{"id":5,"date":"2011-03-29T11:23:36","date_gmt":"2011-03-29T10:23:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/?p=5"},"modified":"2011-03-29T12:19:04","modified_gmt":"2011-03-29T11:19:04","slug":"ccd-cv-g-shb","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.iese.edu\/expatriatus\/2011\/03\/29\/ccd-cv-g-shb\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting the right people: Soft vs. hard skills. Which matter more for going abroad?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The debate about soft skills versus hard skills is not new in people management. In the early 1990\u2019s, Daniel Goleman <\/a>introduced the term emotional intelligence<\/em>, which emphasizes the importance of interpersonal skills, and has since received growing attention. These soft skills are usually differentiated from more technical skills, specialized knowledge and proficiency (also called hard skills), which traditionally have been the main focus of recruiters.
\nHowever, which types of skills are more important for international assignments?<\/p>\n

Managing expatriation is usually very costly for organizations, so firms generally expect positive outcomes and in particular tangible results. This obviously means that the person going abroad should have the necessary knowledge and technical skills. Only a qualified specialist can set up a new production line or operation, only an experienced leader can establish a new project and only a proficient manager can implement a new procedure. However, what if this needs to be done abroad, in different cultural settings, with culturally diverse colleagues and unfamiliar practices? Without being able to adapt abroad, expats most likely won\u2019t succeed. Strong personal and interpersonal attributes are necessary to manage the tasks at hand.<\/p>\n

Decision:<\/strong> Obviously both skill types shouldn\u2019t compete but rather complement each other. However, if you were given the choice between an employee with stronger hard skills and an employee with stronger soft skills, whom would you choose for an international assignment?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The debate about soft skills versus hard skills is not new in people management. These soft skills are usually differentiated from more technical skills, specialized knowledge and proficiency (also called hard skills), which traditionally have been the main focus of recruiters. However, which types of skills are more important for international assignments?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18330],"tags":[17550,17549,17551,1183,17548],"class_list":["post-5","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-views-and-news-about-expatriates","tag-expatriation","tag-hard-skills","tag-international-assignment","tag-recruitment","tag-soft-skills"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t