Hard Truths about Soft Skills Soft skills.

Interpersonal skills. Emotional Quotient. There are lots of names for those human characteristics that define how one interacts with the people around you. When employers write up a job description, most people focus on the technical requirements for a position. In the past, the bar for “soft skills” was pretty low – as long as you could get along and work with others, that might be enough. But in today’s hiring landscape, the definition of these skills has expanded, and they are often critical. In fact, even in technical roles, they are sometimes the most important. For this reason, the role of the recruiter has never been more important, as a good recruiter can use their skills to determine if a candidate is going to possess the right “soft skills” for an organization.
The technical skills required of a position are just the building blocks of what will be success in a role. It’s the human skills that will be the defining factor. On a client call, our recruiters spend just as much time talking about soft and hard skills. Every company is different, and there are myriad factors going into what clients need. Often they don’t even know themselves. If they are hiring a developer, it’s easy to list what languages or competencies they need. But when faced with resumes with the same skills and the same amount of experience, how to dig deeper?