A study conducted online by Harris Poll of CareerBuilder showcased as much as 77 percent employers believe that soft skills are just as important as hard skills. Meanwhile sixteen percents of them said soft skills are more important than hard skills when evaluating candidates for a job.
It is important for people in a workplace, including HR to master specific proficiency related to their job fields in terms of academic values and theories. Intellectuality as hard skill influences much on how people accomplish their tasks, implement and practice theories, which could lead to higher productivity at work.
However academic values and good educational records ain’t enough to gain success as a thorough HR professional. While they might be the best at handling administrative functions or offering consulting advice, however without soft skills proficiency, the HR is not well-equipped to manage workload challenges, solve issues at work, maintain employee productivity and prevent productivity burnouts.
Here are top 5 soft skills necessary for a HR:
Communication skill is very important in almost all kinds of job. The career of a HR professional demands an ability to speak, as this job has got to deal with human interaction in terms of recruitment, management, supervision, consultation and more.
The way a HR communicates determines his ability to effectively manage people. Good speech, carefully-arranged sentences and precise choice of words could be both highly motivating and inspiring, however bad communication could result in attitudes of disinterest showcased by colleagues, and even dampen employees’ morale.
To voice out concerns, issues and speak publicly though with some amount of nervousness and self confidences is not easy. This requires investing time and training the professional. However, practice is the key to perfection. HR professionals could learn how to speak boldly in public by seeking references.
See: 4 Job Skills Employers Want Most From A HR Professional
An employee might like to avoid deadlines and interaction with colleagues when highly stressed at work.
People often tend to not show what’s inside their hearts. Some reasons lead them to pretend, lie or even hoodwink others with the desire to show off, recognition, ambition, avoid the punishments, and more.
An HR who frequently deals with employees’ issues and conflicts should be able to read people’s minds and figure out approaches to solve people problems.
Empathy is one other key skill to being a HR professional. An ability to see another point of view or to understand the nuances of a situation can help HR to arrive at the right decisions at the appropriate time.
It is easy to speak up but hard to listen. A HR must have the ability to put aside the agenda and to listen what employees have to say and their feelings behind words expressed.
Employees express their concerns and have their own issues to deal with. The first step to arriving at a solution is to listen carefully to employees’ problems and get to the crux of the matter to respond promptly with due attention and care.
To not be easily intimidated by the senior leaders and top management is a necessary soft skill for HR managers. Senior leaders especially those Baby Boomers and Gen Xers are quite intimidating especially for a new HR.
HR managers should not be spineless, they should be able to hold their stance firmly in times of crisis without favouring biased opinions or viewpoints. They should possess good decision making skills for employee welfare and organisational benefit.
Read also: HR Talent with Soft Skills to Be Most Sought After by MNCs in China
