Blog title V2

BLOG

 
 

Asset Publisher

null The core skills you need in your talent strategy (and where to find them)

The core skills you need in your talent strategy (and how to find them)

When it comes to filling skills gaps, technical (or ‘hard’) skills have traditionally been the focus of talent professionals and hiring managers alike.
 
But with 89% of talent professionals concluding that their ‘bad hires’ typically have poor soft skills, these social and emotional skills are taking their turn in the spotlight.
 
So, which soft – or ‘core’ skills are in demand, and why? And how do you find these skills in candidates – and cultivate them in your existing teams?
 
 
 

Redefining ‘core’ skills

 
Rather than dividing skillsets into ‘soft’ and ‘hard’, with the weighting largely in favour of hard skills, we prefer to think of them as ‘core’ and ‘technical’ skills, respectively.
 
Technical skills refer to the job-specific functions necessary to deliver a task and are often aligned to the use of certain technologies or certification with industry standards – think of a programmer, for example. They would have technical skills in, say, JavaScript, or C++ coding. Core skills, on the other hand, refer to the characteristics of an individual’s behaviour.
 
 

The world is changing, so is the way you hire

 
While technical skills remain critical, studies show that the top skills that employers are seeking today are all innately human. Why has the demand for core skills accelerated?
 
The rise of alternative working arrangements (including platform-based, remote and cross-border workers) has placed new demands on employees who, in many instances, require different skills in order to collaborate and communicate to get work done.
 
And as more and more tasks become automated, core skills that cannot easily or effectively be replicated by machines are becoming increasingly important. Even the most technical of roles, the ability to learn is critical to ensuring an individual’s skillset remains relevant. And with the ever-increasing pace of technological change, skills in certain platforms or disciplines face a contracting shelf-life, whereas core skills are always relevant, always transferable.
 
 

‘The great skills disruption’ is underway

 
It won’t come as a surprise to see communication and collaboration on any list of top core skills. Both are crucial to the smooth running of teams and businesses. But take a moment to consider how critical communication is to a neurodiverse data engineer, whose role is to crunch the numbers whilst their team leader handles all interactions with the wider business. For them, core skills such as an aptitude for learning and attention to detail are more useful.
 
What this demonstrates is that it’s not necessarily – in fact, it’s rarely – ideal to have a homogenous workforce with the same set of core skills. The key is to consider which mix of skills is right for each role, to enable the individual to thrive.
 
With that in mind, we’ve dived into our own data, accumulated from hundreds of thousands of job listings across the globe, to identify the top core skills that are in high demand.
 
 
Core skill #1: Agility
 
Agile workers are nimble, calm under pressure and have the capacity to move quickly and decisively. They can anticipate and take advantage of opportunity. They’re typically good collaborators too, and help to navigate the unknown, or even negative, consequences of change. Whether it’s adapting to new platforms and processes, taking on extra responsibilities or interpreting new information, an agile approach is always relevant and in-demand.
 
 
Core skill #2: Resilience
 
The world of work subjects us to regular disruptions: redundancies and restructuring, budget cuts, digital transformation and economic crisis. Over the last three years these disruptions have been arguably greater than ever. Resilience allows your workforce to deal with turmoil while continuing to remain optimistic about the future as they go about performing their jobs.
 
Those that step up to support team members when there’s unexpected disruption, make resilient teams. These strong teams reinforce a resilient organisation.
 
 
Core skill #3: Emotional intelligence
 
Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognise and understand how you're feeling, and empathise with the feelings of others. Those with keen emotional intelligence are self-aware and able to regulate their behaviour in response to influencing factors, such as the need for professionalism or to comfort an anxious colleague.
 
Individuals will have highly attuned social skills, which makes them good people to have on side during a large programme of change. They will be able to identify how others are responding to the disruption, provide feedback to senior leadership and support less resilient colleagues through the process.
 
 
Core skill #4: Adaptability
 
The rate of change in the world of work is ever increasing, and if your workforce cannot brace against upheaval, you risk being left behind. An adaptable mindset requires critical thinking about what could go wrong, and taking the initiative to make decisions, solve problems, and take action as appropriate. Instead of simply basing plans on what happened last year, adaptable people look at the current climate and consider external factors that might shape the coming year, with a plan for every scenario.
 
 
Core skill #5: Creativity
 
Creativity – the ability to see what’s not there and make something happen – is a transformative skill necessary for innovation to take root and grow in an organisation. Harnessing creativity requires a culture of psychological safety, where employees feel secure and respected enough to voice their ideas.
 
 

Tips for sourcing core skills

Tip #1: Adjust your hiring processes
 
Most candidates don’t convey their core skills in the same way as their technical skills on their CV. Often it’s not something people put down on paper, so you’ll miss them if you’re screening CVs and relying on a traditional interview process.
 
You can train a successful candidate in the technical skills for their role, but core skills are the foundation upon which to build the functional knowledge. Firstly, you need real clarity on the core skills requirements for the role, in the same way you would for technical skills, then you can tease out a candidate’s core skillset at interview. Situation-based assessments allow you to consider everything a candidate will bring to a role. So, next time you’re interviewing, instead of asking the candidate how they solved a problem, give them a problem to solve and see how they do.
 
 
Tip #2: Cast your net wider
 
Look beyond traditional recruitment routes to find skilled talent with transferable core skills, but not necessarily formal technical skills. Consider proactively hiring people early in their careers and welcoming candidates that might be returning to work after retirement or military service. All may be too easily overlooked, but their life experience may just inject the core skills you need.
 
 
Tip #3: Strengthen your commitment to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I)
 
A more diverse workforce naturally has a more diverse skill set, and the more of a mix you have entering the workforce, the broader set of core skills you’ll have in your organisation.
 
But be more intentional about what you’re looking for in your workers – we don’t copy and paste technical skills from one job description to another, so why do it for core skills? Core skills are not a ‘one size fits all’, you need to think more deeply about the role you’re filling.
 
 
Tip #4: Develop your existing workforce
 
Core skills shouldn’t be thought of as intangible or any more difficult to identify. They are deliberate, actionable skills that people can build and develop, just like technical capabilities. Formalise core skills into development goals and discuss them in your one-to-ones. Normalise the conversation around core skills in your work culture so that it becomes part of the every day. You want to be measuring, supporting, coaching, training in these skills, just like you do the technical ones.
 
And again, it’s also important to consider which core skills are relevant to each role. Your senior leadership team are likely to need – and hopefully, have – a broad mix of well-developed core skills such as resilience, problem solving and communication, whereas junior clerical staff may need to focus on honing the technical skills required to deliver their tasks. Some people have a natural ability with certain core skills, so it’s worth trying to align this with their role.
 
 

Build future success on the foundation of core skills

 
The world of work in general, and technology in particular, is changing at pace. It’s rare that a technical role will remain the same for very long, but core skills are getting more important every day. Organisations need to develop ways of putting these skills to effective use and enhancing them where they are lacking. Core skills need not be intangible – they are an essential element of your skills mix that can be harnessed and developed for greater organisational success.
 
Talk to us today to explore how we can shape a smarter workforce strategy, together.

 

AUTHORS

Harry Gooding
Director, Skills and Learning at Hays 

Harry is part of Hays Skills & Learning, a new business in the Hays portfolio, supporting our customer network to develop skills development programmes that open up employment opportunities to ‘undiscovered talent’ communities. After beginning his career in recruitment, he then worked in VC backed start-ups and scale-ups for six years across two different portfolios before joining Hays.

 

Other content we thought you'd be interested in