How to assess soft skills in an interview
NIKOLETTA BIKA
Contributor
LinkedInFacebookTwitterMessengerEmailBufferWhatsAppCopy Link
How can you tell whether a candidate who looks good ‘on paper’
will be good ‘in person’? Soft skills make all the difference. Soft
skills are the personal qualities that make people easy to work with.
Despite their fuzzy name, they’re critical for job performance
and cultural fit.
Soft skills are hard to quantify. Candidates can only claim to
possess soft skills in their resumes, soft skills can be difficult to
measure in stressful group interviews and the effectiveness of
personality tests is controversial.
Interview questions are the best way to assess soft skills,
particularly when they’re part of a structured interview
process. Interview questions offer unique benefits that tests can’t
provide: personal interaction and follow up questions.
Why soft skills matter
Hard skills are a good starting point. You’ll likely need a marketing
manager who knows about marketing principles and holds a
business degree. But, are those enough to make them perfect for
the job?
Most employers would say no. Soft skills drive career advancement
and make people successful. Marketing managers should also be
leaders who communicate well and think critically. Employers can
find a knowledgeable candidate. But, that candidate mightn’t be
able to collaborate effectively, solve complex problems or go the
extra mile, all of which are vital for business.
Soft skills matter even in ‘hard’ disciplines, like computer science.
A developer doesn’t just write code; they need to innovate,
collaborate, meet deadlines and understand end users’
perspectives. These skills aren’t necessarily taught in computer
science programs.
Move the right people forward faster
Easily collaborate with hiring teams to evaluate applicants, gather
fair and consistent feedback, check for unconscious bias, and
decide who’s the best fit, all in one system.
Start evaluating candidates
What soft skills should I look for?
Necessary soft skills vary across jobs. An executive assistant
should be detail-oriented but doesn’t necessarily need leadership
skills. Often, different jobs require the same soft skills for different
reasons. For example, interpersonal skills are valuable for
salespeople and accountants. Salespeople need
strong interpersonal skills to persuade and build rapport.
Accountants need strong interpersonal skills to present data and
explain accounting details.
No matter the context, there are a few soft skills that are highly
sought after:
•
Communication
•
Teamwork
•
Leadership
•
Adaptability
•
Critical thinking
•
Work ethic
Important soft skills vary by company too. According to a 2014 U.S.
News and World Report article, Google is looking for agile learning,
leadership, intellectual humility and “an inquisitive nature.” In
a 2011 interview posted in the Wall Street Journal, former HR
Director of Microsoft India, Joji Gill, said Microsoft look for
“candidates who are real and open-minded. Individuals who do not
have any preconceived notions…who are flexible.” She added
that integrity, accountability and “how self-critical the individual is”
are also important.
It’s difficult to find candidates who combine all the soft skills you’re
looking for. And assessing them is tricky. Interviewers often judge
soft skills subjectively and end up hiring people who are similar to
them. But, if you use effective questions during a structured
interview, you have a better chance of getting it right and
noticing candidates’ red flags.
What kind of interview questions should I use?
Asking behavioral and situational questions is a good approach.
These questions are open-ended, allowing candidates to talk about
their individual experiences in their own way. They also encourage
follow up questions, so interviewers can clarify points and better
understand candidates’ responses.
Behavioral interview questions ask candidates to draw on their
past experiences. Usually, behavioral questions begin with “Tell
about a time when…” Candidates will often answer with the STAR
approach (Situation – Task – Action – Result):
“I was leading a team on a software development project when I
noticed two team members weren’t getting along (Situation). I had
to find a way to diffuse tensions and help them find common
ground (Task). I invited them both for a 1:1 meeting to hear their
side of the story and then we all met together (Action). After a
fruitful discussion, they were able to respect each other and
communicate better (Result).”
Even if candidates don’t consciously use the STAR approach, this
rubric can help you assess their answers.
Situational interview questions are hypothetical. You can develop
relevant situational questions based on what a candidate would be
likely to face if they landed the job. Or, you can use common
questions like:
“If you were falling behind schedule, what would you do?”
Download our free guide for complete instructions on how to create
effective interview questions.
Here are examples of interview questions you can use
to assess important soft skills:
Communication
•
•
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult colleague.
What did you do to communicate properly?
How would you explain this term to someone from a different
discipline?
Teamwork
•
•
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a team member who
constantly opposed your ideas
How would you react if a team leader encouraged competition
between team members instead of collaboration?
Leadership
•
•
Tell me about a time you took the lead when your team was in a
difficult position
What would you do if your team members disagreed with your
instructions?
Adaptability
•
•
Tell me about a time when a project’s priorities changed
suddenly and you had to adapt
What would you do if you were assigned multiple tasks with the
same deadline?
Critical thinking
•
•
Tell me about a time you had to make a decision with
incomplete information
If you spotted a mistake in a report but your manager wasn’t
available, what would you do?
Work ethic
•
•
Tell me about a time you faced an ethical dilemma at work
If you discovered your supervisor was breaking the company’s
code of conduct, what would you do?
How do I score candidates?
Soft skills like assertiveness and extraversion might seem obvious
when talking to a candidate. And communication skills are often
unofficially assessed through body language. But, keep in mind
that candidates’ behavior during interviews may not represent how
they act in general. Relying on intuition to judge candidates may
lead to a bad hire. And not trying to control interviewers’
biases harms diversity, because we tend to like people who’re
similar to us. That can be bad for companies.
So, what can you do? Structured interviews are more reliable hiring
tools because they reduce biases and allow for more objective
scoring. They can be used by multiple interviewers who can
aggregate their assessments of candidates, reducing the role of
individual bias.
In structured interviews, you use a predefined list of interview
questions (and follow up questions) to assess important soft skills.
You ask all your candidates the same questions, in the exact same
order, and record how you rate their responses. By using this score
system, you can provide effective interview feedback to your
candidates in the case that they want to.
What is a skills assessment?
Scoring system
You can choose whatever scoring system you find most helpful.
You can use a rating system with five levels ranging from low to
high. Or you can use a pass/fail format when evaluating a
response.
According to an example from the US Office of Personnel
Management, you can score interpersonal skills with the following
scale:
•
•
•
Level 1- Low: Handles interpersonal situations involving little or
no tension or discomfort and requires close guidance
Level 3- Average: Handles interpersonal situations involving a
moderate degree of tension or discomfort and requires
occasional guidance
Level 5- Outstanding: Handles interpersonal situations
involving a high degree of tension or discomfort and advises
others
Workable makes it easy to evaluate soft skills through its interview
kits feature. You can create printable scorecards with interview
questions grouped by category (e.g. people skills or critical
thinking) and add evaluations. It allows for a flexible and structured
process. Here’s a scorecard example:
It has a three-point rating format Yes, No and Definitely. You can
create multiple scorecards for each stage of the hiring process
(phone screen, executive interview, etc.) You can also aggregate all
your hiring managers’ evaluations for each candidate.
Resources for the structured interview process
•
Structured interview questions: Tips and examples for hiring
•
How to explain your structured interview process to candidates
•
Interview process and strategies: a comprehensive FAQ guide
•
The pros & cons of interview scorecards