Written by Stella H. Kim
Published August 15, 2024
Attitude Over Experience, Potential Over Performance
7 HRCap Non-Negotiable Soft Skills
What do hiring organizations prioritize off the record?
Companies are asking more questions about what the candidate is like as a person rather than how strong their qualifications may be. They are more focused on probing why the candidate transitioned between jobs and what motivated them to apply, more so than their performance in past roles. They place a higher emphasis on deeply vetting the candidate’s character and attitude, more than verifying their education and experience. They request to conduct multiple screenings and various reference checks to validate the candidate’s strong sense of responsibility, ethics, sincerity, and interpersonal skills.
To date, many hiring organizations have prioritized screening the candidate’s qualifications (education, work history, and relevant experience in the field) to determine whether or not to proceed with an interview. Candidates with prior expertise and relevant experience may indeed require less training and can add value more quickly upon hire.
However, it is no longer enough to hire solely based on expertise and fit alone, given the speed of technological advancements and the complexity of the globalization and modernization of corporate cultures.
According to Google’s hiring research, a candidate’s work experience on a resume predicts future job performance with only 3% accuracy. As such, interview questions and hiring processes must be improved to assess attitude over experience and potential over performance to truly screen for and employ critical talent.
A study by Deloitte Insights also found that 92% of global organizations value soft skills over hard skills, and 84% believe that candidates must possess and demonstrate such soft skills throughout the hiring process for an effective hire. Hard skills are technical skills that can be acquired through training and development and are outlined in the job description as part of the role requirements. On the other hand, soft skills are interpersonal skills that relate to an individual’s personality, attitudes, and values that may affect and reflect how they work and interact with others.
HRCap, a Top 10 Global Executive Search & HR Consulting firm, leverages strategic interview questions and assessment tools to evaluate if candidates have competency in the “7 HRCap Non-Negotiable Soft Skills.” We thoroughly screen candidates on the following 7 skills to ensure they are a strong cultural fit before recommending them to our client organizations:
1. Integrity
2. Self-Awareness
3. Learning Agility
4. Strategic Skills
5. Analytical Ability
6. Empathy
7. Intrinsic Drive
Many U.S. conglomerates and startups have already changed their hiring criteria and recruiting processes as they prioritize soft skills over hard skills. Forward-thinking organizations are thereby willing to hire and invest in candidates with a strong sense of self-awareness and learning agility, even if they lack sufficient expertise and relevant experience. Such organizations truly believe that they are only able to continuously grow, transform, and lead innovation by investing in the potential of such critical talents, especially since artificial intelligence will never be able to replace human soft skills.
While it is important to continuously strengthen our qualifications on our resumes, we must also hone our unique personal brand by consistently developing the 7 HRCap Non-Negotiable Soft Skills. Let us strive to be that futuristic critical talent that everyone would truly love to work with.
Stella H. Kim, SPHR
HRCap – SVP, Head of Americas & Chief Marketing Officer
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