity.”
Seth Rand, Co-Founder and CEO of Wizard Digital Marketing, founder and former CEO of Rand Marketing, a named Premier Google Partner and added to the Inc. 5000 list for growth as a privately-owned company bases his hiring process on both soft skills and technical know-how, but adds, “Soft skills will always take precedence. Technical skills can be taught, but in the field of marketing, soft skills are essential for the ability to communicate effectively with clients and many other reasons.”
As I conclude this article, and as you can plainly see, people-skills still have the edge in the hiring process, even for remote jobs. Yet, for some companies — and for some jobs — technical skills dominate the initial screening and hiring process. However, in the end, a candidate’s ability to play well with others is always a significant factor in the final hiring decision.
Fred Coon, CEO, Stewart Cooper & Coon
Fred Coon is Chief Executive Officer of Stewart, Cooper & Coon. He has advised thousands of executives on their job search campaigns. Fred is quoted in Forbes, U.S. News & World Report, Money Magazine, Inc. Magazine, Success Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and other major national publications, and appears on affiliate stations of ABC, NBC, and CBS as an expert on the job and employment market.
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