The Importance of Soft Skills & Interpersonal Skills When Hiring
When hiring new employees, employers often focus on hard skills—specific, teachable abilities or knowledge needed to perform a job. While these are still crucial, soft skills and interpersonal skills are equally important and can significantly impact a company’s success.
Let’s explore the best types of soft and interpersonal skills for the workplace and how to identify them during the hiring process.
Understanding the Differences Between Soft Skills and Interpersonal Skills
Soft skills encompass a wide range of abilities that help individuals perform well in their jobs, including problem-solving, adaptability, and time management. They are broad and can be applied in various contexts.
Interpersonal skills, on the other hand, are a subset of soft skills that are focused on how individuals interact with others. These include empathy, teamwork, and conflict resolution. While all interpersonal skills are soft skills, not all soft skills are interpersonal skills.
Clear as mud?
Alright, let’s keep going!
Essential Soft Skills for the Workplace
Soft skills are personal attributes that enable someone to interact effectively and harmoniously with others. They are an important piece of creating a positive work environment and fostering teamwork. Here are some key soft skills to look for:
1. Communication
Why It’s Important: Effective communication is essential for clear instructions, feedback, and collaboration; clear communications prevent misunderstandings and help build a cohesive team.
Why Hire for It: Employees who communicate well can express their ideas clearly, listen to others, and resolve conflicts effectively.
2. Problem-Solving
Why It’s Important: The ability to solve problems efficiently is critical in any workplace. It keeps projects moving forward and reduces downtime.
Why Hire for It: Problem solvers can think critically, identify issues, and come up with practical solutions, which are valuable traits in any role.
3. Adaptability
Why It’s Important: The business world is constantly changing, and adaptable employees can handle change with ease and remain productive under varying circumstances.
Why Hire for It: They can quickly adjust to new roles, responsibilities, and environments, ensuring smooth transitions and continuous progress.
4. Time Management
Why It’s Important: Efficient use of time is crucial for meeting deadlines and maintaining productivity.
Why Hire for It: Employees with strong time management skills can prioritize tasks, avoid procrastination, and deliver work on schedule.
5. Creativity
Why It’s Important: Creativity and “thinking outside of the box” leads to innovation, new ideas, and unique solutions to problems.
Why Hire for It: Creative employees bring fresh perspectives and can help a company stay competitive and dynamic.
Here’s a couple of online resources for soft skills:
Indeed offers a great list of their top 10 soft skills in the workplace, and includes some tips for employers.
Forbes has a nicely written article with their list of 11 essential different soft skills in the workplace for 2024.
Book suggestion for soft skills:
“The Hard Truth About Soft Skills: Workplace Lessons Smart People Wish They’d Learned Sooner”, by Peggy Klaus.
Essential Interpersonal Skills for the Workplace
Interpersonal skills, which are a subset of soft skills, involve the ability to interact well with others. These skills are crucial for teamwork, building relationships, and creating a positive work environment. Here are some key interpersonal skills to watch for:
1. Empathy
Why It’s Important: Empathy demonstrates how employees are able to understand and share the feelings of others, therefore fostering a supportive work environment.
Why Hire for It: Empathetic employees can connect with colleagues and customers, leading to better teamwork and customer service.
2. Teamwork
Why It’s Important: We know this sounds like a give-in, but the ability to work well in a team truly is essential for achieving common goals and fostering a collaborative environment.
Why Hire for It: Team players can communicate effectively, share responsibilities, and support their colleagues, enhancing overall productivity.
3. Conflict Resolution
Why It’s Important: Conflicts are inevitable in any workplace, and the ability to resolve them quickly and fairly is crucial for maintaining harmony. A book we recommend that employers and employees alike read is “The Joy of Conflict Resolution” by Gary Harper.
Why Hire for It: Employees skilled in conflict resolution can address issues more constructively, preventing escalation and promoting a positive work environment.
4. Leadership
Why It’s Important: Leadership skills are vital for guiding teams, making decisions, and driving projects to success.
Why Hire for It: Good leaders inspire and motivate others, ensuring that everyone works towards common objectives effectively. These skills are great in positions that aren’t just supervisory roles, such as facilitating a client group session or guiding a team meeting.
5. Active Listening
Why It’s Important: Active listening ensures that all voices are heard and understood, leading to better cohesion and fewer misunderstandings.
Why Hire for It: Employees who listen actively can respond appropriately, build trust, and foster open communication.
Here’s a couple of online resources for interpersonal skills:
CareerAddict provides insights into the significance of interpersonal skills and how to evaluate them in potential hires.
The Balance lists key interpersonal skills and their importance in the workplace, along with tips for identifying them in candidates.
Book suggestion for interpersonal skills:
“Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends and Colleagues”, by David Bradford (Ph.D.), and Carole Robin (Ph.D.).
Overall, soft skills and interpersonal skills are essential for creating a productive and positive work environment. When hiring, look for candidates who demonstrate strong communication, problem-solving, and adaptability skills, as well as empathy, teamwork, and conflict resolution abilities. These skills will not only help in achieving business goals but also in building a supportive and cohesive team!
Additional resources to give you some ideas when looking at soft and interpersonal skills during hiring.
Fast Company discusses the value of soft skills and provides practical advice for hiring with a focus on adaptability.
KES has a wide variety of Hiring Advice articles for you to access. Here’s a few that are written to help you foster connection and open communication with your team.
Inc., offers insight into the importance of soft, interpersonal, and other skills in the hiring process.
James W Williams has a series of 7 various books on enhancing and improving your communication, soft and interpersonal skills.
