“My background doesn’t apply to your business. Cut me some slack. I’m aware of this and I want to succeed.”
When you truly understand the value that soft skills bring to your culture, and know that many hard skills can be learned, this shouts qualified.
And taps into a candidate pool that is being overlooked or ignored.
Self-awareness and vulnerability are traits that cannot be trained. They’re developed through a combination of life experiences and personal growth.
They’re more telling than the school you went to, the fancy tech company you worked at, or the city you live in.
“I am different than my background” tells a much bigger story.
It’s something that companies should be seeking in candidates––an opportunity to enable reinvention.
Smart founders, talent leaders, and hiring managers embrace this.
They see beyond the profile and build companies and teams on the backs of smart people, regardless of their past.
I understand that this doesn’t apply to every role at every type of company. And I’m not saying this is free entry. Boxes need to be checked.
But generally speaking, seeing past the resume and having the ability to recruit for soft skills is the difference between a thoughtful, savvy talent acquisition strategist and an order taking resume reader.