As an expert staffing service, KB Staffing has a great deal of experience when it comes to screening job applicants for Polk County jobs. One thing we are always on the lookout for is candidates with excellent soft skills. Soft skills are those qualities in an individual that make them suitable for many different types of positions, even some for which they may lack the preferred qualifications.
Identifying Soft Skills
When interviewing a potential new hire, you’ll look at their resume and see what their education level is, their work history, and what technical skills or certifications they may have are. However, soft skills can often be perceived during the interview process itself. At KB Staffing, we’ve noticed a few behaviors that can give clues to the soft skills possessed, or lacking, in an applicant.
- Eye contact. This is a subtle but consistent marker of one’s soft skills. Look for candidates that hold your eye contact without doing so aggressively. That means making casual eye contact without furtive, nervously darting eye movements, nor an inappropriately intense gaze.
- Interrupting. Give the candidate a chance to answer as well as ask questions, and be aware of a tendency to interrupt, as this can indicate impatience. At the same time, note if the interviewee rambles while answering a question. This could show an unfocused mind, or someone who is unaware, unconcerned, or uninterested in what a conversational partner has to contribute to the discourse.
- Evasive answers. When you ask a direct question, pay attention to what the candidate actually says. Misdirecting, deflecting, or other evasive answers could mean the person does not have a good answer for the question, is hiding potentially important information, or simply does not understand the question.
- Organization. Asking a candidate to describe in detail how they might perform a specific task can give you a good idea of how well organized they are, both mentally and practically.
Stop Screening Candidates Yourself
When you work with KB Staffing, we act as your company’s human resources manager. We will screen all applicants carefully to ensure that the people we send to you from the Polk County workforce are qualified to perform the job that you need done.
