How Soft Skills Power Organizational Performance
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The webinar discusses the importance of soft skills in the hiring process, noting that 77% of employers see these skills as equally or more important than hard skills. It emphasizes the necessity of identifying desirable soft skills for each position and strategies for assessing candidates, including behavioral interviewing and improved reference checking. The session also highlights that traditional hiring methods may overlook candidates' soft skills, leading to costly hiring mistakes.
How Soft Skills Power Organizational Performance
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- 8. Hard Skills Skills that are learned to perform a specific job function and are more easily identifiable and quantifiable. Mostly about “what you know” VS Soft Skills Skills that are less tangible, and more associated with one’s traits or personality, that determine how we interact. Mostly about “how you act”.
- 9. Soft Skills: What are they?
- 10. 77% of employers believe that soft skills are just as important as hard skills. 16% said they were MORE important than hard skills. * Source: CareerBuilder 16
- 11. A national survey of job seekers and HR professionals… 43% said that “cultural fit” was the single most important determining factor when making a new hire. * Source: Millennial Branding and Beyond.com
- 12. * Source Harvard Business Review Emotional Intelligence The capacity to recognize your own and other people’s emotions Deal with stress Overcome obtacles Inspire others Manage conflict Happier at work
- 13. * Source: CareerBuilder Flexible 51% Self Motivated 66% Strong Work Ethic 73% Dependable 73% Positive Attitude 72%Team-Oriented 60% Organized 57% Works Well Under Pressure 57% Effective Communicator 56% Confident 46% Hiring managers want more * Source: CareerBuilder
- 14. of newly hired employees will fail within 18 months * Source: “Hire for Attitude” Forbes, January 23, 2012 † Source: “Hiring for attitude: Research & tools to skyrocket your success rate” Mark Murphy, Leadership IQ, 2012 for lack of soft skills – such as professionalism or ability to get along with others Resign yourself to this reality 89%46% Source: Study by Leadership IQ
- 15. Hiring Well is Hard This has probably happened to you before… Person appears perfect… ü dressed well ü great answers ü a sense of confidence You hire him in your organization ….
- 16. And you inevitably end up saying… … But… he interviewed REALLY WELL! Hiring Well is HARD
- 17. What Went Wrong? Traditional Hiring Process: • Review Resumes “Over 50% of candidates lie on resumes…” Steven D. Levitt, co-author “Freakonomics”
- 18. “81% of people lied about themselves during job interviews…” Brent Weiss & Robert Feldman, U Mass What Went Wrong? Traditional Hiring Process: • Review Resumes • Conduct Interviews
- 20. What Went Wrong? “Candidates lie 2.5 times in a 15-minute interview…” Brent Weiss & Robert Feldman University of Massachusetts Traditional Hiring Process: • Review Resumes • Conduct Interviews
- 21. “Research consistently demonstrates that candidates are able to fake personality measures …” International Journal of Selection and Assessment What Went Wrong? “Cognitive ability tests have a high adverse impact for minorities…” SHRM Foundation’s Effective Practice Guidelines Traditional Hiring Process: • Review Resumes • Conduct Interviews • Self Assessments
- 22. Soft Skills are the Hard Part How SHOULD the process work? § Identify a set of soft skills desirable for each position § Obtain information on your candidates’ competencies/soft skills § Use the information to determine which candidate(s) best fit the position and your organization
- 23. Which soft skills are the right soft skills?
- 24. Professionalism Interpersonal Skills Problem Solving and Adaptability Personal Value Commitment Managing Others Leadership True Predictors of Success Proficiency in a short list of competency areas, which focus on soft skills, are the true predictors of success in almost every job.
- 25. Professionalism It’s the “price of entry” and consists of a wide variety of behaviors and skills. Some apply to jobs across the board: - Dependability - Following instructions - Work ethic
- 26. Professionalism Chemical Engineer - Develop and implement comprehensive safety procedures for workers who handle chemicals and operate equipment - Ensure compliance with all relevant safety and environmental regulations (e.g., follow all rules for disposal of hazardous materials Sales Professional - Accurately prepare customer orders, proposals, presentations and out-ward facing communications to customers - Consistently meet or exceed sales goals - Comprehend the sales cycle and follow best practices throughout the entire process
- 27. Interpersonal Skills Having interpersonal skills like the following will make a candidate far more likely to succeed: - Listening - Relationship-building - Collaboration
- 28. Interpersonal Skills Housekeeper - Provide a high level of service to all guests - Remain calm and helpful when handling complains from guests Registered Nurse - Provide others with personal assistance, medical attention, and emotional support in a caring and compassionate manner - Listen carefully to patients and co-workers, taking time to understand and ask appropriate questions without interrupting
- 29. Every job essentially requires the ability to assess and analyze issues as well as adaptability to changing conditions: - Analyzing and summarizing information - Making decisions - Adapting to change Problem Solving and Adaptability
- 30. Problem Solving and Adaptability Help Desk Support - Remain flexible and adapt to variety on the job (e.g., effectively handle unexpected situations and changing conditions) - Handle multiple projects effectively in a fast-paced environment Payroll Clerk - Make high-quality decisions based upon facts and business priorities - Know when to escalate issues to manager in order to ensure prompt resolution to problems
- 31. Personal Value Commitment A candidate’s commitment to values and ethics is a key driver of your own risk exposure. It’s important to know to what degree and applicant possesses: - Integrity - Respect for others - Adherence to standards and policies There are positions that provide employees with access to sensitive personal, financial or security data.
- 32. Personal Value Commitment Graphic Artist - Ensure that all aspects of a project meet or exceed industry standards - Act with ethics and integrity, maintaining confidentiality and privacy of client and company information Controller - Act with ethics and integrity, ensuring that the organization’s financial activities and records meet or exceed accounting standards - Maintain confidentiality and privacy of company and client information
- 33. Hiring Someone to Be in a Position of Power? If so, you’re probably going to need to understand two additional competencies and apply them to determine job success.
- 34. Managing Others While many jobs clearly demand management skills, many others will call on them at times. Skills needed include: - Selecting and retaining talent - Leading a team - Holding others accountable
- 35. Leadership The truly high profile positions call for an even larger set of competencies. Skills needed include: - Setting direction - Managing change - Motivating others
- 36. Leadership Chief Financial Officer - Work with the executive team to develop short and long-term financial plans, objectives, policies and actions - Serve as a trusted advisor to the President and others on challenging solutions Chief Information Officer - Act as a catalyst, communicating the need for change and inspiring action - Create the vision to master information technology as a competitive tool
- 37. Professionalism Interpersonal Skills Problem Solving and Adaptability Personal Value Commitment Managing Others Leadership True Predictors of Success Proficiency in a short list of competency areas, which focus on soft skills, are the true predictors of success in almost every job.
- 38. Soft Skills are the Hard Part How SHOULD the process work? § Identify a set of soft skills desirable for each position § Obtain information on your candidates’ competencies/soft skills § Use the information to determine which candidate(s) best fit the position and your organization
- 39. Obtain information on soft skills Behavioral Interviewing Improved reference checking
- 40. Behavioral Interviewing 1. Make the candidate feel comfortable 2. Ask some traditional questions 3. Ask for a recent situation that included a difficult challenge that she had to solve… ended in SUCCESS ü Ask him/her to tell story briefly ü Then you review the entire story asking questions about what he/she thought, felt, and did throughout ü Example: Describe a problem you faced that was almost overwhelming, and how you got through it. 4. Ask for another that ended in FAILURE, but he/she learned from it ü Example: Give me an example of a time when something you tried to accomplish failed. What did you learn? 5. End on a positive… ask for another success story
- 41. Behavioral Interviewing § Hear how the candidate thinks in situations that involve stress § Get information on how the candidate felt, and if he is aware of his own feelings § Hear how he managed these feelings and the extent to which he was aware of his impact on others
- 42. Behavioral Interviewing Improved reference checking Obtain information on soft skills
- 43. Feedback related to past work performance is the single best predictor of future job success. “When the criterion was academic achievement or job performance, other-ratings yielded predictive validities substantially greater than and incremental to self-ratings.” Connelly & Ones, 2010, p. 1092 “Nothing in the science of prediction and selection beats observing actual performance in an equivalent role.” Peter Cappelli, Director, Center for Human Resources The Wharton School
- 44. Best-in Class Organizations Get the idea The Aberdeen Group’s 2015 Report Best-in-Class organizations are 2.1 times more likely to use online reference checking
- 45. § Published in the International Journal of Selection and Assessment § Web-based, multisource reference checking ü More candidate info in shorter time ü Predicts involuntary turnover ü No statistical differences in results based on race, gender or age Online Reference Checking
- 46. Reference Checking Tips § Ask for 5 references—2 managers and 3 co-workers § Ask very specific questions § “Considering how Sarah compares to others who have worked in this same position..” § “On a scale of 1 to 7, how would you rate Sarah on her ability to demonstrate high personal standards in dealing with others?” § Ask the hard questions § “Starting with the most important, please comment on the top 3 ways in which Sarah can improve her performance. We realize no one is perfect; in fact, we find that the majority of references provide helpful information in this area.”
- 47. Question? Michelle Reed CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER SKILLSURVEY @reedmichelle13 mreed@skillsurvey.com ww.linkedin.com/in/reedmichelle13
- 48. Thank You Improve your selection process through feedback from references on soft-skills Try it out for free: www.skillsurvey.com/tryit
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