What makes your people different?

Try this: next time your in an interview, ask the recruiter or hiring manager, ‘what makes your people different?’

95% of the time, they’ll say it’s because the people they work with have one or all of the following qualities:

• smart

• innovative

• thoughtful

• adaptable

• friendly

• open

• conscientious

• hard working

• experienced
  

Thing is:

1. These are soft skills. Not hard skills. (And yet it’s rare when hiring managers ask about them when conducting interviews.)
   

2. Honestly, what organization doesn’t have people who have these qualities? If this is the one and only thing that differentiates your people and your culture from your competitors’, better make a change soon.