Identifying soft skills: a guide for IT leaders

Recognizing the soft skills of a squad is an important step for tech leads when hiring new professionals.

If you’ve made it this far, you’re likely familiar with our checklist of items to consider when opening a position. You’re probably also searching for the ideal candidate and want to know how to identify the soft skills of your squad to be successful in this mission, right?

As we mentioned earlier, a?resilient IT foundation with stable teams brings several benefits ?to companies. Therefore, making the right hires is essential for the success of team formation. This success is closely related to identifying the fit between the professional and the team.

Recognizing these intangible skills, known as soft skills – such as communication, punctuality, teamwork, leadership, and adaptability – is crucial for successful recruitment. In this text, we will explore how tech leads can identify the soft skills of squads and, consequently, build a top-notch professional profile.

Analyzing the squad’s soft skills

First and foremost, before compiling all the information about the position for the tech recruiter to start the hunt, analyze your team. Think about the characteristics that all members of the squad share and which you cannot compromise on. Consider the seniority levels and project demands, and based on that, list the attributes the new team member needs to have to meet expectations. To make it easier, reflect on and answer the following questions:

• What are the essential characteristics for the tasks the candidate will perform?
• What do you highly value in a professional?
• What behaviors are indispensable within your team?

The answers to these questions will help determine the main soft skills to complement your current team. Now, what we will say next might seem obvious, but it’s worth emphasizing: finding the right candidate will be an impossible mission if there is no clarity about what you are looking for. A precisely detailed job opening will result in the ideal profile. It may be that the recruiter delivers only one candidate’s resume. However, that will be “the candidate”.

Shall we proceed to the interview?

After completing the tasks on the checklist and analyzing the soft skills, the recruiter will have all the information needed to start the recruitment process. This means it’s time to wait for the receipt of resumes to begin the interviews with the candidates. In the meantime,?how about preparing for this stage in the best possible way?