Of course, technical acumen matters when sourcing tech candidates for a role with your company. However, softer skills are increasingly making an impact in a tech environment where leadership, communication, and teamwork are all critical. Ultimately, your organization needs to properly vet the soft skills of any potential new employee.
So what soft skills are the most important in today’s business world? Let’s look at a few of the ones that help identify if a technology professional is likely to be successful with your firm. Leverage these insights to make the right hire.
Problem Solving Skills are Essential
Whether debugging an issue with a critical web application or devising the right IT solution for a company’s current predicament, problem-solving skills are an important soft skill. Simply searching for the “problem solving” keyword helps you source candidates claiming this skill. Afterward, use situational interview questions to probe into the person’s ability in this area.
Verbal and Written Communication Skills Are Important in Today’s IT World
Being able to communicate with clients or coworkers is vital in a modern technology industry thriving on collaboration. However, both verbal and written communication skills are important in IT. Writing requirements, specification documents, and even detailed code commenting is important in software development. Being able to explain complex technical topics to a client is another relevant communication skill.
Collaboration is Vital in this DevOps Era
The days of a lone programmer working by themselves for weeks on end are long over in the tech world. These days, collaborative methodologies like DevOps are increasingly how projects get successfully completed. Because of this, companies need employees who thrive in an environment of teamwork and collaboration. In short, they need team players.
Good Questioning Skills
When determining the best approach for a client or internal application, the ability to ask the right questions helps ensure a successful project. This is a soft skill that’s highly compatible with problem-solving skills. Once again, situational questions during an interview are a great way to vet if a candidate possesses this soft skill.
The Self-Awareness to Improve as a Professional
The best tech pros always strive to make themselves better through learning and experience. Additionally, possessing self-awareness to know what areas need improvement is essential. Your managerial team can help your employees develop better self-awareness as part of your employee review process.
If you need help building a great team at your company, speak with the experts at Synerfac. As one of the top technical staffing agencies on the East Coast, we provide great candidates with the soft skills you need. Schedule some time with us soon.