How to Assess Soft Skills in Candidates: The Proven, Research-Backed Method
How to assess soft skills with reliable, science-backed methods proven to improve hiring accuracy and efficiency.
These tools help you objectively assess skills, cognitive ability, and behaviour so you’re not relying purely on CVs and interviews.
Test Partnership provides dynamic, AI-resistant psychometric assessments designed to be shorter, more engaging, and more predictive than traditional tests. The platform focuses on adaptive testing, gamified tasks, and strong candidate experience, supported by expert implementation and customer support.
The platform focuses on measuring core cognitive ability and job-relevant behaviours using shorter, engaging tests rather than long cheatable tests. Most assessments take just a few minutes to complete, which helps improve completion rates without sacrificing predictive accuracy.
From a hiring perspective, this approach delivers strong results early in the funnel. Organisations use Test Partnership to screen large applicant pools quickly, reduce reliance on CVs, and make more objective, evidence-based decisions before interviews. This typically leads to shorter time-to-hire, better shortlisting quality, and more consistent hiring outcomes.
All assessments are scientifically validated, built and reviewed by occupational psychologists, and designed to be fair across diverse candidate groups. Results are reported in a clear, practical format that hiring teams can interpret easily without specialist training.
Test Partnership is also known for its hands-on, expert support. Customers work directly with assessment specialists to select the right tests, interpret results, and embed assessments effectively into their recruitment process, rather than being left to self-serve complex tools.
For teams that want faster, fairer, and more AI-robust hiring decisions, Test Partnership stands out as a modern alternative to traditional psychometric testing.
| Tool | Type | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Harver | Pre-employment assessments | High-volume screening and matching |
| SHL | Pre-employment assessments | Enterprise hiring |
| HireVue | Video & AI assessments | Video-led candidate evaluation |
ATS platforms centralise your vacancies, applications, and hiring workflows so the whole team can collaborate from one system of record.
Greenhouse is known for structured hiring workflows, strong integrations, and analytics that help teams run consistent, data-driven recruitment processes.

Greenhouse is featured for its strong emphasis on structured hiring. The platform helps teams standardise how roles are defined, interviews are run, and candidates are evaluated, reducing inconsistency and bias in decision-making. This makes it a solid choice for organisations that want more rigour and repeatability in their hiring process.
It also stands out for its ecosystem and reporting depth. Greenhouse integrates well with assessment platforms, job boards, and HR systems, and provides clear analytics that help teams understand bottlenecks and improve hiring outcomes over time.
SmartRecruiters is a talent acquisition suite that combines ATS, job advertising, and recruitment marketing in one platform, aimed at high-volume and global teams.

SmartRecruiters is featured for its ability to support high-volume and global hiring at scale. The platform brings together ATS functionality, job advertising, and collaboration tools, making it easier for large teams to manage complex hiring workflows across multiple regions.
It also earns a featured place due to its extensive marketplace of integrations and focus on enterprise use cases. For organisations looking to centralise recruitment activity and connect multiple hiring tools into a single system, SmartRecruiters is a strong, scalable option.
| Tool | Type | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Recruitee | ATS & TA platform | SMBs and mid-market teams |
| Lever | ATS + CRM | Relationship-driven hiring |
| Workable | ATS | Growing teams and global hiring |
| Bullhorn | ATS & CRM | Staffing and recruitment agencies |
| JazzHR | ATS | SMBs |
| Zoho Recruit | ATS + CRM | Agencies and in-house teams |
| iCIMS Talent Cloud | Talent acquisition suite | Enterprise hiring |
| Jobvite | ATS & recruitment marketing | End-to-end talent acquisition |
| Breezy HR | ATS | Visual pipelines for SMEs |
These platforms help you reach and source candidates at the top of the funnel via job ads and proactive outreach.
LinkedIn Recruiter gives access to the full LinkedIn network with advanced filters, search alerts, and InMail so teams can proactively source and engage talent.

LinkedIn Recruiter is featured for its unmatched reach and depth of candidate data. It gives hiring teams direct access to the world’s largest professional network, with powerful filters that allow recruiters to search by role, experience, skills, location, and career history, making it especially effective for proactive sourcing.
It also stands out for its integration into the wider LinkedIn ecosystem. Recruiter works closely with LinkedIn job ads, employer branding, and analytics, and integrates with many ATS platforms, allowing teams to move from sourcing to application and tracking with minimal friction.
| Tool | Type | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Indeed | Worldwide job board | Reaching large audience of candidates |
| LatHire | Regional job board / marketplace | Hiring vetted talent in Latin America |
| Longlist | Sourcing automation & mini ATS | Outbound sourcing and workflows for recruiters |
These tools help you employ, pay, and support talent in multiple countries without setting up local entities, and often include advisory services.
Borderless AI provides employer-of-record services and global employment tools so companies can hire internationally while staying compliant with local laws.

Borderless AI is featured for its strong focus on compliant global hiring through Employer of Record (EOR) services. The platform enables companies to hire and manage international employees without setting up local legal entities, handling contracts, payroll, taxes, and country-specific labour law requirements on their behalf. This significantly reduces the complexity and risk of hiring across borders.
It also stands out for its depth of compliance expertise and local coverage. Borderless AI actively monitors labour law and regulatory changes across a wide range of countries, helping businesses stay up to date and avoid costly compliance issues as they expand into new regions.
In addition, Borderless AI provides a scalable and employee-friendly experience. From onboarding and contract management to localised payroll and benefits, the platform supports both employers and employees through a centralised system, making it well suited to companies building and managing distributed global teams.
| Tool | Type | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| TeamLease Digital | Staffing & talent solutions | Digital and IT talent at scale |
These tools support the operational side of recruiting, such as workflow automation, time tracking, and capturing structured interview notes.
Calendly is an interview scheduling tool that lets candidates and interviewers book time automatically based on real calendar availability, reducing manual coordination and speeding up hiring.

Calendly is featured for its ability to remove scheduling friction from the recruitment process. By allowing candidates and interviewers to book time automatically based on real calendar availability, it significantly reduces back-and-forth emails and manual coordination, helping teams move faster and provide a smoother candidate experience.
It also stands out for its flexibility and integrations. Calendly works with major calendar systems and integrates with ATS platforms, video conferencing tools, and workflow software, making it easy to embed scheduling into existing hiring processes without adding operational complexity.
| Tool | Type | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Toggl Track | Time tracking | Measuring recruiting workload and building simple productivity reports |
| Jotform | Forms & workflow | Application forms, pre-screen questionnaires, and internal hiring request workflows |
| Metaview | Interview intelligence | Automated interview notes and structured feedback for hiring teams |