You must have heard of STEM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths). These are the skills which are expected to be held by people with a tertiary education degree in the above mentioned subjects. In addition to these, coding is a skill which is said to be in high demand by UK businesses.
The year 2018 was rife, with loads of discussion revolving around this topic. It of course holds great significance for small businesses and start-ups where recruitment, if not done right, hurts financially and risks damaging team morale and therefore productivity.
Interestingly, Google, through their recent research reports ‘Project Oxygen’ and ‘Project Aristotle’, unexpectedly revealed that the characteristics of their best performing and most effective employees are those that align to soft skills.
This forced us to contemplate that Google, being the world’s most desired employers, has competitively established STEM as the basis of their employee recruitment; suggesting that we need to re-prioritise our recruitment focus on soft skills.
Here are 3 soft skills that we should value, giving the recruitment criteria a much needed edge.
Empathy and emotional intelligence
Hiring people who are empathic about others, results in a team that gets things done, and clients that feel understood and listened to. Moreover, it also diminishes any possibility of a personality clash, which might lead to unhelpful distractions. This does not signify that conflicts should be avoided, in fact they give birth to new ideas and outcomes however, the idea is to keep the clashes from becoming personal.
Entrepreneurial approach
People joining your workforce who yearn to become an entrepreneur later in life is a blessing in disguise. They tend to love to take ownership and have a bias for action. In addition to this, they have the appetite to take risk, and devouring progress.
Adaptability to change
As we discussed in our previous blog, embracing change in this fast moving corporate environment is the key forward. The best team members relish this and seize the opportunities that this creates. Those who struggle adapting to change, become resentful of any new direction or approach, and end up draining energy from the rest of the team.
Recruitment has become far tougher in recent years, with more opting for further education, resulting in an ever more competitive marketplace.
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