The National Association of Colleges and Employers recently revised their hiring projections in their Job Outlook 2019 Spring Update. Now, employers are projected to hire 16.6 percent of graduates from the Class of 2019, which is nearly 11 percent more than the Class of 2018.

Not so fast. There’s one thing that stands in the way of early-career candidates being a part of that 16.6 percent: soft skills. Companies are suffering because more than 60 percent of early-career candidates aren’t moving past the first round of interviews because of a lack of soft skills. And 91 percent of talent professionals think soft skills are the most important aspect of the future of recruiting and HR.

On top of this, 89 percent of bad hires don’t possess these highly-desirable traits, while 92 percent of talent professionals believe soft skills matter as much or more than hard skills.

You can see how all of this conflicting data paints a troubling picture for the future of the workforce and companies.

So how do companies rectify this? It’s easier than you think.

Why Soft Skills Are More Important Now Than Ever Before

With the rise of automation and AI, hard skills are no longer the end-all, be-all for candidates’ potential success and their job performance. Because more and more jobs combine the speed and precision of tech with the creativity, adaptability, and collaboration skills of humans, soft skills have never been more important. In fact, 80 percent of talent professionals think that soft skills are increasingly important to a company’s success.

And at the top of the list of valued soft skills is creativity. Because being able to solve a problem in a unique way is a skill that’s very human. This will cause the demand for creative workers to increase dramatically by 2030.

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How Soft Skills Will Reshape The Hiring Process

Therefore, companies are going to have to re-evaluate how they assess candidates’ soft skills. More than half of companies claim they struggle to assess soft skills accurately, which makes sense because less than half have a formal process to evaluate them. And technology can’t necessarily bridge this gap, since 68 percent of talent professionals claim they pick up on social cues in interviews.

WayUp Paves The Way

One way companies can solve this problem is by utilizing co-sourcing recruiting firms such as WayUp. WayUp provides personal soft skills feedback within 24 hours of a candidate’s’ phone screen. Also, the feedback consists of interview tips for those moving onto the next round, so companies are getting more prepared candidates. This, in turn, enables hiring managers to focus on achievements and potential during on-site interviews, knowing that these candidates are prepared and have the requisite soft skills needed for success.   

So if your company wants to get top talent with the proven soft skills necessary for the job responsibilities of today and the needs of tomorrow, learn more about partnering with WayUp to achieve this.