Many organizations, whether business, government, non profit or charitable, consider the skill bar to represent the price of entry, but ability to engage in interpersonal relationships is the prize.

Once it’s clear the minimum skills (knowledge, education, experience) are met, the focus is on relationship capabilities.  That is, the ability to inspire and be inspired by others.

Whether it is joining an organization or moving through successively senior roles the determining factor is how well you interact with others.

Who would you hire?

In this hypothetical scenario you are a hiring manager.  All the cadidates demonstrate through their resume, interview and skill tests they meet your minimum requirements.

Three of the candidates excel in the area of skills, education and experience far exceeding the minimum in these areas. One candidate just meets the skill expectations.

On an interpersonal level all interact well with you during the interview and you include some meetings with other members of your organization and the feedback is favourable.

Of the four candidates one stands out relative to the so called “soft skills” Everyone liked them immediately.  This candidate is the one whom met but did not exceed the knowledge/experience reqiurements. The others are just average in this area.

Who would you hire?

Rhetorical Question

Obviously since this blog allows one way communication only, I am going to provide my answer which I already knew before asking (but I encourage you to think about what you would do).

Hire the candidate that was well liked.  They will far succeed your expectations.  While it is true both knowledge based skills and those underpinned by emotional intelligence can probably be learned, the emotional skills are probably harder to develop.