Soft Skills Library
The traits and dispositions that no CV reveals.
Technical skills get people hired. Emotional intelligence, values alignment, grit, and psychological needs determine whether they thrive. Synethos gives access to a curated set of validated psychometric scales — and remains open to any peer-reviewed instrument your organisation already uses or wants to introduce.
The open instrument model
Built on science. Open to yours.
No single psychometric publisher holds a monopoly on valid measurement. Organisations that have already invested in a specific instrument — and built internal expertise around interpreting it — should not have to abandon it to use Synethos.
Synethos ships with a curated set of validated instruments covering the dimensions most reliably predictive of performance, retention, and cultural fit. But the platform is designed to be open. If your organisation uses a different validated instrument — whether licensed, proprietary, or developed internally — Synethos can integrate it into the same assessment workflow, scoring pipeline, and talent inventory as the built-in scales. The result is one unified evidence base, regardless of which instruments feed it.
What is included out of the box
Seven peer-reviewed instruments covering emotional intelligence, personality, resilience, values, wellbeing, motivation, and agency — validated across cultures and career stages, ready to deploy without configuration.
What can be integrated on request
Any peer-reviewed psychometric instrument for which you hold a valid licence or usage right can be integrated — including instruments developed internally by your own research or OD team.
What Synethos will not integrate
Instruments without published reliability and validity evidence, or tools that have not been validated for use in employment contexts. Openness does not mean anything goes and the scientific standard applies to every instrument in the platform, built-in or integrated.
Validated scales
Built on science. Open to yours.
Synethos includes a curated set of validated psychometric instruments covering the dimensions that most reliably predict performance, retention, and cultural fit — independent of role or sector. Every scale is grounded in peer-reviewed research, with established reliability and validity evidence. And because no two organisations measure exactly the same thing, Synethos is designed to integrate additional instruments on request.
TEIQue — Trait Emotional Intelligence
Petrides & Furnham's validated trait EI model covering emotionality, sociability, self-control, and wellbeing. One of the most widely cited emotional intelligence instruments in organisational research.
Big Five (OCEAN)
The most replicated personality framework in academic literature — Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Neuroticism — with strong predictive validity across roles, cultures, and career stages.
Grit Scale — Duckworth
Perseverance and passion for long-term goals — the disposition that predicts performance in demanding roles more reliably than talent or intelligence alone. Particularly relevant for leadership, consulting, and sales roles.
EWES — Employee Wellbeing & Engagement Scale
A validated instrument measuring the dimensions of employee wellbeing that predict sustainable performance — energy, engagement, meaning, and psychological safety at work.
PVQ — Portrait Values Questionnaire (Schwartz)
Schwartz's universal values framework measuring what individuals fundamentally prioritise — power, achievement, conformity, universalism, and more. Critical for culture fit assessment and team composition decisions.
LOC — Locus of Control (Rotter)
Internal versus external locus of control — the degree to which individuals believe outcomes are shaped by their own actions or by external forces. A reliable predictor of initiative, accountability, and resilience under pressure.
BPN — Basic Psychological Needs (Self-Determination Theory)
Measures the degree to which the three fundamental psychological needs — autonomy, competence, and relatedness — are satisfied at work. A strong predictor of intrinsic motivation, engagement, and sustainable performance.
From instrument to insight
A score is not an insight. Context makes it one.
A raw percentile on emotional intelligence tells you almost nothing on its own. The same score read against a role profile, a team composition, and a set of strategic priorities tells you exactly what to do with it.
Soft skill scales in Synethos are not standalone questionnaires that produce a PDF report. They are part of an integrated assessment process. Each instrument is configured against the role profile, scored automatically, and combined with competency and industry data to produce a full picture of the individual — presented in a format HR professionals and hiring managers can act on immediately, without needing a psychologist to interpret the output.
Get started
Start measuring what actually predicts performance.
All validated scales are available out of the box. Additional instruments can be integrated on request. Book an orientation call to discuss which combination fits your context.