While employers routinely ask for specific degrees and years of experience, they base their hiring decisions on things that are much less measurable: soft skills and personality.
In one survey of hiring managers (conducted by OfficeTeam, HR.com and the International Association of Administrative Professionals), 67 percent of the respondents said they would hire an administrative worker with strong soft skills but weak technical skills. By contrast, only 9 percent would make the reverse decision.
Every employer is going to demand a basic set of abilities for each position it fills. But if more than one candidate has the skill set required, the decision will be based on something other than those skills. That's because employers know that there's a big difference between being able to do something and actually doing it.
Put another way, degrees and expertise don't matter if the new hire can't motivate himself or herself, can't meet deadlines or can't get along with others. Employers in the survey also felt strongly that technical skills are easier to teach than soft skills — hence their willingness to overlook technical weaknesses in favor of interpersonal strengths.
This all makes sense, but it gets tricky in application. It's easy to test someone for particular software knowledge, but how do you find out how he or she solves problems or handles pressure?
Employers try to gauge soft skills through various tools, such as the age-old reference check; its updated cousin, the credit check; and behavioral and situational interview questions designed to highlight candidates' responses to hypothetical work settings. Computer-based personality tests and daylong sessions with industrial psychologists are used by a troubling proportion of companies.
Other employers, unwilling to take a chance on their initial assessment of a candidate, will hire only after trying someone out in a work-to-hire, internship or contract-work situation.
As you can see, employers have a real problem when it comes to assessing someone's soft skills before making a hire. If you want to get a job, their problem is really your problem. So how do you communicate your nontechnical, not-easily-measured work skills?
First, it helps to know what the term means. I usually think of them as work skills that are personality- or process-based, that are expressions of our innate values, and that are enhanced or informed by our experiences outside of work.
In the survey mentioned, the managers cited the following soft skills as being in the most demand at their companies:
• organizational skills;
• verbal communication;
• teamwork and collaboration;
• problem-solving;
• tact and diplomacy;
• business writing; and
• analytical skills.
To communicate these strengths in your job search, take a holistic approach. Your résumé should cite some of these key points, your demeanor in networking and in interviews should provide a sampling of your tact and diplomacy, and your cover letters should demonstrate your writing ability.
That's the low-hanging fruit, as the popular cliché states. To kick it up a notch and surpass your competitors for the job, think about the specific circumstances you likely would encounter in the job you are seeking.
For example, if the job is a managerial position that requires employee supervision, find some anecdotes that really exemplify your skills in this area. Perhaps you helped a failing employee become productive again or turned around a difficult unit.
Once you have identified examples that demonstrate your soft skills, make room for one or two on your résumé. You might try something unusual, such as a category titled "Success Stories." The point is to move beyond the bullet list (don't mimic the list above, for example) and into real communication with the prospective employer.
Keep up the pace in your interviews, and you will break the impasse between what the employer wants and what he or she can measure. Your job-search performance will prove that you have the soft skills needed for the work.
- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecare rservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.