Assessing soft skills in interviews

Soft skills are now increasingly taken into account in the decision of recruiters. Behavioral skills, these generally describe communication skills, critical thinking, adaptability, creativity and thinking “out of the box”. Even on very technical functions, this notion is essential, in particular the ability to collaborate and work in a team and autonomy.

It is often during the job interview that we can identify and assess soft skills. The recruiter must then adopt a posture of openness and empathy by letting the candidate speak and carefully observing his attitude.

An attitude of active listening made of open questions, allows to collect information on the behavioral skills of the candidate. By asking to describe situations experienced, the recruiter will, for example, have a better overview of the candidate’s ability to work under pressure, his way of communicating, his professional ethics.

Soft skills are also to be found in the posture of the candidate during the interview. Is the candidate curious about the rest of the process? Is he talking about money? Does he show his desire to work with the company? It is then a question of looking for the soft skills relating to the position to be filled and consistent with the values ​​of the company.

The use of personality tests, psychometric tests and simulations can support the assessment during the interview. The results must be integrated into the identification of soft skills by forming the starting point for a discussion with the candidate.

These are key elements to facilitate and above all make the recruitment process more reliable.

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