How do you show inner qualities in a job interview? The World Civility Index keeps a record to show to HR.

Country: Switzerland – St Gallen
IDG HUB: IDG St. Gallen Higher Education Hub (in process)
Link to website: www.IITTI.org
Link to presentation: WorldCivilityIndex

I volunteer with the IITTI World Civility Index, a project I co-founded in 2011 with an international team of soft skills educators. Our mission is to make inner development visible and measurable, enabling young people to demonstrate their efforts in cultivating qualities like empathy, humility, and intercultural competence—qualities traditionally overlooked in hiring.

IITTI provides a standardized, effort-based record system that job seekers can share with employers to show their journey of inner growth. Since 2019, we’ve been an official partner of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), contributing to SDG #8: Decent Work & Economic Growth. To date, over 200,000 learners in 20+ countries have participated.

Our biggest impact? We’ve helped companies shift from hiring based solely on degrees and technical qualifications to recognizing who a person is becoming—a more human-centered approach to work.

One of our key learnings is the importance of clear communication. Many people initially assume we try to quantify empathy or inner traits directly (e.g., “73% empathy”). In truth, we don’t assess innate traits—we measure effort. For example, how often someone engages with reflection prompts, reads on emotional intelligence, or attends personal development workshops. We track this effort as an indicator of inner commitment and learning journey.

We help HR managers bridge from traditional hiring process based on hard skills to inner qualities soft skills.