Evaluating candidates for soft skills is a very important role that recruiters have to play in the hiring process. Doing a soft skills assessment on candidates to determine whether a candidate is a good fit for the position in terms of behaviour, thinking capability, and communication is not an easy task for recruiters. Soft skill assessment helps recruiters to understand who can fit into company culture and qualify candidates for hiring managers. 

What are soft skills?

Soft skills are the non-technical skills that are needed to do a job. Individuals with soft skills can interact with others, develop new ideas, and flourish in their environment. Here are some popular soft skill tests:

• Good communication
• Adaptability
• Problem-solving
• Conflict resolution
• Teamwork
• Initiative
• Responsibility
• Critical observation
• Integrity

There are  several different ways recruiters can assess a candidate's soft skills. We talked to several experts and this is what they said about conducting skill assessments:

Having a broad conversations with candidates

As the recruiter, you must communicate with candidates more than your HR talks. Your HR team is busy and does not have time for pre-screening, phone calls, or meetings with each possible candidate. You can conduct screenings, and candidates can ask questions about the position. As a result, you have the opportunity to ask soft skills questions.

You can ask candidates to discuss the soft skills listed on their application materials. Or, you can ask them how they have used their soft skills in the previous company. 

Ensure you prepare notes in your recruiting software whenever you interview a candidate. You can compare their answers throughout the hiring process for consistency.

Jay Singh, Founder of Appvital

Sending a Job-fit tests

A job-fit test helps you determine whether a candidate would fit nicely or not? You can distribute the unique test to different candidates. The test will be all about asking candidates their personal preferences. These might include questions about the work environment and work with others.

You can use the job-fit test as a soft skills assessment. You can also modify the job-fit test as a soft skills questionnaire. It helps you understand each candidate and see if their soft skills match your client's needs.

Randall Averitte, President and CEO at Remote Raven

Using one way video Interviews

One-way video interviews are a popular method for screening the candidates. Video interviewing process, the recruiter sends a set of questions in which Candidates need to record their responses to interview questions at their own time and convenience. This process makes it more suitable for candidates and more accessible for recruiters to gauge soft skills. So ultimately, it’s a win-win situation.

Vikram Seth, Co-founder of Ducknowl

Behavioural Tests

In Behavioural interview questions, ask candidates about past experiences and what kind of challenges they faced in the last company. That way, you can get a better idea of their personalities. Behavioural interview questions also let you evaluate each candidate's soft skills.

I am writing here some example questions you could ask to find out more about the candidate's soft skills:

• Communication: Can you tell me when you and one of your co-workers miscommunicated in the last company? How did you handle that situation?
• Adaptability: Tell me about a time you had to learn an entirely new method or system for doing your work. How did you react?
• Initiative: Tell me about a time there was a problem at work. What did you do to fix it?
• Teamwork: Do you have the ability to work with the team? Was there a time when there was an argument in the group? How did you handle it?
• Responsibility: Can you tell me about a time when you fell behind in your workload? What did you do?
• Integrity: Was there ever a time when you saw a co-worker do something wrong? What did you do?

You can learn more about candidates' soft skills when you ask them to discuss their past experiences. 

Wes Kussmule, CXO at Osmio

Final Thoughts

Hi, My name is Steve valentor, and I have collected these points from some great tech personalities. I hope these suggestions will help you if you are a recruiter. Regardless of which tips you choose, vetting a candidate for soft skills is vital for ensuring that they are capable enough of performing the Job. Soft skill is the first step in identifying the best fit for your job.