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What are Soft Skills?
Searchlight’s four types of behavioral data give a 360-degree view of who candidates and employees are — and how they’ll do on the job. Soft Skills is one of the four types of behavioral data. We leverage Soft Skills to evaluate candidates and create Talent Models in Searchlight.
Soft Skills are non-technical attributes required to perform a job. The opposite of soft skills is hard skills, or the technical attributes required to perform a job.
What does technical mean? While technical attributes relate to the job-specific knowledge and abilities required for a job (e.g., computer programming, accounting, mathematics, data analysis), non-technical attributes are general (job-free, job-agnostic) knowledge and abilities required to perform a job. Non-technical attributes include someone's personality, behavioral orientations, and soft skills.
If we substitute the definition of “non-technical” into our definition of soft skills, we find that soft skills are the general (context-free, job-free) knowledge and abilities required to perform a job, such as personality, behavioral orientations, and soft skills.
Sower skills include communication skills (e.g., empathy), performance management skills (e.g., persistence), leadership/organization skills (e.g., charisma), and political/cultural skills (e.g., active listening). All of these categories represent sub-types of soft skills, speaking to the remarkable breadth that soft skills encompass.
The Soft Skills Library
Soft Skills - Strengths Library
Strengths | Description |
Active listening | Listens attentively and understands what is being said |
Adaptability | Adjusts easily to new or changing circumstances |
Ambition | Aspires to and works toward a high level of success |
Attention to detail | Is rigorously detail-oriented and meticulous |
Being a self-starter | Proactively takes action to achieve and execute results |
Charisma | Generates energy, enthusiasm and a desire to succeed in others |
Coachability | Listens to, accepts, and applies feedback on doing things better |
Collaboration | Works well with others to realize better results |
Communication | Speaks or writes with ease, clarity and impact |
Conscientiousness | Careful and diligent in fulfilling one's tasks and obligations |
Creativity | Uses original thinking to generate new ideas and solutions |
Critical thinking | Thinks clearly and rationally to guide beliefs and actions |
Curiosity | Driven to learn and stay current professionally |
Decisiveness | Acts quickly, confidently and with determination |
Dependability | Can be relied on and accountable for one's own work |
Empathy | Identifies with the feelings, ideas and attitudes of others |
Enthusiasm | Shows a lively and genuine interest in work |
Entrepreneurship | Takes calculated risks and applies unconventional solutions in a business context |
Fast learner | Masters situations or information easily and quickly |
Good judgement | Forms sound opinions and makes solid decisions |
Hardworking | Is disciplined and works vigorously |
Humility | Able to experiment and learn without ego |
Independence | Functions effectively without assistance or direction from others |
Intuition | Successfully uses insight not supported by obvious facts and data |
Managing stress | Performs competently under pressure |
Optimism | Maintains a positive, confident attitude |
Persistence | Perseveres in spite of opposition or difficulty |
Personable | Has a friendly, approachable and outgoing style |
Poise | Calm, collected, and self-controlled under pressure |
Resourcefulness | Finds alternative solutions to overcome obstacles |
Results-driven | Focuses on achieving results and outcomes |
Strategic thinking | Anticipates and prepares for future events |
Teaching others | Coaches or instructs others to improve their performance |
Soft Skills - Growth Areas Library
Growth Areas | Description |
Active listening | Could listen more attentively to others |
Adaptability | Could improve at adjusting to new or changing circumstances |
Ambition | Could aspire more and set higher goals for success |
Attention to detail | Could be more meticulous and detail-oriented |
Being a self-starter | Could be more proactive |
Charisma | Could generate more energy, enthusiasm and a desire to succeed in others |
Coachability | Could be better at accepting and applying feedback |
Collaboration | Could be better at working well with others |
Communication | Could improve the ease, clarity and impact of their writing or speaking |
Conscientiousness | Could be more careful and diligent in fulfilling tasks and obligations |
Creativity | Could be more original and generate new ideas and solutions |
Critical thinking | Could improve at thinking clearly and rationally to guide beliefs and actions |
Curiosity | Could benefit from an increased desire to learn |
Decisiveness | Could be better at acting quickly, confidently and with determination |
Dependability | Could be more reliable and accountable for one's own work |
Empathy | Could be better at identifying with the feelings, ideas, and attitudes of others |
Enthusiasm | Could show a more lively and genuine interest in work |
Entrepreneurship | Could take more calculated risks and find more creative solutions in a business context |
Fast learner | Could be faster at mastering situations or information |
Good judgement | Could improve their ability to form sound opinions and decisions |
Humility | Could have less ego and be more open-minded |
Independence | Could work on being effective autonomously |
Intuition | Could improve their ability to form insights separate from obvious facts and data |
Managing stress | Could perform better when under pressure |
Optimism | Could benefit from a more positive, confident attitude |
Persistence | Could improve their perseverence in the face of difficulty |
Personable | Could benefit from a more friendly, approachable style |
Poise | Could be more calm and self-controlled under pressure |
Resourcefulness | Could be better at finding alternative solutions to overcome obstacles |
Results-driven | Could be more focused on achieving results |
Strategic thinking | Could better anticipate and prepare for future events |
Teaching others | Could better coach or instruct others to improve their performance |
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Searchlight Soft Skills impact diversity and inclusion?
We conduct quarterly self-audits for adverse impact. If the advantaged group (e.g., white, male) is being rated higher on a particular soft skill compared to the disadvantaged group (e.g., non-white, non-male), we remove the soft skill from our gold standard assessment. In Searchlight’s entire dataset, we found that all attributes in our soft skills list are unbiased, meaning no demographic group is less likely to have that soft skill in a population.
At a higher level, advantaged ethnic groups do not benefit from considering soft skills in hiring decisions. In fact, there is a lot of research which shows that disadvantaged groups (e.g., women, racial minorities) are superior to advantaged groups (e.g., white, men) in soft skills such as empathy, emotional intelligence, and active listening. If success in a role equates to soft skills that disadvantaged groups are more likely to possess, then hiring for soft skills will increase diversity.
What happened to Power Skills in Searchlight?
Power Skills were renamed to Soft Skills in March 2023. We made this change to better connect our terminology with words and terms our customers use. There was no functional changes made aside from the name change.