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Why we need to prioritize hiring based on Soft Skills

Author:
Vandana Sudhir
January 25, 2023

Why we also need to place softskills at the forefront of recruitment alongside hard skills?


Before we dive into this, I straight away want to point out that firstly its time we get rid of the term “SOFT SKILL” in itself. We live in a society where the hustle culture is celebrated; the more challenging and complex something is, the more it is appreciated/rewarded and valued in nature. In this context the word “Soft Skill” itself perpetuates the false idea that these are skills easily acquired and demand little effort and almost no knowledge to exercise. Therefore, as a first step, it is important to use accurate terminology that well captures what it truly encapsulates - so from here on out we shall refer to it as people-centric skills.


So what exactly are hard skills vs. people-centric skills?


  • Hard skills include job-specific knowledge and abilities we gain through education and work experience that can often be demonstrated in a measured way. Example - Basic Coding, Digital Marketing, App Development, Artificial Intelligence, Project Management, Excel skills, etc. You have certifications and measured tests that demonstrate how skilled you are at something.


  • People centric skills are non technical skills that are used in situations related to dealing with other people. It includes interpersonal skills that are learnt and also sometimes inherently acquired that shape the way you think, operate, work, and interact with others.


Essentially in order to be “complete” you can’t have just have one without the other.


So what is the problem here?


Well, the world has drastically changed, the times of merging your career with your identity from the age of 18 and committing to that field, specialising in it for the rest of your life simply no longer exists! Why? Because of technology! Now there are plenty of resources most people have easy access to, where, you can literally acquire any skill you want to pick up (think of the craziest things you could learn and google it right now). However despite this, we still judge how skilled someone is based on a method that no longer accurately measures what it used to! Now, I am not saying that degrees do not reflect your expertise or knowledge in a skill - I am just saying that this definitely is not the only way to measure how good you are at something. Through my experience at Codaisseur and through my personal and professional network I myself have met several talented individuals with an insane amount of capability that don’t even hold a degree in the field they are currently specialising in!


That is the problem and that’s exactly what I wanted to get to in this short blog!


What Now?

We need to stop making hiring decisions based on just an old school check box - I mean we have all seen that ridiculous list of requirements in job vacancies. Instead we need to go deeper with the hiring process - focus on Humble, Hungry & Smart (Resource; The Ideal Team Player - Patrick Lencioni).


Humble - Humility in a team member where the focus is not on the ego rather on growing and improving oneself on the daily. Their interest is on celebrating the team’s collective win as they are strongly aligned with the mission and vision of the team and organisation.


Hungry: Hungry are those that are intrinsically motivated, diligent, and have a strong desire to grow. Passion is the best predictor that determines drive and success!


Smart: By ‘smart’, the author refers to the emotional intelligence and interpersonal awareness of an individual. I mean your colleagues are the people you spent a lot of time talking to - yet somehow we barely take this into consideration while hiring. Now, people get hired based on their hard skills and get fired or leave jobs due to a mismatch in “soft” skills. The capability to conduct oneself in a group situation, deal with others, healthily debate and discuss is key!  


So that’s why we are here - TechMongers will help you nurture and build a sustainable workforce in the way YOU always envisioned! Through our in house experts we will create a customised curriculum for the skills you want them to be Trained & Tested on! We will help you build the team you have always envisioned within your organisation.

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