10 essential soft and hard skills most valued by recruiters

When it comes to soft skills, more than half value teamwork (57%) and communication (55%); while for hard skills, analytical (53%) and high-level IT skills (49%) came out top.

A survey by Zety has identified the top 10 soft and hard skills that recruiters and hiring managers considered most valuable. This 2020 survey, which sought the opinion of 205 recruiters and hiring managers in the US*, also revealed how to truly verify whether candidates possessed these skills.

The survey included but was not limited to ‘yes or no’ questions and questions that permitted open responses.

When asked about the most desired soft skills, the response was as follows:

1. Teamwork (57%)
2. Communication (55%)
3. Time management (46%)
4. Problem-solving (45%)
5. Creativity (44%)
6. Leadership (40%)
7. Organisation (34%)
8. Emotional intelligence (33%)
9. Decision-making (28%)
10. Stress management (15%)

When asked about hard skills, the respondents indicated the following:

1. Analytical skills (53%)
2. High-level IT skills (49%)
3. Basic computer knowledge (47%)
4. Customer service skills (44%)
5. Presentation skills (43%)
6. Team management (42%)
7. Project management (39%)
8. Marketing (37%)
9. Writing (19%)
10. Graphic design (15%)

With technology being essential to our daily lives, it is no surprise that many recruiters value high-level IT skills and basic computer knowledge. With the increase in remote working, computer literacy is highly desired.

*Note: While this survey was conducted in the US, HRO believes the findings would be applicable to the wider audience. 

Overall, per the survey, most respondents valued soft skills (61%), in comparison to hard skills (39%).

Apart from the above, the survey also revealed several techniques recruiters used to verify a potential employee’s skills,

For example, one respondent utilised pre-employment tests to identify the most competent candidates. Another respondent would ask candidates to rank their own performance during their previous employment. Another would ask some qualities of the candidate’s previous employees that they considered a strength, in order to reveal the candidate’s own valued skills.

Tips for leading high-performing cross-cultural virtual teams

In best of times it is a challenge to lead and communicate effectively when working across cultures. With most of us still working remotely to a certain extent, a new relationship has developed between managers and employees. While it provides employees flexibility, and allows managers to exercise a more hands-off approach; it also makes it tougher for employees to get noticed and for managers to keep an eye on everything going on.

A recent survey by Joblist found that less than one in seven employees felt their manager is doing a good job at making them feel visible and connected. This can be detrimental to both the employee and their work. Remote employees who felt unseen were more likely to experience feelings of burnout, imposter syndrome and loneliness.

Here are 3 tips for leading high-performing cross-cultural virtual teams:
1. Help ensure that every team member is included when forming a common approach. Don’t allow sub-groups to dominate the process.
2. Put team agreements in writing (a Team Charter) to act as a reference point.
3. Monitor and communicate team results and help build team pride. Revitalize team energy and commitment especially if the team meets infrequently.

#business #teambuilding #leadership #intercultural #management #humanresources #sales
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Are you constantly working long hours? Here’s why you should stop right now

The biggest reason of all – it’s a killer, say WHO and ILO, pointing out that long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016, a 29% increase since 2000.

“Just 30 more minutes and I’ll wrap up.”

“I must get this done today no matter what.”

Raise your hands (virtually, as we’re now used to) if this has happened to you – you’re working on a pressing project and you want to make progress so badly, you don’t realise the time passing. Before we know it, it’s dark outside and you’ve just worked a 12-hour day. This continues day by day, and has almost become a typical work week for you.

We know this is bad, but exactly how bad is it? According to a recent study by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), published in Environment International, it’s a killer. 

The study, published on Monday (17 May), found that long working hours led to 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease in 2016, a 29% increase since 2000. 

In what is a first global analysis of the loss of life and health associated with working long hours, WHO and ILO estimated that, in 2016, 398,000 people died from stroke and 347,000 from heart disease as a result of having worked at least 55 hours a week. Between 2000 and 2016, the number of deaths from heart disease due to working long hours increased by 42%, and from stroke by 19%.

More importantly, the study highlighted that this work-related disease burden is particularly significant in men (72% of deaths occurred among males), people living in the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia regions, and middle-aged or older workers. Most of the deaths recorded were among people aged 60-79 years, who had worked for 55 hours or more per week when they were between the ages of 45 and 74 years.

With working long hours now known to be responsible for about one-third of the total estimated work-related burden of disease, it is established as the risk factor with the largest occupational disease burden. This shifts thinking towards a relatively new and more psychosocial occupational risk factor to human health.

The study, overall, concluded that working 55 or more hours per week is associated with an estimated 35% higher risk of a stroke and a 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease, compared to working 35-40 hours a week.

9% of the total population globally is working long hours

Apart from the above, the study also noted that the number of people working long hours is increasing, and currently stands at 9% of the total population globally. This trend puts even more people at risk of work-related disability and early death, it stated.

Commenting on a reason behind this, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said: “The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly changed the way many people work. Teleworking has become the norm in many industries, often blurring the boundaries between home and work.

“In addition, many businesses have been forced to scale back or shut down operations to save money, and people who are still on the payroll end up working longer hours.”

“No job is worth the risk of stroke or heart disease. Governments, employers and workers need to work together to agree on limits to protect the health of workers.”
– Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General

“Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard,” added Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health, at the World Health Organization. “It’s time that we all, governments, employers, and employees wake up to the fact that long working hours can lead to premature death”.

The report shared key actions that governments, employers and workers can take to protect their workers’ health:

• Governments can introduce, implement and enforce laws, regulations and policies that ban mandatory overtime and ensure maximum limits on working time;
• Bipartite or collective bargaining agreements between employers and workers’ associations can arrange working time to be more flexible, while at the same time agreeing on a maximum number of working hours;
• Employees could share working hours to ensure that number of hours worked do not climb above 55 or more per week.

Are you an effective leader? Here’s how to tell

Leader or boss? The difference is in the approach

There are countless comparisons between an effective leader and a mere manager. A common visual you’ll find splashed across the internet is a split image of a scenario handled by two different individuals: a ‘boss’ and a leader. The boss is typically seen barking orders at employees who are expected to lug the weight of the boss, while the leader is seen down on the ground with employees doing the grunt work and leading them on which way to go.

The image portrays how a leader gets involved in the work and stays focused on inspiring performance, while coaching the best out of the team. Additionally, leaders tackling today’s complex set of challenges are expected to embody a more human-centred model of ‘responsible leadership’, according to a World Economic Forum (WEF) study. Instead of just generating results for the business bottom line, leaders are required to showcase capabilities across five attributes:

• Stakeholder inclusion – Leaders need to ‘safeguard’ trust, showcase accountability, and create positive impact for all. This requires considering diverse stakeholders when making decisions and fostering an inclusive environment where diverse individuals have a voice and feel they belong.
• Emotion & intuition – Unlock commitment and creativity by being truly human, showing compassion, humility, and openness.
• Mission & purpose – Advance common goals by inspiring a shared vision of sustainable prosperity for the organisation and its stakeholders.
• Technology & innovation – Create new organisational and societal value by innovating responsibly with emerging technology.
• Intellect & insight – Find better paths to success by embracing continuous learning and knowledge exchange.

Younger workers especially believe that leadership decisions in the coming decade will require a balanced approach that cuts across all five areas. All this doesn’t mean that financial performance is no longer vital to business success. In fact, the study found that responsible leadership is linked with higher financial performance. Companies that showcase higher levels of innovation and trust outperform competitors financially, research showed. HRD finds out what it really takes to be a great leader in today’s disruptive world.

Able to manage change

In a study by Deloitte, about three in five executives said that leadership was important to prepare for unknown futures – the top-ranked priority for supporting preparedness in a crazy, uncertain world. “And while much of leadership has historically been about setting direction and ensuring compliance, now effective leadership is shifting to preparing for the unpredictable by coaching, teaming, and fostering workers’ ability to learn and adapt,” wrote the study on global human capital trends.

According to Deloitte, effective leaders are the ones who consider the following:

• Job evolution: How often are jobs changing, which ones, and to what degree?
• Future workforce readiness: How ready is the team for the future of work? How do you close any capability or skills gaps?
• Change ability: Are you and the team able to quickly adapt to change?
• ‘Future leader’ readiness: Do your leaders have what it takes to succeed in the future?

As disruption becomes the norm, leaders who showcase the potential to succeed in their roles are the ones who can collect real-time information, reassess the company’s and employee needs, and translate it into ‘meaningful action’.

A good communicator

And with constant change, leaders need to be adept at developing trust. The best way to do it? Through clear and effective communication. Unfortunately, Edelman’s annual trust barometer this year found that over half (56%) of employees mistrust business leaders. Regardless, companies have emerged the most trusted institution (61%), compared with governments, with employees citing communications from ‘my employer’ as their most reliable source of information.

Despite this, Adrian Warr, CEO of Edelman Hong Kong and Taiwan, market growth Thailand explained that it’s okay if a leader is not a ‘great communicator’. He said that many individuals get promoted into leadership roles because they’re brilliant at their jobs or simply “fantastic people”. “They don’t all have to be great communicators, but they have to have an authentic style of communication,” Warr told HRD. “Doing what’s right for that leader and the type of company is far more important than following some kind of formulaic approach.”

Good communication also needs to be relevant. “It’s about understanding,” he said. “It’s very basic communication stuff but it’s communicating in a way that’s relevant to your audience rather than the business.”

#leadership #relocation #globalmobility #hr #humanresources #leader #management #boss #jobs #cultural #culture