Our company recently ran most of us through interview/hiring training. One of the core messages of this training was "hire for soft skills; technical skills can be trained"
This included a slide with a hypothetical "candidate A" who had no technical experience, but great communication skills, and "candidate B" who had extensive technical experience but no "soft skills". Who do you hire for a hypothetical technical role? "Candidate A" was presented to us as the correct answer.
Nevermind the fact that our company has never historically demonstrated the ability to technically train an employee...
So, yes. Devaluing technical skill appears to be all the rage in HR these days.
This included a slide with a hypothetical "candidate A" who had no technical experience, but great communication skills, and "candidate B" who had extensive technical experience but no "soft skills". Who do you hire for a hypothetical technical role? "Candidate A" was presented to us as the correct answer.
Nevermind the fact that our company has never historically demonstrated the ability to technically train an employee...
So, yes. Devaluing technical skill appears to be all the rage in HR these days.