by Content Manager | 9 Jul 2025 | Corporate Training, HR, Management innovation, recruitment best practices, talent acquisition
How do you evaluate what you cannot see? In today’s job market, recruiting for invisible skills—like adaptability, discernment, and emotional intelligence—has become a central challenge. Traditional credentials no longer guarantee a fit. So how can HR and hiring managers identify what truly matters?
This article explores how recruitment must evolve—methodologically, ethically, and strategically—to meet the demands of today’s fragmented careers and rising expectations.
The end of standard career paths?
Traditional indicators—degrees, years of experience, employer prestige—are losing predictive value. In SMEs, startups, and innovation-driven sectors, candidates bring diverse and unconventional profiles.
Rather than filter out non-traditional candidates, smart hiring practices recognize the value of hybrid experiences. For instance, long-term NGO professionals or self-taught developers often demonstrate key traits: problem-solving, adaptability, contextual intelligence.
Behavioral skills: the new benchmark
The World Economic Forum highlights emotional intelligence, complex problem-solving, and cognitive flexibility as essential future skills. Yet few recruitment tools reliably assess these in structured ways.
Key challenges:
- Defining soft skills tailored to organizational context
- Measuring them without standardized tests
Some Swiss companies have adapted interview protocols post-COVID to focus more on emotional resilience, remote communication, and fast iteration capacity—behavioral traits now essential for performance.
Recruiting: an art or a skill ?
Many hiring decisions are still made on instinct—“I had a good feeling.” But biases (halo effect, similarity bias) often cloud judgment. Neuroscience and behavioral science advise structured methods instead.
How to professionalize recruitment:
- Define and isolate behavioral from hard skills
- Use shared evaluation grids between HR and managers
- Ask targeted, open-ended questions
- Train teams on cognitive bias
- Implement post-interview reflection protocols
Filmed role-play interviews, used in recruiter training, help professionals see unconscious behaviors—revealing how posture, tone, or question framing can distort evaluation.
Interviews as tools for qualitative evaluation
A well-structured interview isn’t just procedural—it’s diagnostic. Using unexpected or ambiguous scenarios reveals more than rehearsed answers.
Recommended practices (Harvard Business Review, 2021):
- Semi-structured interviews with open scenarios
- Focus on how candidates think and adapt, not just what they know
- Observe stress responses and reasoning pathways
This approach—validated by Levashina et al. (Journal of Applied Psychology, 2014)—improves predictive accuracy without dehumanizing the process.
Training hiring managers: a strategic gap
Too often, final hiring decisions fall to operational managers without structured interview training. This undermines consistency, fairness, and legal compliance.
Why this matters:
- Untrained managers often default to “gut feeling”
- They risk asking inappropriate questions
- Candidate experience suffers
Workshops using simulations, shared evaluation grids, and role-play interviews can build capacity fast—without overburdening teams. It’s about enabling discernment, not turning managers into HR experts.
Recruiting with fairness: a strategic and ethical duty
Every recruitment decision reflects your employer brand and ethical posture. Inclusive, behavior-aware hiring builds both equity and long-term success.
As HR professionals, the role is not to enforce compliance alone, but to enable high-quality human connections. The invisible skills that matter most require careful attention, structured tools, and genuine curiosity.
Between uncertainty and discernment lies the new frontier of recruiting.
FAQ – invisible skills in recruitment
What are “invisible skills”?
They include adaptability, emotional intelligence, collaborative mindset, and contextual reasoning—traits not visible on a resume but essential in complex environments.
Can behavioral traits be measured?
Not with precision, but they can be revealed through scenario-based interviews, structured observations, and manager training programs.
Why train hiring managers?
Because most hiring errors come from unstructured evaluations. Training reduces bias, improves consistency, and enhances decision quality.
What’s the ROI of better hiring?
Avoiding one poor hire can save 1–1.5x annual salary. It also improves team cohesion, reduces attrition, and strengthens employer brand.
Hiring as discernment, not just selection
Recruiting today requires more than screening. It requires observation, curiosity, and clarity of need. Invisible skills can be surfaced—with the right structure and mindset.
As we rethink hiring, let’s embrace this complexity—not as a burden, but as a strategic opportunity for deeper alignment between people and purpose.
by Swissnova | 13 May 2025 | ergonomics, health, HR, life, Manager, prevention, quality, risk
In Switzerland, as in other European countries, MSDs (musculoskeletal disorders) are the leading cause of occupational illness..
Back, shoulders, wrists, neck — certain pains can become a lasting part of the workday, affect performance, and lead to fatigue, absenteeism, or even long-term incapacity.
The causes? Repetitive movements, poor posture, constant pressure, and poorly adapted workstations that fail to support the body’s overall balance.
Why is this a critical issue for HR?
Because poorly addressed MSDs are costly:
- repeated absenteeism,
- replacement time,
- moral wear and tear and a sense of injustice.
But also because they often carry an invisible load: organizational stress, cognitive overload, and inattentive management that overlooks early warning signs. Yet, a few targeted adjustments can often prevent these risks in a sustainable way.
Concrete levers to activate within the organization
It is possible (and necessary) to co-build an integrated prevention approach through:
- Ergonomic analysis of workstations.
- Training in proper movements and posture.
- Regular assessments of risky behaviors.
- A culture of shared vigilance among HR, managers, and employees.
At pioneering companies, MSD prevention is embedded in a broader Quality of Work Life (QWL) and Quality of Work and Working Conditions (QWLC) strategy.
Training: a foundation for behavioral change
Training in MSD prevention helps to:
- Raise awareness of risk factors,
- Change ingrained yet ineffective behaviors,
- Sustain long-term performance while protecting health.
These training sessions combine theory, real-life field situations, physical exercises, and targeted microlearning modules. They are designed for everyone: physical jobs, screen-based roles, logistics, office staff, and managers, etc.,s.
And now… who takes care of the body at work?
At a time when ecological transition, CSR, and responsible performance are top priorities, why is the question of the body at work still so overlooked?
How can we integrate physical and mental prevention efforts?
And above all: who leads these internal health transitions within organizations? HR, QHSE, senior management — or all of them together?
These are fundamental questions for establishing a sustainable approach to well-being and performance.
by Swissnova | 7 May 2025 | feedback, HR, knowledge, Manager
Beyond the traditional annual evaluation, feedback is now recognized as a key tool for development, motivation, and agility. Yet, it remains insufficiently integrated into day-to-day managerial practices.
According to Gallup (2019), employees who receive regular and constructive feedback are 3.6 times more engaged than others. Conversely, the absence of concrete feedback can lead to confusion, frustration, loss of trust — and ultimately, disengagement.
Why is this relational dimension a strategic issue?
Because feedback is not just an individual reflex. It is an integral part of collective dynamics, a team’s ability to adjust quickly, and a culture of continuous improvement.
A well-formulated feedback supports three essential dimensions:
- Learning: drawing clear lessons from one’s actions,
- Motivation: feeling recognized in one’s role,
- Agility: quickly adjusting attitude, communication, and organization.
But without clear intent, a method, or structure, feedback can become clumsy or even harmful — hence the need for vigilance.
Establishing a sustainable feedback culture
Several structured approaches exist to professionalize feedback practices:
- The SBI model (Situation, Behavior, Impact),
- The DESC method (Describe, Express, Specify, Conclude) for managing tensions,
- 360° feedback to create a virtuous circle of reciprocal listening.
Scheduling feedback rituals (weekly, post-project, etc.), clarifying mutual expectations, and developing active listening: all are simple levers to deploy, provided they are based on the right mindset.
Training as an Anchor Point
Implementing a true feedback culture requires time and consistency. But also, at certain key moments, structured training and alignment sessions that allow:
- Acquiring a common language around feedback,
- Practicing managerial postures in various contexts (success / error / tension),
- Identifying individual or cultural barriers to regular feedback.
Well-designed training acts as a catalyst for collective evolution, provided it is followed by real implementation.
And now… Can feedback really be natural?
Is it possible, in some teams, to spontaneously foster a feedback culture without it feeling artificial or top-down?
Should the practice be standardized, or should the desire emerge naturally?
And above all: how can we learn to give feedback that is free of judgment, yet not complacent?
These are questions every organization — including HR and managers — should ask, to professionalize an act too often perceived as “intuitive.”
References:
London, M. & Smither, J.W. (2002). Feedback orientation, feedback culture, and the performance management process, Human Resource Management Review
Gallup (2019). State of the Global Workplace
by Swissnova | 14 Apr 2025 | HR, Learning, workplace conflict
As work speeds accelerate, profiles diversify within organizations, and intergenerational expectations grow increasingly distinct, tensions within teams have become nearly unavoidable.
In Switzerland and beyond, HR teams report a growing wave of interpersonal conflict in organizations, clearly impacting morale, engagement, and productivity.
According to CPP Global (2008), 85% of employees have already experienced conflict at work; one in three faces it regularly. Still, few employees are truly equipped to recognize, understand, and defuse these complex situations.
Why is this a critical issue?
Because unmanaged conflicts lead to concrete consequences: demotivation, stress, withdrawal, high turnover, and operational inefficiency.
Often, these tensions are handled informally—or not at all—until they escalate. Yet conflict is not always destructive: when properly addressed, it can become a source of transformation, clarification, or innovation.
As highlighted by De Dreu & Gelfand (2008), conflicts might destabilize short-term team dynamics but also offer a valuable opportunity to redefine roles, reopen communication, or reevaluate practices.
Establishing a culture of active regulation
Companies looking to professionalize internal conflict management can activate several levers:
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Define a clear framework for team dialogue
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Rely on internal or external mediators
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Implement transparent feedback rituals
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Experiment with tools such as the Thomas-Kilmann model, Nonviolent Communication (NVC), or dialogue circles
The goal is not to eliminate disagreement—which would be unrealistic—but to develop a collective capacity to navigate it and emerge stronger.
Training as a foundation, not a magic fix
Skill-building in relational dynamics is essential. But training doesn’t mean resolving everything. It should instead:
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Provide keys to understanding value, method, or role-based conflicts
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Introduce emotional regulation and cooperative behaviors
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Build a shared language to support daily mediation
These trainings address both managers and teams, and can be part of a broader HR-led vision of workplace climate regulation.
So…what role will each person play in tension prevention?
As work environments become more hybrid, multicultural, and uncertain, conflict management can no longer be a niche topic for a select few.
But then, who should remain alert? Who takes initiative? How far can a team self-regulate?
These questions encourage organizations to redefine shared responsibilities—among HR, managers, employees, and internal mediation bodies.
Maybe it’s time to collectively rethink the space of disagreement within workplace culture?
References:
De Dreu, C. K. W. & Gelfand, M. J. (2008). Conflict in the Workplace: Sources, Functions, and Dynamics across Multiple Levels of Analysis. Annual Review of Psychology
CPP Global (2008). Workplace Conflict and How Businesses Can Harness It to Thrive
Rosenberg, M. (1999). Nonviolent Communication, PuddleDancer Press
