10 soft skills every person you hire should possess

According to the World Economic Forum's Future of Jobs Report, 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025. With constant innovation and technological advancement, many hard skills are becoming obsolete. Hence, critical soft skills are becoming increasingly important for employees.

Technological disruption is transforming jobs and requires people to think, learn, strategize, and work in a more adaptable and flexible manner.

The top 10 skills of 2025 will be:

1. Analytical thinking and innovation
2. Active learning and learning strategies
3. Complex problem-solving abilities
4. Critical thinking and analysis
5. Creativity, originality, and initiative
6. Leadership and social influence
7. Technology use, monitoring, and control
8. Technology design and programming
9. Resillience, stress tolerance, and flexibility
10. Reasoning, and ideation

Today, we are required to think out of the box and do things differently to keep up with the fast-paced and evolving world. We need to be able to think on our feet and dash to plan B if things aren't going according to plan A. Therefore, if the person you are interviewing does not show a strong sense of passion and a "pull-up your sleeves" mentality, you should think twice about hiring them.

Based on a recent article on career evolution published in Fast Company; the 10 soft skills employees today should possess to gain success are:

1. Adaptability - Employees are expected to adapt and take an agile approach to changes that happen within businesses without getting overwhelmed.
2. Emotional intelligence - Employees need to be able to control their emotions and not raise their voices or speak badly in contentious situations.
3. Effective communication - Employees are required to express ideas clearly and concisely. Your ability to reason and voice your opinion constructively plays a role here.
4. Negotiation - This is where active listening and critical thinking come into play. Employees are expected to debate in a healthy manner to achieve common ground.
5. Team work - Employees are encouraged to acknowledge teammates' achievements and foster an uplifting environment where all people have respect and pride for each other.
6. Positive attitude - Employees are expected to take an optimistic view to solve challenges in the most effective way.
7. Time management - Time is the most valuable resource and if employees aren't able to work efficiently, the organization will lag.
8. Conflict resolution - Rather than avoidance, employees need to effectively solve the root of the problem to avoid similar conflicts from frequently arising.
9. Collaboration over competition - Employees should be open to collaboration and the free flow of new ideas within the team, which is crucial for businesses to remain innovative.
10. Work ethics - Employees must take responsibility for their work, not blame others. They should also proactively take on the consequences that follow their actions.

How many of these softs skills do you possess?

The hard truth is that hard skills have an expiry date whereas soft skills never expire and can only be enhanced. The Founder of the World Economic Forum once said, "We have the tools at our disposal. The bounty of technological innovation which defines our current era can be leveraged to unleash human potential." Hence, it is never too late to develop your soft skills or implement training programs to develop those of your employees.