While the history on your resume is impressive, that’s not all it takes to get the job. Soft skills – truly the foundational job requirements – aren’t skills everyone has. Employers can teach the hard skills, technical and job-specific abilities, but they can’t teach soft skills. Recruiters and hiring managers are on the lookout for these during the interview. Today’s candidate needs developed interpersonal communication skills. Why do so many recruiters and hiring managers feel these skills are more important?

Every profession has a set of soft skills to serve as a foundation for professional decorum. In fact, 77% of employers say they are looking for candidates with soft skills. Over three-quarters… that’s a vast majority.What are soft skills? Having soft skills means you’re dependable, a problem solver, flexible, creative and a good fit for the company’s culture. Hiring managers also look for soft skills like having the ability to coach co-workers, accept and give feedback and take initiative.

3 R’S – RESPONSIBLE, RELIABLE, RESPONSIVE

• Responsible – Employers want candidates they can count on. Whether it’s showing up to work on time or getting projects done by the deadline, you have to be able to show the recruiter and hiring manager that you’re dependable in the workplace. You have to show employers you’re responsible before, during and after the interview. Research the company, be prepared and be on time for the job interview. The secondworst thing you can do in an interview is show up late. 60% of employment professionals agree this can ruin your chances of getting the job.
• Reliable – Don’t lie on the application or in your resume. Employers often do social background checks to see correlations, or lack thereof, about qualifications. A study by CareerBuilder found that 24% of the rejected candidates lied about their qualifications during the hiring process.
• Responsive – Do you ask questions during the interview? Do you answer questions appropriately with enough detail? These are things recruiters and hiring managers look at in determining your fit for the position. They want their employees to be able to give and receive feedback appropriately.

3 C’S – CREATIVE, COMMUNICATIVE, CULTURAL FIT

• Creative – Creativity is certainly something employers can’t teach candidates. You can teach new hires how to use the company software; however, you can’t teach someone how to think of new and creative ways to accomplish their daily tasks and major projects. The creative giant, Adobe, published a whitepaper detailing hiring managers’ thoughts about the skills necessary for candidates. The study said, “94% [of hiring managers] agree creativity is key when evaluating candidates and prefer those with creative skills over conventional skills by more than 5 to 1.”
• Communicative – The 2013 State of St. Louis Workforce Report found more than 60% of employers said Millennial candidates don’t have the necessary communication and interpersonal skills to survive in a job after graduation. Exhibit a confidence and ease during the interview or any other interaction with the recruiter and the employer to show your communication skills are up to par with the minimum soft skill job requirements.
• Cultural fit – Last, but not least, the highly discussed cultural fit. 43% of hiring managers feel cultural fit isthe single most important thing in a job interview when assessing candidates. Why? It’s because out of the new hires who don’t succeed in their new positions within the first 18 months, 89% of the new hires fail because of attitudinal reasons. Assessing first for cultural fit saves organizations time, money and energy in employee turnover rates.

Today, recruiters look at more than just your training and education because that isn’t always indicative of your fit in the company. They want candidates who will fit culturally, but display the agility for training and development when the onboarding process begins. Developing your soft skills is the key to landing the job, so make sure your interview speaks louder than your resume when it comes to applying for new opportunities. Bottom line, employers are looking for responsible, reliable, responsive, creative, communicative and culturally fit candidates… how do your soft skills match up to the competition? 

Bio: Julie Salerno, VP Sales

Julie Salerno provides guidance and leadership to GreenJobInterview’s sales team and is responsible for the ongoing growth of the company’s revenues and profitability. She is involved in strategic planning, helping to managing the company’s resources, and improving its business processes.

Previously, she served as a partner and senior executive recruiter at Personnel Strategies, Inc.

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