Technical Or Communication Skills, Which is More Important?

Technical capabilities or communication skills are more crucial when it comes to hiring the proper IT workers for your company. It's ideal to hire an IT staffing agency that can also interact well with their colleagues. In practice, however, it can be difficult to locate such a high level of technical expertise. Employers are often forced to select between an experienced IT worker with poor communication skills and bright tech talent with excellent communication abilities but limited technical expertise.

So, when it comes to finding the best employees for your company, what qualifications should you look for? It all depends on what you're looking for and the job criteria. It's possible to argue that communication abilities should take precedence over other factors when comparing prospects. IT professionals need strong communication skills to succeed, so let's take a look at what those qualities are, as well as how you can find them.

Listening To That Is Both Active And Enthusiastic

There's a good reason why good listening skills are at the top of this list. Let's imagine that your IT team is about to embark on a major project that will have a significant impact on a number of critical systems in your company. With the help of stakeholders from many departments, the IT team gathers information about how the systems are presently used and where improvements may be made. As a result, the IT team gathers all of their notes and begins the process of redesigning the systems. However, when the new systems are finally launched, no one is very happy. What went awry in this situation?

Listening is more than just being quiet. Asking follow-up questions and debating unclear points is an important part of active listening. Gathering feedback and implementing the requested system improvements did not help in the case above since the implemented solutions did not address the real problems. In order to really comprehend a project's context and requirements, great communication skills must begin with active listening.

What is the best way to find tech workers with excellent listening abilities? During the interview process, a candidate's ability to actively listen and engage in conversation is tested. Is it possible to get comprehensive responses from them? How well do they utilize the information provided by asking good follow-up questions and digging deeper into the answers? With the help of these hints, you will be able to identify the best candidates from the rest.

Clear Writing

Written communication is a talent that is often underestimated by IT professionals, but it is no less crucial. Writing abilities are essential for IT success, whether it's for project documentation or generating a user manual for a new database. Perhaps you've enlisted the services of a cloud professional with extensive knowledge of data migration. What happens if they can't provide clear directions for staff to follow to complete the migration process?? As a result, your tech personnel must be able to write and communicate properly about their job in order for it to be effective.

The misuse of technical jargon in written communications is also a problem. To be honest, IT workers aren't the only ones that tend to overuse jargon peculiar to their field when speaking. The ability to communicate effectively between IT and non-IT employees is critical to the success of your company. Moving pieces, back-end work, and continual updates are common in technology projects. Your IT staff will be better equipped to update project stakeholders and offer the explanations required to make complicated technical systems more user-friendly if they employ clear and concise written communications.

Examine the documents provided by potential IT employees to see if they demonstrate the abilities you're looking for in terms of written communication. When it comes to showcasing a candidate's personality and skills, cover letters are a great way to go. Do you think the cover letter is badly written or overly detailed? While the candidate may have the technical talents you are seeking, their communication abilities may fall short of what your company requires.

Speaking With Self-Assuredness and Calmness

Public speaking is the final essential communication skill for IT workers. The ability to present and talk in front of large groups is as critical in most IT jobs as it is in writing. Rather than being tethered to their desks, we tend to think of IT professionals as being hidden behind a wall of monitors, slaving away at their keyboards, but this isn't how it works in reality. Tech pros must be comfortable talking to their clients and explaining their work. Confident and calm speaking skills are essential in this situation. It's important for your tech staff to be able to describe how their system works to non-technical coworkers. IT managers and project leaders, who are typically tasked with keeping complicated projects operating smoothly and communicating their progress to higher-ups, require excellent presentation abilities.

Asking the correct questions throughout the interview process is a great way to gauge an IT candidate's communication skills. How a candidate responds to various scenarios and whether or not they have adequate speaking/presentation abilities may all be determined by asking behavioral, situational, and practical questions.

Finding A Blend Of Technical And Communication Skills

How do you answer the question, "Which is more important, technical knowledge or interpersonal skills?" It's critical to know the specifics of the position you're trying to fill before applying for it. In the end, it's the position itself that determines the importance of particular abilities. If you know what to look for, finding the proper mix of technical and communication abilities can be accomplished.

Trying to find the ideal blend of IT workers for your company? LocalSkill is an IT staffing agency that helps you find the best workers with both technical and soft skills. Get in touch with us right now to get started.