When hiring a UX team, what skills do you look for?
What’s more important: technical (hard) skills or communication (soft) skills? In an organization, which is more important for improving productivity and processes? How about in a product design or user experience team? What’s more important?
If we don’t have comprehensive research to back up our answers, then it’s just a personal opinion. When we go to a job interview, interviewers often focus on technical skills (hard skills). Our resumes typically determine whether we’re shortlisted even before we’re called for an interview.
Resumes that focus on skills, not people
Typical resume writing rules don’t give space for the “human side” of us to shine, where we can talk about our capabilities (soft skills). Does this mean communication skills are less important or less effective in an organization or design team? I promise, they’re not!
Teams that were similar, but not the same!
Most of the design teams I’ve worked with shared a similar level of knowledge. Most were experts in their fields, with skills in both user experience design and user interface design. Despite that, none of those teams were the same. Why? Here’s what I mean:
“Interaction Skills” is a key
It might not make sense to talk about the importance of “interaction skills” if I was writing for a programming team. Technical skill often trumps interpersonal interaction in a team governed by math. On the other hand, in a design team or product design team, people work on a human product. We’re complex, emotional beings who react to a lot of details, from color to shape, tone of words, and even how we receive information.
It’s only through “interaction” that we get results in a design team. We share ideas, brainstorm, ask questions, offer solutions, critique, and test. Without interaction, mistakes multiply, coordination falls, and team and organization costs rise.
What’s the impact of interaction on productivity?
Interpersonal relationships at work can reduce counterproductive work behaviors (CWB), like wasting resources or lowering efficiency. Researchers found that higher-quality relationships at work reduced CWB, boosted motivation, and improved cooperation and innovation. Work relationships, like effective collaboration and openness to feedback, affect productivity and efficiency.
Additionally, studies in Japanese companies have shown that management training programs that improve communication and interactions lead to better performance evaluations and promotions. Both individual and team productivity can be boosted by soft skills like constructive interactions and openness to feedback.
However, research shows that people who don’t have good interpersonal and communication skills often miss promotion opportunities and lose employer trust. Especially in environments where interpersonal interaction is key to success. As a result, these people might struggle in group settings, fail to build effective relationships, and eventually get demotivated.
Employees who are averse to criticism don’t embrace feedback that could improve their performance. This resistance can lead to stagnant learning, a lack of continuous improvement, and ultimately a decline in creativity and innovation. According to Grugulis and Stoyanova (2011), communicating effectively and getting feedback is essential for long-term productivity.
Soft skills or hard skills: Which is more important?
One’s hard skills can be improved by working in a specialized environment with skilled people. The motivation and opportunity to improve oneself comes when people work with experts. So hiring someone with a natural desire to learn and grow, despite average hard skills, makes more sense than hiring someone with strong technical skills but poor interpersonal skills. Their resistance to criticism and inability to connect may hinder team activity, poison the communication environment, and hamper workflow, resulting in decreased productivity and increased costs.
Research shows that soft skills (like social interaction, leadership, problem-solving) are becoming more important in recruitment, even if hard skills (like technical expertise) remain important. Communication and creative problem-solving have become increasingly important in organizations as technology advances and many technical tasks are automated.
In many industries, especially those reliant on technology, hiring is increasingly based on soft skills, since these skills help employees excel in agile and dynamic work environments. Remote teams and interpersonal tasks require these skills.
According to the National Soft Skills Association, employers are increasingly looking for candidates with strong soft skills, since they can help ensure long-term success. In later stages of recruitment, hard skills take a backseat to soft skills.
There’s a shift toward hiring based on soft skills, thanks to their positive impact on productivity and culture.
You can’t reshape someone’s personality
A few sessions, a training program, hiring a therapist, or using council facilitators can’t change personality traits, especially if people aren’t open to criticism and resist recognizing their own faults.
When you’re hiring a UX designer or UX writer for your team, you might want to focus more on their soft skills. People who are motivated and interactive will soon improve their hard skills. The person lacking soft skills may even create friction, introduce toxic processes, and exhaust your other skilled team members, ultimately lowering productivity and raising costs.
Soft skills or hard skills: Which is more important for a design team? was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.