We’ve struggled with the same issue, so we’ve compiled a comprehensive list of engaging questions designed to help hiring managers and recruiting teams identify top talent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This guide explains soft skills, why they matter, and how to determine whether a candidate has the soft skills needed for the job. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n In it, you’ll also find over 100 top soft skills<\/strong><\/span> interview questions<\/strong> that will help you identify and hire top talent (that you can use in your soft skills assessments, too!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The soft skills questions are organized according to categories, so click on the one that interests you below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Soft skills are the more transferable skills of a candidate, such as communication, decision-making, collaboration, teamwork, time management, and creativity. <\/strong>They’re all necessary for cultural fit and can be very good predictors of future job performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unlike hard skills, soft skills aren’t so easy to quantify<\/strong>, which makes screening for them much more challenging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Although soft skills questions usually don’t have a “right” or “wrong” answer, it’s still wise to ask a few of these questions at an early stage of the recruitment process and later in an interview. This will help you better understand candidates’ way of thinking, attitude, motivation, and actions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The best companies are built on strong soft and hard skills, with a workforce of great communicators, leaders, and problem-solvers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n One study found that 61% of professionals think soft skills are just as critical as technical skills or even more important than them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Redesigning organizations around highly empowered soft-skilled teams was rated the top trend in a Deloitte Human Capital Survey<\/a>. McKinsey noted that the percentage of companies addressing empathy and interpersonal skills doubled in 2020 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Why is communication or attention to detail<\/a> such a big deal, though? Your employees’ soft skills have a big impact on your company’s performance.<\/strong> Having a team of flexible, motivated, well-organized workers who can get along<\/span> will help raise productivity levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If your employees have good soft skills, they will work better as a team. Developing a strong and positive company culture and building a diverse workforce will also be easier<\/a><\/span>. This, in turn, will help lower staff turnover<\/a> levels. <\/p>\n\n\n Employees with transferable soft skills can be more easily deployed to new roles within the company, too, meaning you can get more out of your staff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n To help you figure out if your candidate has the soft skills required for the job, here’s a list of the top 100 soft skills assessment<\/a> questions<\/strong>, categorized by topic.\u00a0You can use these questions when interviewing the candidates or in your\u00a0pre-employment test.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n 1. Tell me about yourself in 2 sentences. 7. Which one do you prefer and why: teamwork or working alone? 13. You know your manager is 100% wrong about something. What do you do? 18. What is the most difficult change you’ve encountered in your career? 23. Give me an example of when you’ve successfully solved a problem. 28. If your life was a book, what would it be called? 32. What are the key ingredients to building good relationships with others? 36. Do you multitask? 41. Do you tend to work over hours? 46. Give an example of how you have dealt with an unsatisfied customer. 50. How do you stay motivated when working alone on a project? 56. Give an example of when your planning led to effective results. 60. Describe a difficult negotiating situation you’ve been in. What was the outcome? 64. What is your understanding of strategic planning? How does it differ from everyday planning? 67. Explain what constructive criticism means to you. 71. Give me an example of when you have successfully resolved a conflict in a professional situation. 75. What are your techniques for handling stress? 79. Give an example of when you’ve had to make a decision under pressure. How did you deal with it? 84. Your project fails miserably. How do you deal with it? 88. Describe the work environment in which you are most productive. 91. Have you ever felt like you are not qualified for a job assigned to you? 95. Describe a time when you had to solve a problem but didn\u2019t have all the necessary information about it in hand. What did you do? 97. How do you prepare for delivering a presentation? The interview process is the most common way to screen a candidate’s soft skills. However, traditional interviews can be very ineffective. So much so that even studies from\u00a0Harvard Business Review<\/a>\u00a0suggest conducting<\/span> quick skills assessment tests before<\/em> conducting any interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
What are soft skills?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Why do soft skills matter?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Top](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/themes\/toggl-mjtweaver\/img\/brain.png\")
\n Top tip:<\/span>\n <\/span>\n \n Top 100+ soft skills assessment questions to ask your candidates<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Communication<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Explain to your 95-year-old grandmother what you do for a living.
3. Use up to 5 sentences to sell me a pencil.
4. Your colleague is publicly belittling your work achievements. What do you do?
5. Do you prefer written or verbal communication?
6. Which one is more important to you and why: to be a good listener or a good communicator?<\/p>\n\n\n\nTeamwork<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
8. How important are team events for you?
9. Tell me how you would overcome a situation where a team is doing badly because members aren’t getting along.
10. Your teammates are all in agreement on how to approach a task, but you disagree. How do you react?
11. What does team spirit <\/em>mean to you, and how would you go about building it?
12. How would you deal with a teammate who wasn’t doing their share of work?<\/p>\n\n\n\nLeadership<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
14. Your team members are quitting one after another. What do you do?
15. How do you go about delegating responsibilities to a team?
16. What do you expect from a manager?
17. Your company is in financial difficulties and you must cut salary costs. How would you decide who to fire?<\/p>\n\n\n\nFlexibility\/adaptability<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
19. Do you like surprises?
20. How do you rearrange your schedule if something unplanned occurs?
21. Give me an example of when you’ve had to deal with a short-notice request.
22. Do you like routine work?<\/p>\n\n\n\nProblem-solving<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
24. Give me an example of a time when you’ve had to be creative or unconventional in solving a problem.
25. Tell me about a time when you had to analyze information to solve a problem successfully.
26. Tell me about a time you identified and solved a problem in its early stages.
27. Describe a time when you had to solve a problem in a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCreativity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
29. How would you spice up meetings to boost creativity?
30. Give me an example of a business being creative to be successful.
31. In what ways have you encouraged your work team to be more creative and innovative?<\/p>\n\n\n\nInterpersonal skills<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
33. How do you deal with situations where there is tension between you and a colleague?
34. Describe how you would communicate difficult or unpopular information to someone.
35. Tell me about a time when you built a good relationship with someone you didn’t particularly like.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTime management<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
37. Which better describes you: \u2018done is better than perfect\u2019 or \u2018everything has to look perfect\u2019?
38. How do you prioritize your work with many looming deadlines?
39. Tell me about a time when you’ve struggled to meet deadlines. What did you do?
40. Your manager assigns you a big task right before the end of the day. How would you reply?<\/p>\n\n\n\nWork ethics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
42. What are the most important ethics in the workplace?
43. Give me an example of when you faced an ethical dilemma at work.
44. What would you do if you discovered a manager was breaking company rules?
45. You get your work done sooner than expected. Do you allow yourself a free afternoon, or will you ask for more tasks?<\/p>\n\n\n\nCustomer service<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
47. What steps do you take to gain a customer’s trust?
48. Give an example of when you went the extra mile to give good customer service.
49. How would you deal with a customer you felt was becoming unreasonable?<\/p>\n\n\n\nMotivation and enthusiasm<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
51. How do you stay motivated when working on a project that doesn’t interest you?
52. How do you generate enthusiasm on days when you’d prefer not to be at work?
53. How do you deal with colleagues who are lacking in enthusiasm?
54. Which of these is the most critical aspect for you at work? Career development, perks, and benefits, salary, or nice coworkers?
55. What do you hope to achieve during your first six months here?<\/p>\n\n\n\nOrganizational skills<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
57. How do you stay organized while working on multiple projects?
58. How do you keep track of your progress when working on projects?
59. How often do you go to your desk, files, and electronic files to clear out what you no longer need?<\/p>\n\n\n\nNegotiating<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
61. How would you change an institutional “this is how we always do it” attitude if you felt there was a better approach?
62. How would you go about negotiating something with a manager or supervisor?
63. What is the most effective technique for winning someone over when negotiating?<\/p>\n\n\n\nStrategic planning<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
65. Tell me about a time when you planned and executed a large project. What were the outcomes?
66. How do you set long-term goals for your team? How do you evaluate performances?<\/p>\n\n\n\nHandling feedback<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
68. Your team lead tells you you\u2019ve done a poor job. How do you respond?
69. Give an example of a time when you used feedback to improve your performance.
70. How do you prefer to get feedback from your manager: through formal performance reviews or daily\/weekly meetings? Why?<\/p>\n\n\n\nConflict resolution<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
72. How do you deal with differences of opinion in the workplace?
73. What steps would you take to resolve a heated conflict that broke out between two members of your team?
74. How would you calm a colleague down if you could see that their anger was likely to cause trouble?<\/p>\n\n\n\nHandling stress<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
76. Tell me about your most stressful work situation. How did you deal with it?
77. What are good ways of preventing things from getting too stressful in the first place?
78. What work situations get you most stressed?<\/p>\n\n\n\nDecision-making<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
80. Do you like the responsibility of decision-making, or would you prefer to leave it to someone else?
81. What’s the most challenging decision you’ve had to make at work? How did you decide?
82. What do you do if you realize you’ve made a bad or wrong decision?
83. What do you find are the most difficult decisions to make?<\/p>\n\n\n\nConfidence<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
85. Have you ever done something at work by believing in yourself, although your co-workers or bosses told you not to do it?
86. What do you do to increase your confidence in situations where it is lacking?
87. How do you prevent yourself from becoming over-confident?<\/p>\n\n\n\nCultural fit<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
89. What would make you quit a job in the first month?
90. Have you ever found a company policy unfair or inefficient? If so, what was the policy and why? What did you do, or what would you do, in this case?<\/p>\n\n\n\nHonesty<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
92. What would you do if a colleague confessed a serious misdemeanor to you?
93. Give an example of a work situation where you felt that it was best not to be honest.
94. Have you ever been honest even though it’s caused problems for you? What happened?<\/p>\n\n\n\nAnalytical skills<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
96. How do you weigh the pros and cons before making a decision?<\/p>\n\n\n\nPresentation skills<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
98. What would you do if you noticed that your audience looked bored during a meeting?
99. Describe a time when you had to announce bad news to your team.
100. When is it appropriate for speakers to use humor?<\/p>\n\n\n ![\"30](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Behavioral-interview-questions-1-112x67.jpg\")
\n 30 Behavioral Interview Questions to Ask Candidates (With Answers)<\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n ![\"Top](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/How-to-optimize-your-hiring-process-\u2013-6-steps-to-finding-better-candidates-more-quickly-112x67.png\")
\n Top 23 Recruiting Metrics to Track\u00a0<\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n ![\"Soft](\"https:\/\/toggl.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Untitled-1-112x67.png\")
\n Soft Skills Assessment: 7 Soft Skills Every Recruiter Should Test<\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n \n <\/span>\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n\n\n
How to screen candidates’ soft skills<\/h2>\n\n\n\n