Anybody who has been in business for any amount of time knows how critical it is to hire wisely. I’ve written before about the importance of “getting the right people on the bus.”
Not only can hiring the wrong person slow your business’s growth—it can also cost you a lot of money. In addition to the cost of recruiting, interviewing, and hiring, you generally have costs associated with training, benefits, and equipment.
So what should you look for in a new employee? A lot of companies tend to focus on what they refer to as “hard” skills. If they are looking for an engineer, they look for someone with good engineering skills. If they are looking for a graphic designer, they want someone who knows how to use InDesign and Photoshop. Those things are important, but there’s another side to the equation.
Guy Berger, Ph.D., is an economist at LinkedIn. He recently wrote about the importance of Soft Skills (click here to read his post). In his article he listed the 10 most in-demand soft skills businesses have today:
- Communication
- Organization
- Teamwork
- Punctuality
- Critical Thinking
- Social Skills
- Creativity
- Interpersonal Communication
- Adaptability
- Friendly Personality
You could argue that most of those things have nothing to do with the hard skills of being a good engineer or graphic designer. But an engineer who can’t communicate his views, or is totally inflexible about solutions will have a hard time working with the rest of your team. A designer who is completely disorganized or only wants to do this his or her way probably won’t give you the creative results you need.
What that means at hiring time is that you need to think through the questions you ask potential employees to get an idea of how they would work in a team atmosphere. Instead of just evaluating their abilities in “concrete” areas, try to get a feel for how they would approach and solve problems with the rest of the team.
Interestingly, Berger also listed the 10 least in-demand soft skills. They include:
- Business Planning
- Cross-functional Team Leadership
- Emotional Intelligence
- Team Building
- Coaching
- Management
- Analysis
- Team Management
- Resume Writing
- Business
It doesn’t mean those things have no value, but they are much less important than the other skills mentioned earlier. In your interview process, these might fall into the “nice-to-have” category—assuming that the other skills are present.
We know that people are a vitally important part of any business. People with good skills are absolutely critical to your business’s success. Just make sure that they prospects you consider also have the soft skills they need to take full advantage of the hard skills they possess.
Need help growing your business? With over 35 years of experience and thousands of companies assisted, Chuck Kocher and The Transformation Company can help you scale your business into a truly exceptional business capable of high growth strategies. Businesses are always changing, don’t let yours be left behind. Stand out with our business and executive leadership programs – designed to challenge and improve your business. Your business will thank you for it. Contact me today for a free consultation! 719-339-9505