Soft Skills, an opportunity against AI and automation

Soft skills are competencies such as adaptability, creativity, the ability to learn at work, critical thinking, teamwork, having a global mindset, diverse thinking, and emotional intelligence.

We are certain that the restructuring of a large part of the industries, companies and jobs will continue due to the widespread use of technologies such as automation and AI.

The prevailing tendency is that AI can help to solve problems in a more assertive and faster way: thus, HR must work in differentiation and employability by focusing in the tasks and functions which AI can’t perform, especially those that require creativity and social skills.

According to LinkedIn, 92% of recruiters value soft skills equally or higher giving than hard skills, nevertheless only 41% have formal metrics to assess them.

The main problem is that interviewers don’t know how to measure Soft Skills, since they depend on questions which are based on the observation of a candidate’s behavior and body language.

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68% of recruiters evaluate Soft Skills by observation during interviews. HR must start by developing formal measurement processes which evaluate problem solving abilities and by conducting virtual drills that assess communication skills, leadership, and collaborative skills.

The recruiter is the responsible for the company’s social skills

Organizations still base their recruitment decisions on technical skills, because they often don’t know how to adequately measure soft skills.

Still, HR must know that it is easier to acquire technical skills through training, than to develop social skills: thus, the recruiter has to be sensitive to the specific requirements related the job, the position, the function, and needs of the clients.

Some recruiters seek to assess the personality of a candidate in a job interview, but these kinds of measurements don’t allow them to observe the soft skills a candidate possesses.

3 tips for recruiters

1. Initially, applicants must be filtered to ensure they meet the minimum requirements for a given position, and then look for the desired/preferred skills.

2. The best way to refine the acquisition of talent from universities is to conduct a pure soft skills evaluation process, in order to focus their training solely on the technical processes of the organization.

3. When hiring, HR we must be clear about the strengths and weaknesses of a candidate against the alternatives provided by AI.

Make the assessment of Soft Skills your best ally

Recruiters fight every day in the face of talent shortages, low unemployment rates in certain sectors, and obstacles created by prejudices such as educational requirements and years of experience.

In the fight for the best talent, HR should not limit itself to simply meeting the requirements and should be open to candidates who despite not fully complying with all these requirements still have a high potential to carry out the job.

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