By Suzanne Zazulak Pedro, CPC

Unlike the past years for college graduates, the 2010 job market has been an extremely difficult to penetrate and retain. Historically, students’ GPA and extra-curriculum activity was a strong indicator of future performance.

However, according to research by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation and the Stanford Research Centre suggests that 85 percent of job success comes from a person’s people skills, while only 15 percent depends on technical skill and knowledge. Unfortunately for the majority of new graduates, they may have the grades but not the intangible skills needed by the young professionals entering the job market during a recession.

These intangible skills, also known in the business arena as “soft skills” are so important in the workplace, a survey by two University of Massachusetts economists found that 86 percent of employers consider them to be among their most important hiring criteria. Also, executives and front-line professionals reflect directly on the bottom line of your business or company.

Executive job recruiters have implemented different interview techniques to sift through the winning from the mediocre candidates. One such technique is behavioral interviewing. Employers such as ATA and Accenture (formerly Anderson Consulting) have been utilizing this technique for the past 15 years.

The premise relies on the best predictor of future performance is past performance in similar circumstances. Fifty-five percent of future on-the-job behavior is forecasted by behavioral interviewing » Read more: Interviews: Soft Skills for the Hard Kill