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August 20, 2025
How to Recruit and Hire for Soft Skills
You already know how important technical skills are when hiring a new employee. The ability to use a certain software, hit sales numbers, or follow specific procedures can make or break performance in many roles. But if you’re only focusing on the hard skills, you’re missing a huge part of what makes someone successful in the long run: soft skills.
Soft skills – like communication, adaptability, empathy, teamwork, and problem-solving – aren’t always listed on a resume, but they’re often what separate a good hire from a great one. And in today’s workplace, where emotional intelligence matters more than ever, hiring for soft skills is essential.
So how do you recruit and hire people with the right soft skills? Here’s how to do it the smart way.
Outline
1. Start by Defining What Matters
Before you can recruit for soft skills, you need to be clear on which ones you’re looking for. Different roles require different strengths.
If you’re hiring for a customer service role, you’ll want someone with strong communication, patience, and plenty of emotional intelligence. For a fast-paced startup environment? Look for adaptability, initiative, and the ability to work independently. But if you’re hiring for leadership, you’ll need decision-making skills, empathy, and the ability to inspire others.
Don’t just throw “good communicator” into every job description and call it a day. Instead, take time to think through what soft skills your ideal hire will need to thrive in that specific role and your company culture. The clearer you are upfront, the easier it’ll be to spot those traits during the hiring process.
2. Reflect Those Priorities in Your Job Posting
Job descriptions are often the first impression a candidate gets about your company, and they should set the tone for what you really value. If soft skills are a top priority, your job posting should reflect that.
Avoid dry, generic language. Instead, write in a way that speaks directly to the type of person you want on your team. Include phrases like:
- “We’re looking for someone who thrives in collaborative environments.”
- “You’re not afraid to ask questions, offer solutions, and give thoughtful feedback.”
- “If adaptability is your superpower, you’ll fit right in.”
Also, think about how you describe your company. If you value transparency, empathy, or team-first attitudes, make that clear. That helps candidates with those same values self-select into your process and filters out those who don’t align with your culture.
3. Dig Deep With Behavioral Interview Questions
When it comes to soft skills, you can’t just take someone’s word for it. You need to see how they’ve actually demonstrated those traits in the past.
That’s where behavioral interview questions come in. These questions ask candidates to describe how they’ve handled real-life situations and challenges. You’re looking for specific examples – not vague answers.
Here are some sample questions to get you started:
- “Tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult team member. How did you handle it?”
- “Give me an example of a time you had to quickly adjust to a major change at work. What did you do?”
- “Describe a situation where you had to solve a problem without clear instructions.”
- “Tell me about a time you received constructive feedback. How did you respond?”
Listen not just to the content of their answer, but also how they talk about others, how they reflect on their actions, and how they describe the outcome. That will tell you a lot about their emotional intelligence, communication style, and resilience.
4. Pay Attention to How They Communicate
The interview isn’t the only place to evaluate soft skills. The entire hiring process is full of opportunities to observe how a candidate operates.
Do they respond to emails clearly and professionally? Do they follow up appropriately? Are they polite to your receptionist or recruiting coordinator? How do they handle scheduling hiccups or last-minute changes?
These little moments reveal a lot about how someone communicates, how they handle pressure, and whether they show basic respect for others – core soft skills that matter in almost every job. Don’t overlook these. They might tell you more than a carefully rehearsed interview answer ever could.
5. Use Practical Exercises or Role-Plays
Sometimes the best way to evaluate soft skills is to put someone in a scenario and see how they respond.
Depending on the role, you might create a practical exercise, case study, or role-play that simulates a common challenge they’ll face on the job. For example:
- Ask a sales candidate to walk you through a mock pitch.
- Have a manager-level applicant facilitate a short problem-solving session with your team.
- Give a customer support candidate a fake complaint and ask how they’d respond.
Watch how they communicate, how they manage emotions, how they ask questions, and how they solve problems in real time. This approach helps you see soft skills in action, not just on paper.
6. Don’t Ignore Cultural Fit
Hiring for soft skills means finding someone who enhances your team dynamic, not just someone who silently blends into it.
Yes, you want someone who aligns with your core values. But you also need someone who brings new perspectives, different life experiences, and ideas that challenge groupthink. That’s called ‘cultural add.’
During the interview process, talk openly about your team’s values, how you work together, and how you navigate conflict. Ask the candidate how they’ve contributed to a team environment in the past – and what kind of environment they thrive in. You’re not looking for clones. What you really want is chemistry and complementary strengths.
7. Collaborate With Your Team to Make the Final Decision
Soft skills can be subjective. What seems like confidence to one person might feel like arrogance to another. That’s why it helps to involve multiple team members in the hiring process.
Gather feedback from everyone who interacts with the candidate – interviewers, support staff, even other candidates in a group setting if you’re running a hiring event. What stood out? What concerns came up?
You’ll get a more well-rounded view of the candidate’s soft skills, and you’ll reduce the chances of one person’s bias skewing the decision.
8. Soft Skills as a Predictor
A candidate with the perfect resume and top-notch credentials might still fall short if they lack the soft skills needed to work well with others, adapt to change, or manage stress.
On the other hand, someone with slightly less experience but strong soft skills can often outperform expectations, grow quickly, and become a standout team member.
So as you review your final candidates, consider not just what they can do, but how they’ll show up every day and contribute to the folks you already have on your team.
9. Use Personality and Strengths Assessments
While interviews and role-plays give you valuable insights, adding a structured assessment can offer an extra layer of objectivity. Tools like the CliftonStrengths (formerly StrengthsFinder), DiSC, or even emotional intelligence (EQ) assessments can help you better understand how a candidate thinks, communicates, and responds under pressure.
These tools aren’t the end-all-be-all, but they can help confirm what you’ve observed or highlight areas to explore further during the interview. For example, if someone scores high on collaboration and empathy, that might reinforce your sense that they’d thrive in a team-oriented environment. Used correctly, these tools can help ensure you’re hiring someone whose strengths align with the demands of the role.
10. Ask for References That Speak to Soft Skills
References can be helpful for verifying employment dates, but don’t stop there. While you have a reference’s ear, specifically ask about their soft skills.
For example, see if you can glean anything about how they’ve handled conflicts or disagreements in the past. Or maybe you can pull out some details about their resilience or collaboration with others.
You’ll almost always get richer insight into a candidate’s interpersonal skills and attitude from those who’ve actually seen them in action. Just make sure to frame your questions around behaviors, not opinions.
We’re Results-Obsessed People
At TAL.co, we’re obsessed with helping businesses find the right people who not only bring skills to the table, but also add to the culture they’re inserted into.
Want to find out why businesses like Box, Purple, the Marines, and countless others trust us?
Ryan Nead
Ryan has served in the Staffing and Recruiting industry for over 10 years. As an independent recruiter and business owner Ryan partners with decision-makers to attract, hire, and attain top-tier professionals to succeed and grow their companies. Ryan consistently implements new tools to help the needs of both clients and candidates until they are satisfied. With years of direct experience and knowledge from scaling and disrupting other major global industries. If you don't see Ryan with his family he is hard at work finding the right fit for your organization's open roles.
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