5 things you should know about soft skills for global development

In global development, technical skills may get you the job, but soft skills will ensure you succeed. Soft skills, which define an individual's emotional intelligence, are "extraordinarily important in the decision-making process" when managing projects, according to Joseph Scheibel, an MSI technical associate and a veteran of supervising project teams in hardship posts such as Iraq. And based on his experience, the balance between soft and technical skills in determining success in the field tips overwhelmingly in favor of the former, at a ratio of 90 percent soft skills to 10 percent technical skills. Scheibel joined independent career consultant Jud Nirenberg and Scott Webb, currently a humanitarian response HR adviser for Catholic Relief Services and formerly a Peace Corps recruiter, in a panel session at the 6th Annual Devex International Development Career Forum held Friday, March 28, in Washington about the behavioral competencies that are necessary to thrive in the aid industry. The forum brought together nearly 250 delegates from 66 of the biggest development employers and more than 500 aid professionals. Here are some more interesting takeaways from the panel discussion. Soft skills can be learned Experience, as the adage goes, is the best teacher. This is especially true if one wants to acquire some of the competencies deemed valuable by recruiters such as flexibility, pragmatism and cultural sensitivity. Beyond experience, anyone can develop these qualities through formal training. Although they are expensive, leadership development programs are worth pursuing, according to Nirenberg, because these programs "will help you to talk about your experience in what you've done right and what you've done wrong in a way that impresses on people." The associate director of Blue Frontier likewise recommended checking out the study guide for the U.S. foreign service officer's oral assessment. The guide offers strategies on how candidates can best demonstrate many of the same attributes sought in development professionals. Another good source of learning: people who are terrific at soft skills. "You have to absorb and pay attention to what you're seeing and how they're behaving, how those that you admire where you work and in your circle, what are they good at; why are they good at that?" said Webb, also a career blogger. Better show than tell The summary section at the the top of the CV offers a good opportunity for applicants to mention their soft skills. That said, recruiters prefer that applicants demonstrate them through the cover letter and during the interview. "No one is saying you should write at the top of your CV that you're a good leader and that you're easy to get along with; what we're saying is that in your cover letter and in your interview, you should talk about things that you've been through," Nirenberg said. It can be a challenge however to find opportunities to work soft skills into interviews. In his case, Scheibel said he looks for every possible instance to interject them. When asked about a technical question, he said he'd tell his interviewer: "Do you want to hear about books or practice?" "And that immediately turns the tables and the person on the other end immediately thinks like, 'Wow, this person knows how to implement, not just talk about what they learned in school,'" he said. How to gauge soft skills? Look at past performance How you performed during your last assignment may well be the best evidence of your soft skills. As such, good references are valuable. For recruiters, then, it's key to carry out solid reference checks. Webb recalled a recent experience by his organization of hiring someone for a senior-level position in the Middle East who within days of assuming the job was found to be culturally insensitive. "Soft skills become a casualty of the expediency of recruiting," he said. He noted that recruiters nowadays are no longer satisfied with references provided by applicants, but are Googling and calling around to determine their suitability for the job. This is especially the case of senior-level positions in aid hot spots such as Afghanistan and Pakistan, which typically involve significant investment. It's not always about you It's not unusual for employers to build a team around the chief of party or a technical personnel. As such, they hire team members with skill sets that make them attuned to personalities of these key people. Nirenberg shared that in most cases, he was hired because the manager saw something in his CV that was of personal interest. "I think that when you're putting together a team, the manager says, “These are the things that make someone really relate well to me,’" he said. Localization heightens the importance of soft skills With the emphasis on country ownership, a lot more premium is put on learning and adapting to local cultures. Rather than being daunting, such knowledge can be empowering. "You'd go in, you're speaking, and you're on the right wavelength, they're listening, they're not thinking about anything else," Scheibel said. Subscribe to our weekly Doing Good newsletter to receive top international development career and recruitment news. Read more: Soft skills: The role of 'emotional intelligence' in development careers Soft skills every development professional should possess