Soft Skills in the Corporate Recruitment Process

For a long time, soft skills were merely an added bonus in the recruitment process. They represented a plus for the recruiter, as they focused on the technical skills acquired by candidates. However, over time, in a world subject to strong digitalization and multiple innovations, it became evident that technical skills alone are no longer sufficient. Behavioral aptitudes then became just as important as technical ones. What is the place of soft skills in the recruitment process today?

Corporate Recruitment: What Is a Soft Skill?

In a recruitment process, soft skills, also called transferable, emotional, or behavioral competencies, are most often compared to hard skills.

What Are the Differences Between Transferable Skills and Hard Skills?

A transferable skill generally relates to an individual's personality. These include aptitudes such as communication, creativity, time management, etc. It should be noted that these are personal qualities that allow a person to integrate, adapt, and work as a team. This is precisely what makes employers so particular about them. Indeed, the purpose of recruitment is to hire people with strong soft skills, as these competencies directly impact the performance and productivity of work teams. For example, the ability to communicate effectively usually allows teams to progress more quickly on a given task. For a more in-depth explanation, you can read this article on Soft skills: definition. On the other hand, hard skills are technical and specific competencies in a particular field. These are aptitudes that can only be acquired through dedicated learning. Mastering software, for example, is a technical skill acquired after training. That said, it should be noted that these different types of competencies are all important. It is not about prioritizing one category over the other. In practice, their combination is needed to have a good profile and respond to job offers.

What Are the Most Sought-After Behavioral Competencies in Job Candidates?

Depending on the position and the company, hiring based on transferable skills can target different profiles. However, there is a top 10 of the most sought-after soft skills that provides insight into the most favored behavioral competencies. These are considered particularly important for a company's growth. They include among others:

• Empathy, which is a person's ability to understand others' emotions and perspectives and respond to them sensitively;
• Problem-solving, which involves identifying potential problems within a team and implementing creative solutions to resolve them;
• Organization, which implies a person's ability to effectively manage time (prioritize tasks according to importance, meet deadlines, etc.).

In summary, although hard skills result from professional experience, recruiters increasingly seek employees with varied emotional, transferable, and behavioral competencies. These are crucial for good cohesion, performance, and company success.

Hiring Without a Resume: What Are the Benefits for the Recruiter?

In a resume-free hiring process, the recruiter focuses much more on behavioral competencies than on formal qualifications and professional experience. This approach is innovative, as it allows the recruiter to build a complementary and productive team, as discussed in our article on detecting potential: a certain value. This consideration of soft skills in recruitment brings numerous advantages such as:

• Objective assessment of behavioral competencies: resumes can be embellished by candidates eager to get the position. The company may therefore end up with an experienced employee who lied or omitted important information. By focusing on transferable skills, companies can get a more objective view of candidates;
• Application of real aptitudes: whether it's creativity, problem-solving abilities, or a more developed critical mind, resume-free hiring allows candidates to prove what they are capable of in real time. It is a process that gives recruiters the opportunity to better evaluate each candidate's company culture fit.

In addition to the aforementioned advantages, it is useful to note that there are several others. This article on recruitment testing: the advantages of hiring without a resume offers a more in-depth reflection on the question of resume-free recruitment, from its implementation in a company to the legislation it is subject to.

Job Interview: How to Showcase Behavioral Competencies?

During a soft skills recruitment process, one of the most important stages is the job interview. It is generally the only opportunity the candidate has to demonstrate their emotional intelligence. This is precisely why it is strongly recommended to develop your soft skills on a daily basis. Indeed, without frequent use of these aptitudes, they tend to no longer be omnipresent in your habits. In addition to that, during the interview, you should think about demonstrating concrete aptitudes such as:

• Using the STAR method: the candidate must present facts following a clear structure (Situation, Task, Action, Result);
• Authenticity: a candidate who speaks about facts that concern them is much more convincing than one who tries to show what they are not;
• Attentive listening: being attentive to the recruiter's questions shows them that the candidate is genuinely interested. This is behavior that facilitates communication between two people.

In short, the job interview is the stage where the candidate demonstrates the majority of their transferable skills. On their side, the recruiter carefully examines the profile presented to compare the candidate's actions to the company culture of the hiring organization.

Why Prioritize Soft Skills in Corporate Recruitment?

Want to know why you should go all in on soft skills in recruitment? In reality, there are several reasons that explain recruiters' current preference for recruitment through soft skills. It should be remembered that these are aptitudes that cannot be learned. They are therefore more difficult to teach than hard skills. At the same time, an employee who already possesses varied emotional competencies may be able to acquire the more technical skills essential to their role within the company. Furthermore, focusing on candidates' emotional intelligence allows recruiters to find employees who:

• Adapt better to the company culture;
• Positively impact productivity within work teams;
• Work toward the company's overall performance;
• Have the ability to evolve with changes and innovations that emerge over time.

In conclusion, it should be noted that the constant evolution of different sectors of professional life makes soft skills essential in recruitment for the survival of companies.