Soft skills
Soft skills is a broad label for interpersonal and self-management capabilities, such as listening, collaboration, communication and adapting to change. The term has no fixed boundary, and the soft/hard distinction does not determine how each skill can be assessed.
A broad label, not a fixed list
“Soft skills” is used for capabilities that shape how people work with others or manage their work, such as listening, collaboration, communication and adapting to change. The European Commission’s ESCO terminology report describes variation in how these capabilities are named and grouped. It also questions whether “soft” and “hard” form a clear division based on how measurable a skill is.
The label alone says little about what a person needs to do. For a role that involves handovers, for example, a team might look for whether someone summarises an unresolved issue, names its owner and checks that the next person has the context. This is an illustrative behaviour, not a universal definition of communication or collaboration.
Turn the label into evidence
Before an interview, identify the behaviour that matters in the role and how the team could observe it. A relevant question or exercise may help; so can an example from previous work. The CIPD’s selection guidance recommends role-related criteria and comparable assessment. The same method will not fit every capability, and candidate time and assessment effort matter.
Record the example and the reasoning behind a rating. A confident answer alone does not show how a person would work with colleagues; nor does a quieter style establish that they would not communicate well. Look at what the person said or did in relation to the agreed criterion.