Soft-serve is great, and soft skills are too. A study conducted by Wonderlic found that 93% of hiring managers viewed soft skills as an “essential” or “very important” element when making hiring decisions. This percentage isn’t that surprising to us.
Even the most skilled employee will create issues for the team if they don’t understand essential soft skills like communication, teamwork, and time management. It’s just a fact.
Starting your next hiring round soon? Before you go, Millennium Omaha presents 7 soft skills fundamental to any successful team.
What is a Soft Skill?
Soft skills relate to how employees work and how they interact with other people. Soft skills are a mix of social and interpersonal skills, character traits, and attitudes towards work. They usually aren’t measurable or industry-specific like technical hard skills.
7 Soft Skills to Seek in Your Next Hire
- Attention to Detail
An employee’s attention to detail says a lot about them. Do they take time to do things right, or do they just want to get work over with? Employees that pay attention to details – even minor ones – are less likely to make mistakes. Fewer mistakes mean more time saved in the long run.
- Adaptability
Work environments constantly change. Your employees need to have high levels of adaptability.
Being adaptable means you can embrace change and adjust to it.
- Time Management
As they say, time is money. Time management means having the ability to use time wisely to work as efficiently as possible. Employees with high levels of time management aren’t likely to work overtime and will finish their work in a timely manner.
- Creativity
Creativity isn’t something limited to artistic fields like design and fashion. Really, having a high level of creativity means being an outside-the-box type of thinker. Your company probably has some stubborn problems or inefficiencies that you’re dealing with. Creativity leads to innovation, which will come in handy for your business.
- Communication
Communication means being able to share ideas with others in an efficient way, and is one of the most important soft skills to master. Communication can be verbal, written, or even through body language. However an employee communicates, the intended message needs to be picked up by the receiver with ease.
- Leadership
Leadership is an employee’s ability to guide, teach, and nurture other employees. A goal for most businesses is to promote strong employees into management positions. Employees with leadership skills show initiative and will be suitable to lead a team.
- Discipline
Sometimes, work can get tough. Even when an employee doesn’t feel like working, discipline means having the control to continue working until the task is complete. Disciplined employees will stay on track with their work, and don’t make excuses.