Key Points:
- Soft skills can give insight into how a candidate will handle working remotely and how they will fit in culturally.
- Specific soft skills are needed to succeed in the market shift towards a primarily remote working environment.
- Working with a recruiter you feel connected to is key to ensuring a smooth interview process in a remote position.
Soft skills, also known as interpersonal skills, are desirable qualities for certain forms of employment that do not depend on acquired knowledge. Some examples of high in-demand soft skills include time management, creative thinking, and adaptability. Now more than ever, employers emphasize soft skills in a remote work environment to ensure a potential candidate will successfully work in a remote work environment and be a great culture fit.
To better understand soft skills’ importance and which are necessary today, we interviewed some of SPECTRAFORCE‘s recruiters; Derian Carroll, Komal Narang, Sadaf Qureshi, and Mia Meyer. During the interview, they answered vital questions that can help candidates going through the interview process hone in on their skills and help them stand out.
Do employers prioritize soft skills in their candidate search when having remote employees?
Derian: Overall, yes, but it can also depend on the hiring manager. Since people are remote, it’s important that potential employees can be self-sufficient and self-motivated. Those soft skills allow employers to trust their employees in remote jobs.
Komal: In this remote working era, workplace flexibility and adaptability are essential.
Sadaf: Soft skills are fundamental due to the work environment change to communicate effectively with their team.
Mia: Soft skills are sometimes not always in a resume but shine through in the interview process. So, recruiters must identify these soft skills during the interview process.
What are the top 3 soft skills for a remote working environment?
Derian: Time management, patience, and work ethic
Komal: Flexibility, time management, and emotional intelligence
Sadaf: Adaptability, collaboration, and patience
Mia: Adapting, communicating, and collaboration
How do SPECTRAFORCE recruiters identify the soft skills needed for a role?
Derian: They are various ways to see soft skills with candidates, including one’s intuition after speaking with a candidate, asking real-life scenarios, and behavioral questions.
Komal: As a recruiter, I need to get to know the candidate to understand their skillsets better. So I ask each candidate open-ended and behavioral questions to get to know what soft skills are their strong suit.
Sadaf: We ask situational-based questions to understand better how the candidate collaborates with the team and how they adapt to different environments.
How can you gauge if a candidate will thrive in a remote environment as a recruiter?
Derian: Full communication and emotional intelligence through the remote process are vital to a collaborative approach and ensuring everyone is comfortable.
Komal: Building a relationship with the candidate during the interview process is key for the recruiter and the potential team members to better understand how the candidate responds to communication in a remote environment.
Sadaf: Asking questions about their past remote work experience, including how they manage their time, is a great way to gauge whether a candidate will thrive in a new remote work environment.
Mia: I always evaluate whether a candidate has worked in a remote work environment before and get to know how a candidate feels about working in a remote position.
At SPECTRAFORCE, our recruiters care deeply about our candidates finding NEWJOBPHORIA®. As a SPECTRAFORCE recruiter, what extra measures are taken during this remote work shift to get to know your candidates?
Derian Carroll: Due to the current hiring market, it’s essential to be transparent with candidates on how they feel throughout the process and what other offers they may have in their pipeline. So at SPECTRAFORCE, we aim to fully communicate all details about the role and ask as many questions about candidate preferences.
Komal Narang: Additional steps, such as additional video calls, have been taken during this remote work shift to ensure the candidate will be a great fit and check for authentic connections.
Sadaf Qureshi: Building a great relationship with our candidates is a big part of finding NEWJOBPHORIA® for them, so we must have full communication throughout the process and get to know the candidate to understand their preferences.
Mia Meyer: Transparency is a huge aspect of making the process easy. A candidate that provides complete transparency builds trust and a positive experience overall.
So, if you are in the midst of your job search, have open communication with the recruiter as they try to find the best fit for you. If you’re looking for NEWJOBPHORIA®, we would love to help you! You can find more information about open jobs here.
