In healthcare or any industry, it’s a constant challenge finding the right person for the right position. In skilled nursing for instance, we need nurses who are trained and experienced in performing assessments, managing medications, and charting in the electronic medical record (EMR). These are the hard skills that are required to do the job. Equally as important, and some may argue even more important, are the many soft skills that make all the difference in any industry.
We May Forget We Possess These Skills
We sometimes forget how important our interpersonal talents are in the workplace. These skills develop over time, come with experience, and are sometimes considered personality traits. We may actually not even realize that we possess so many useful soft skills.
What Are Soft Skills?
Soft skills are non-technical, interpersonal skills that we develop over time. They are the flip side of hard skills, which are those that we are specifically trained to perform. Hard skills are more traditional, job-specific and quantifiable and include:
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Graphic design
- Project management
- Market research
- Business analytics
Most of us could not perform these types of skills unless we received training for them. Soft skills, on the other hand, are those qualities that build up through interactions with other people and experiences. They describe how we work on a daily basis.
Examples of Soft Skills
To truly differentiate soft from hard skills, here are some examples of soft skills:
- Communication
- Conflict resolution
- Empathy
- Compassion
- Adaptability
- Attention to detail
- Stress management
- Confidence
- Teamwork
- Accountability
- Creativity
- Flexibility
- Patience
- Work ethic
These types of skills don’t depend on training programs. Instead, they develop over time and we maintain a bank of these skills that we use during certain situations or with particular people we are interacting with.
The Importance of Recruiting and Hiring for Soft Skills
You may have heard this many times in your career – “Hire for personality, train for the job”. You can train a nursing assistant to perform certain competencies like checking vital signs, making beds, performing first aid, and providing personal care. These are hard skills that can be enhanced through workplace training programs.
The Difference Between a Good Employee and a Great Employee
While hard skills are required to be competent at any job, soft skills can be the difference between a good employee and a great employee. It may not be possible to train someone to be more compassionate, self-aware, innovative or accountable. People develop these skills through experience over time.
Final Thoughts on Recruiting for Soft Skills
Finding the right people for the right job is challenging. Hiring the wrong person is expensive. It takes a good balance of hard skills that are required for the job, and a healthy mix of soft skills, that will produce better candidates who will stay with the organization and become tomorrow’s leaders.