What is the argument for hiring on the basis of hard and soft skills?

As we found in our guide to broadening your talent pool, skills-based recruiting strategies may be increasingly useful in a volatile hiring landscape. Promoting a skills-based recruitment approach means that job applicants are assessed on their competencies, abilities and proven performance, as opposed to on the basis of their qualifications. 

A well-rounded candidate may demonstrate a combination of both hard and soft skills. Some hard and soft skills are more applicable to certain roles than others. Being able to identify these skills can help employers to achieve aims like closing skills gaps, nurturing leadership skills and broadening the range of perspectives and voices at a business. 

But to understand how to hire for these skills, it can be useful to discern between soft skills vs hard skills. That way, employers can filter out what soft and hard skills they’re looking for, establish how to interview for them and how they can train their employees in them. 

Soft skills vs hard skills: a definition

The difference between hard and soft skills generally comes down to how they’re acquired and applied. Broadly speaking, hard skills are learned skills while soft skills are interpersonal attributes.

Understanding hard skills

Hard skills are the technical skills a person must have to perform their job role. Individuals can acquire these industry-specific skills through education, experience and on-the-job training.

During the hiring process, you may use recruitment tools (such as our Employer Tools) to screen potential candidates for these strengths, including listing hard skills in job descriptions. Some common examples of hard skills include:

• Foreign languages
• Forecasting
• Investment analysis
• Software development
• Structured Query Language proficiency
• Excel skills
• Risk analysis
• Preventative vehicle maintenance
• Diagnostic testing
• Health informatics
• Electronic health records management
• Medical imaging software

Your employees can learn hard skills through training, apprenticeships or on-the-job opportunities.

Keeping hard skills relevant in changing industries

While soft skills tend to be important regardless of industry, hard skills can become redundant or less valuable over time. Employers might therefore need to identify what hard skills they need in order to stay relevant and up-to-date in their industry. This could involve looking at what hard skills will be useful in the future as their business grows. 

Growing businesses might find that they need to hire more candidates with a cybersecurity background, or upskill current employees in cybersecurity knowledge. In our guide what is cybersecurity for business, we explain how this can range from basic cybersecurity literacy, to preventing sophisticated attacks using a team of professionals.

Identifying hard skills gaps

Skills gaps may be more likely to emerge when a role calls for specialist hard skills. Cybersecurity skills gaps, for instance, can be important to identify. Given that the most important hard skills change quickly in fast-paced industries such as science, technology and the arts, businesses may benefit from regularly reviewing what hard skills are needed for them to thrive. 

Hard skills and automation

With more businesses using automation for IT and HR processes, some hard skills that candidates already possess may become less relevant. This means that employers may have to look for other skills that employees can bring to the table. Having a human front remains crucial for businesses and soft skills play a key role in this area. Soft skills enable employees to effectively communicate employer branding, core messages and company ethics. This is where the strength of soft skills comes in.

Understanding soft skills

While hard skills have clear definitions, soft skills are more abstract and subjective, which can make them harder to quantify. Sometimes called interpersonal skills, these refer to personal behaviours and attributes that enable individuals to interact effectively with management, colleagues and clients.

Non-technical soft skills may include:

• Problem-solving
• Adaptability
• Ability to work in a team
• Communication skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Leadership
• Attention to detail
• Self-motivation
• Self-regulation
• Time management
• Creativity
• Work ethic
• Dependability

Unlike industry-specific hard skills, soft skills are often transferable from one field to another. For example, in customer-facing roles, employees can leverage their soft skills to offer empathy and understanding when assisting clients in navigating challenges. In a collaborative environment, soft skills may help employees communicate more effectively when it comes to sharing ideas and providing feedback.

Soft skills and the digital workplace

In a digital workplace, the most desirable soft skills may be different to those in traditional office spaces. While employers might identify digital skills (such as coding) as hard skills, the UK government describes communication as one of the most important digital skills to have. Being able to effectively communicate via email, video conferencing tools and messaging tools is important for employees in remote or hybrid roles.

How to interview for hard skills versus soft skills

In addition to reviewing a candidate’s CV, you can tailor interview questions to identify skills and determine their suitability for the role. You might also use assessments that target both hard and soft skills to pinpoint the skill sets of your current employees. These assessments can help you identify your workers’ strengths and growth opportunities and form teams that make the most of everyone’s skill sets.

Interviewing for hard skills

You can assess hard skills using tools and tests that gauge an individual’s ability to perform industry- or job-related tasks. For example, depending on the position you’re filling, you may conduct a basic writing or maths competency assessment, work sample test or simulated job task.

Interviewing for soft skills

Soft skills can be harder to measure, so you may need to use a more dynamic approach to gather the necessary information. It’s important to plan your questions to help you accurately assess a candidate’s interpersonal strengths. Some questions you may ask include:

• What is a project you’re proud of?
• Can you share an experience where you collaborated with a team to successfully complete a project?
• Would you rather meet a deadline and provide an acceptable product or miss a deadline to provide an excellent product?
• Do you have experience in solving complex problems?

Related: Competency-based interviews

Strategies for fostering hard and soft skills on your team

You can create a more dynamic and adaptable workforce and effectively meet the challenges of today’s workplace by focusing on both hard and soft skills. Managers may find success in using a variety of strategies, including:

• Targeted training programmes, such as technical workshops for hard skills and communication workshops for soft skills.
• Mentorship or job shadowing programmes that pair less experienced workers with more experienced employees who can help them develop their skill sets through practical advice and experience.
• Project-based learning that requires a mix of hard and soft skills, empowering team members to develop their skills in a real-world environment.
• Performance reviews that focus on helping employees pinpoint their strengths and develop plans for addressing their growth opportunities.

When interviewing candidates, it is usually easy to determine if they have the necessary hard skills for the job, but it is often important to ensure they have the soft skills necessary to complement the rest of your team. Strategic recruiting and hiring individuals with the right mix of strengths can help advance your business’s culture and productivity. Whether you’re putting together teams or choosing the right hire, evaluating how their skills fit your business’s needs can help you direct your efforts.