Nowadays, it is quite common to have heard of Soft Skills. These type of skills are becoming more and more important in selection process and are becoming a key aspect in the evaluation of candidates by the professionals in charge of selection and recruitment. What does a company look for when selecting personnel for a specific job?
Hard skills vs. soft skills
First, let's talk about hard skills, which are those technical skills, knowledge acquired and developed over the years through work experience or academic training. On the other hand, when we talk about soft skills, we are referring to those characteristics or skills that are becoming more and more essential, those skills that make us stand out as good professionals.
What are the most in-demand Soft Skills?
Currently, the characteristics that companies value most in their employees when it comes to internal promotion, or in the selection processes of new talent in the company are:
Communication skills: Within this skill, we find different aspects that make it up and by which we can detect whether a candidate has the ability or not. These components are: active listening, empathy, emotional validation, non-verbal language, verbal language, reading and writing and last but not least, respect.
Ability to acquire, process and develop information: This competence translates to when a candidate is autonomous, critical and reflective when selecting and evaluating information and its sources, in order to then use it correctly applied to their responsibilities and tasks.
Decision-making: It is about considering a problem or a situation and knowing how to reach a valid conclusion, having previously examined all the alternatives.
Conflict resolution: Knowledge or skills, put into practice when it comes to being a facilitator or intervening in a conflict, in order to achieve an effective and peaceful resolution.
Teamwork: Undoubtedly, an essential soft skill and highly demanded by companies and HR personnel. When we talk about teamwork, we are talking about the integrated effort of people to achieve a project, it involves the coordination of all people who are part of it in order to achieve common objectives.
Time management: This skill is also composed of planning, organization and prioritization of tasks. It is the conscious control of what we make of the time dedicated to specific activities. A skill that, if well-developed, should enable us to be more effective, efficient and productive.
Negotiation skills: This soft skill is highly required and valued by vacancies that involve dealing with customers, especially for commercial profiles. In this case, we are talking about the person's ability to exert influence over another to reach a satisfactory agreement for both parties.
These are the skills that are most sought after in a professional during the selection process, but at the end of the day, the balance between technical skills (hard skills) and interpersonal skills (soft skills) will be what will allow you to be successful in your future projects.
