Understanding Soft Skills: What Companies Actually Evaluate

A comprehensive guide to the soft skills companies evaluate in interviews, including specific concerns, strengths, and behavioral indicators for stakeholder management, dealing with ambiguity, and decision making.

Purpose

This guide was created to address three critical needs:

• I need to understand what soft skills companies actually evaluate: Learn the specific interpersonal and cognitive skills that determine interview success beyond technical ability
• I need to demonstrate soft skills effectively: Showcase the right combination of communication, problem-solving, and leadership behaviors that companies value
• I need to handle ambiguous situations confidently: Develop the ability to work effectively with unclear requirements and make sound decisions under uncertainty

The goal is to transform soft skills evaluation from subjective assessment into a systematic, evidence-based approach that demonstrates your ability to collaborate, communicate, and lead effectively.

Why Soft Skills Matter

Companies evaluate soft skills to ensure candidates can:

• Influence Without Authority: Build consensus and drive alignment across diverse stakeholder groups
• Navigate Ambiguity: Work effectively when requirements are unclear or situations are uncertain
• Make Sound Decisions: Choose appropriate approaches while considering tradeoffs and long-term implications
• Communicate Effectively: Adapt messaging to different audiences and technical levels
• Build Relationships: Establish trust and maintain productive working relationships
• Drive Results: Lead initiatives and deliver outcomes through collaboration

Core Soft Skills Companies Evaluate

Stakeholder Management & Influence

Stakeholder Management & Influence

Identify, develop, and maintain relationships with stakeholders to achieve goals. Includes influencing stakeholders to resolve conflicting views, adapting communications to align with stakeholder background and level of understanding, and managing stakeholder expectations and escalations.

Concerning Behaviors	Strength Behaviors
Fails to gain stakeholder buy-in without management intervention	Influences stakeholders to gain buy-in without direct authority
Struggles to drive alignment among stakeholders	Drives broad initiatives and achieves stakeholder alignment
Does not identify key stakeholders	Actively seeks to identify and understand key stakeholders
Struggles to understand stakeholder requirements and business needs	Understands stakeholder requirements, scope of influence, and business needs
Does not engage relevant stakeholders effectively	Engages stakeholders when issues arise and drives toward resolution
Fails to seek guidance when issues arise	Identifies path forward and drives toward resolution
Fails to manage stakeholder expectations	Communicates project status and risks effectively with appropriate detail
Does not tailor communication to stakeholder background	Tailors communication to needs and level of stakeholder groups
Escalates excessively or fails to escalate before significant impact	Escalates without damaging relationships when leadership guidance is needed
Does not escalate in an objective, data-driven manner	Escalates in an objective, data-driven manner

Key Interview Questions:

• "How do you identify and engage with key stakeholders for a technical project?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to influence stakeholders without direct authority"
• "How do you tailor your communication for different technical audiences?"
• "Describe a situation where you had to manage conflicting stakeholder priorities"

Dealing with Ambiguity

Dealing with Ambiguity

Work effectively when requirements are unclear, information is incomplete, or situations are uncertain. Includes asking clarifying questions, making reasonable assumptions, and adapting approaches as new information becomes available.

Concerning Behaviors	Strength Behaviors
Creates fragile solutions that don't handle edge cases	Creates robust solutions that handle edge cases and changes in circumstances
Does not consider business or customer concerns	Clarifies ambiguity by considering business and customer concerns
Does not consider long-term business needs	Considers short and long-term business needs in decision making
Begins solving problems without asking clarifying questions	Defines scope by asking relevant clarifying questions
Does not justify decisions with regard to technical requirements	Provides justification for decisions with regard to technical requirements
Commits to initial solution without explaining tradeoffs	Justifies decisions by identifying tradeoffs with different solutions
Does not consider additional factors beyond basic problem	Considers additional factors (developer effort, team composition) beyond basic problem
Does not propose alternatives for different constraints	Proposes alternatives to meet different scalability constraints
Unable to change approach based on changes to the problem	Able to change approach based on changes to the problem
Requires excessive hints or guidance to see solutions	Requires minimal hints and uses feedback to reach solutions
Starts coding before clearly describing the solution	Clearly describes solution before beginning implementation
Does not consider alternatives or respond to feedback	Considers alternatives and responds constructively to feedback
Stays at high level and dismisses concerns about details	Balances high-level thinking with attention to important details
Does not commit to an approach and relies on interviewer	Commits to approaches and drives implementation decisions

Key Interview Questions:

• "What clarifying questions would you ask before starting this project?"
• "How do you handle situations where requirements change mid-project?"
• "Tell me about a time you had to work with incomplete information"
• "How do you make decisions when multiple approaches seem viable?"

Decision Making

Decision Making

Interpret available information to draw accurate conclusions, evaluate alternatives, and make recommendations and decisions. Includes considering tradeoffs, risks, and long-term implications.

Concerning Behaviors	Strength Behaviors
Misinterprets available information leading to inaccurate conclusions	Critically analyzes all relevant information to make accurate conclusions
Implements solution without evaluating alternatives	Identifies impacts of alternative solutions before making final decision
Conducts incomplete evaluation of alternative decisions	Evaluates multiple alternatives systematically before choosing path forward
Makes decisions in the moment without using available information	Makes decisions based on logic and available information
Relies on intuition and point of view to make inaccurate judgments	Accurately interprets input from reliable sources for holistic understanding
Spends too much time analyzing information before deciding	Discusses concerns with others for timely recommendations and decisions
Waits for others to make decisions	Makes timely decisions while gathering appropriate input from stakeholders
Blames others when decisions are questioned	Takes responsibility for decisions by communicating rationale and outcomes

Key Interview Questions:

• "Tell me about a time you had to analyze a complex issue and recommend a course of action"
• "Give me an example of a time you had to make a risky decision"
• "How do you evaluate tradeoffs when making technical decisions?"
• "Describe a situation where you had to make a decision with incomplete information"

How Companies Evaluate Soft Skills

Companies look for evidence that candidates can:

1. Build Influence: Gain buy-in and drive alignment without formal authority
2. Navigate Uncertainty: Work effectively with ambiguous requirements and incomplete information
3. Make Sound Decisions: Choose appropriate approaches while considering multiple factors
4. Communicate Effectively: Adapt messaging to different audiences and situations
5. Manage Relationships: Build trust and maintain productive working relationships
6. Drive Results: Lead initiatives and deliver outcomes through collaboration

Preparing for Soft Skills Interviews

Story Preparation Framework

For each soft skill area, prepare stories that demonstrate:

• Context: What was the situation and why was it challenging?
• Action: What specific behaviors and approaches did you use?
• Result: What was the outcome and what did you learn?
• Impact: How did your actions affect stakeholders, the project, or the organization?

Key Success Factors

• Show Influence Without Authority: Demonstrate how you gained buy-in and drove alignment
• Handle Ambiguity Gracefully: Show how you asked questions, made assumptions, and adapted
• Make Data-Driven Decisions: Explain your reasoning process and how you evaluated alternatives
• Communicate Clearly: Adapt your explanation to your audience's background and needs
• Build Relationships: Show how you established trust and maintained productive partnerships

Action Items

This section contains specific action items that readers can take to enhance their understanding or apply the concepts from this post:

• Audit Your Soft Skills: Review each of the 3 soft skill areas and identify 2-3 concerning behaviors you currently exhibit, then create a plan to develop the corresponding strength behaviors
• Prepare Influence Stories: Develop 3-4 specific examples that demonstrate your ability to influence stakeholders without direct authority, focusing on how you built consensus and drove alignment
• Practice Ambiguity Navigation: Create scenarios where you had to work with unclear requirements, then practice explaining how you asked clarifying questions, made reasonable assumptions, and adapted your approach
• Document Decision-Making Process: Record yourself walking through a complex decision you made, focusing on how you gathered information, evaluated alternatives, considered tradeoffs, and communicated your reasoning

Implementation Notes:

• Each action item should be specific and measurable with clear deliverables
• Focus on the most impactful behaviors first (top rows in each table)
• Include expected outcomes: improved interview performance, better stakeholder relationships, more confident decision-making
• Consider different skill levels: beginners should focus on basic communication, intermediate on influence and ambiguity, advanced on strategic decision-making and organizational impact
• Provide context: these soft skills directly correlate with leadership potential and career advancement

Conclusion

Soft skills evaluation goes beyond technical ability—it assesses how you collaborate, communicate, and lead in complex, ambiguous situations. By understanding what companies look for and preparing stories that demonstrate these competencies, you can showcase your ability to work effectively with others and drive results through influence and sound decision-making.

Remember: Companies want to see not just what you can build technically, but how you work with others, handle uncertainty, and make decisions that drive business success.

🤖 AI Metadata (Click to expand)

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