Want more soft skills in IT? Tweak your interview process
John Maglione, WWT Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist, authored a blog post for The Enterprisers Project on the soft skills now demanded by tech recruiters and how to find them in IT professionals.
Posted by The Enterprisers Project on May 3, 2018:
What are the essential soft skills for IT pros, and how do you find them in interviewees? Try these 3 creative approaches
Often, tech employees who leave a company do so within the first 12 months of being hired. Most of the time, the technology work itself isn't the issue. It's the culture. Similarly, companies that hire based on tech skills alone tend to miss out on candidates who could be better culture fits. This problem can and must be addressed at the very beginning – the interview.
When a candidate participates in activity-based interviewing, soft skills start to emerge. They become more natural and less guarded or rehearsed. Incorporating interactive activities or games gives you, the company, an opportunity to witness how a candidate communicates, how they think through spontaneous roadblocks, how analytical they are in approaching problems, whether they are natural at collaborating with other people or whether they tend to be more of a "do it yourself" type of person. These qualities can tell you much more about who a person is and how they will fit into your culture than a list of technological skills.
First, let's take a closer look. What are the soft skills that tech recruiters are now demanding? I call them the "Six C's of Culture Fit."
Critical thinking– Tech professionals should possess a skillset to analyze situations, evaluate issues, determine risks, identify potential problems, and find opportunities for project or program success and achievement.
Creativity– Recruits must be able to think outside of the box to develop new ideas or generate creative solutions to overcome existing roadblocks or potential pitfalls.