Businesses suffering due to lack of employee soft skills

The latest research indicates that employers in the UK are not thinking enough about the importance of soft skills during the recruitment process, leading to performance issues among new hires.

This research found that 75% of employers – which adds up to three quarters of them – had hired a candidate based solely on their technical skills, only to find that a lack of soft skills undermined their performance. What is meant by the term ‘soft skills’ is things like emotional intelligence and the ability to communicate and work well with other people.

During an interview with HR Magazine, Rufus Hood from the Coople recruitment company outlined a possible way for businesses to avoid that problem. He suggested that group interviews should be organised by HR departments:

“Invite a group of candidates into the office to participate in group tasks as part of the interview process. This way, candidates have the opportunity to showcase their interpersonal skills, and employers can get a better sense of which candidates would be a good fit for the team.”

Those types of skills can also help new hires to adjust to the culture of the company they have joined. That will be easier for them if the firm has a clearly defined culture and that is something a company culture consultant can assist with.

Criteria Corp founder Josh Millet pointed out that soft skills can be learned by many people who do not possess them. He argued that employers should be on the lookout for candidates with the willingness and aptitude to learn.