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Based on the type of industry, job or company, employers look for specific technical abilities in applicants.

However, despite the fact that these abilities are very crucial, there are interpersonal “soft skills” that hiring managers are also trying to find when hiring people for almost any job in their organization, a study has revealed that a person’s soft skills can be a great an indicator of their future job performance.

Soft skills are generally considered to be a group of interpersonal abilities that are desirable for an employee in almost any position, skills like good communication ability and the ability to learn on the job. When we refer to soft skills, we are talking about personal attributes, as well as verbal and nonverbal behavior. For instance, those who are fair and compassionate are easy to work with on a daily basis. Managers love to have employees with a strong work ethic because they know they will put in the time and effort to get most any job done.

Below is a short list of essential soft skills you should be looking for in applicants.

1. Ability to Stay Upbeat

More of a disposition than a skill per se, a generally upbeat attitude helps immensely during tough times and can even help to turn around a bad situation. Having staff members with positive dispositions can also have a contagious effect on others. This can be invaluable given that it only takes a handful of pessimistic people to bring down a team of employees or even the company in its entirety.

2. Strong Work Ethic

Obviously, you want to hire people who will work hard for your company.

Work ethic is one of those things that really can’t be taught: Either you have it or you don’t. The trick is – figuring out which candidates are hard workers and which ones are not. A good approach to assessing work ethic is to ask applicants to give examples from their past of times they went above-and-beyond what was expected of them.

3. Good Communication Ability

The capability to be a solid communicator can’t be overrated. To flourish in any workforce, an employee has to understand how to communicate and pay attention effectively with co-workers, supervisors and clients.

Good communication is particularly tricky in the era of digital communication, when emails, chat messages and even voicemails can easily be misinterpreted. Fortunately, communication ability is easy to assess during a hiring process, when you are talking, emailing and meeting face-to-face with applicants.

4. Ability to Learn and Adapt

Almost all jobs today require computer-based technological knowledge and given the rapid rate of technological change – all employers should be prioritizing candidates who can learn to work with new hardware and software. They should also be able to roll with the punches when a new, very different version of a favorite program comes out.

Let Us Help Your Company Find Candidates with The Right Stuff

At Cornerstone, we specialize in finding job candidates with the technical abilities and the soft skills that our clients are seeking. Please contact us today to find out how we can support your company’s hiring process.


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