Manage HR Magazine | Monday, August 10, 2020
As technology becomes further entwined with the business, IT organizations have turned out to be more customer-centric. Along with technical know-how, IT positions also demand emotional intelligence, creativity, persuasiveness, adaptability, a communicative and collaborative approach, even humility
FREMONT, CA: Until a few years back, hiring IT staff was a simple task. Look into the portfolios, identify the candidates with the right qualifications, test their technical abilities, and just like that, you had the most suitable candidates for hire. However, this has changed in recent times. As technology becomes further entwined with the business, IT organizations have turned out to be more customer-centric. Along with technical know-how, IT positions also demand emotional intelligence, creativity, persuasiveness, adaptability, a communicative and collaborative approach, even humility.
Stay ahead of the industry with exclusive feature stories on the top companies, expert insights and the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe today.
In fact, soft skills are often more indicative of how well the employee will perform than technical expertise. As simple as it may sound, unearthing the soft skills inside a candidate can be extremely difficult. One bad judgment and an organization can end up with a misfit in the workforce. Studies show that four-fifths of job candidates are confident in their ability to articulate soft skills in an interview, yet four in ten have started a job only to discover later they had the wrong soft skills. Half of the hired candidates leave the employment during probation as their personality or work style doesn't gel with the organization.
HR professionals should aim at structuring an interview in such a way that it brings out the soft skills in the candidate. Set up a comfortable atmosphere to engage in an open conversation. The candidate should be in a relaxed state to identify their nature and level of soft skills. Engage in real and honest conversations. Introverts can often be challenging in this aspect as they tend to share less and keep their answers short. Help them feel relaxed enough to let their guard down. Breakthrough the awkwardness and push them to engage in a real, meaningful conversation. It is essential that they overcome their fears of being judged and allow them to speak their mind.
It is essential to have the right interviewer for the job. An interviewer should have clarity on what the organization is looking for and have a knack to identify the kind of soft skills a candidate possesses. It is safe to go with more than one interviewer during the process. One can be a technical professional to assess the candidate's soft skills and the other an expert in soft skills. Identifying technical skills can be much more comfortable than soft skills. Provide the candidate with a job-related problem, and their ability to solve it can be used to determine their level of expertise. Having a soft skill professional in the room makes the process more efficient.
If the organization lacks enough soft skills professionals, then that is where the company should look to invest first. Identify professionals within the workforce that possess the best soft skills and push them to train others. Soft skills can be context-sensitive, and organizations need to find the right person for this job. Create a core team with workers who have exceptional soft skills and let them take the lead in equipping the workforce with soft skills. This often has a domino effect. All the hard work put into hiring the right candidate will go to waste if the organization does not have soft skills professionals already in the workforce.
More in News