Soft landing: Smarter hiring in the New Age

Abhay Padgaonkar

Ever seen a pharmacy graduate working as a lawyer or a chemist working as an architect or a doctor working as an accountant? Why not? Because the education we receive in college prepares us for the chosen discipline by imparting context-specific skills. That is why a doctor will know how to treat a gravely ill patient in a hospital, but will most likely be clueless about the difference between debits and credits in a journal entry.

But context-specific skills that produce subject matter experts like pharmacists, doctors, chemists, accountants, lawyers and other professionals employed by the pharma industry can be quite narrow in scope. That's because context-specific skills are typically not easily transferable. According to The Careers Group, University of London, "Transferable skills are abilities, aptitudes, and qualities developed in one context that can be applied to another." Unfortunately, colleges-and even management institutes-have traditionally not been very good places to learn "transferable" skills. Maybe that's what prompted Mark Twain to say, "Some people get an education without going to college; the rest get it after they get out."

Rare treasures

So what exactly are these soft employability skills that seem are so hard to find? For one, there is nothing "soft" about them except that they are rarely listed on the CV as having earned them. Unlike college degrees they are not earned, but learned! Fortunately, college is not the only place where one can learn them. The good news is that we all learn them in everyday situations through jobs, classes, projects, parenting, hobbies, sports, extracurricular activities, special training seminars, coaching, and by observing others.

Another way to look at hard vs. soft skills is to view hard skills as representing the 'what' and soft skills as representing the 'how' of doing the job. Here are selected examples of critical soft skills and their high-level definitions:

• Thinking analytically and conceptually: Identifying themes, key issues and their impacts in a broad business context by seeing connections and patterns.
• Adaptability: Demonstrating flexibility in a dynamic work environment by adapting effectively to multiple demands, shifting priorities, ambiguity, and rapid change.
• Planning and organising: Ability to supervise, direct and guide individuals and groups in the completion of tasks and fulfilment of goals.
• Orchestrating change: Implicitly understanding the dynamics of transformation and acting as a change agent by anticipating and effectively managing resistance to change.

The list can go on and is by no means an exhaustive one, but you get the idea: These and other soft skills, when well-honed, are equally as important for today's globally competitive firms as the hard, technical skills. They are just not as easy to spot. But many progressive companies have started to value soft skills because research suggests and experience shows that they can be just as significant an indicator of job performance as hard skills.

Soft landing

So as an employer or a hiring manager, how does one hire for broader skill sets rather than narrow, technical skills? Here is a three-step process you can follow:

1. Awareness: The first step is to be aware of the soft skills and their critical importance. Traditional thinking-especially in technical disciplines-is that all that matters for success are hard, technical skills. Another misconception is that intelligent, well-educated people are naturally endowed with all the necessary soft skills. Nothing could be farther from the truth! In this context, it is important to remember what Albert Einstein said: "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school."

2. Analysis: Each job looks for a different mix of skills and experience depending on the outcomes it is supposed to achieve. It is no longer enough to hire a functional, subject matter expert. To complement the technical competencies, there are certain soft skills every job entails. It is the hiring manager's and HR's job to figure out what they are. For example, read the following candidate profile for a Scientist - Ph.D. in Organic / Pharmaceutical Sciences position:

"The candidate should be Ph.D. in Organic/Pharmaceutical Chemistry from an institute of repute with industrial experience of at least 1+ year, preferably on Drug Discovery Projects. The candidate should have leadership qualities and other management skills."

Will all candidates with a PhD who fit the above profile do equally well in this job? Hardly! And what exactly are these generic "leadership qualities and other management skills?" As we look at the detailed job description, however, the non-technical, soft competencies necessary for success become abundantly clear:

Surely, all PhDs don't come equipped with all of these "leadership qualities and other management skills" in equal measures.

3. Assessment: It is one thing to know, it's another to do. Once identified, the desired skills should be adequately assessed through multiple perspectives. By reading between the lines of the CV, the hiring manager can see if the desired skills have been exhibited in the past. As Aldous Huxley said, "Experience is not what happens to you. It is what you do with what happens to you." In a competency-based interview, one can assess the candidate's level of experience by asking questions such as "Can you give me an example when you were faced with a situation where…and how you handled it?" Further probing can obtain more detail on the thought process employed, actions taken, and results achieved by the candidate along with a comprehensive account of the event. It is also important to check with the listed references to make sure that they have personally observed the desired competencies in the candidate. Finally, various online assessments such as DISC or MBTI can shed light on the candidate's behavioural tendencies and preferences. It is important to create a composite picture by collecting multiple data points and not rely on any single indicator for making hiring decisions.

Smart hiring is a time-consuming process, but it pays off in the long run. The cost of hiring good talent is simply too high for everyone involved. Clearly, technical skills are necessary, but they are no longer sufficient for success in today's globally interconnected world. As the saying goes, "People are hired for what they know, but sacked for how they behave!"

Unfortunately, how people will behave is hardly ever listed on the CV.

(The author is a US-based management consultantand author. He can be reached at abhay@pobox.com)