SRE vs. platform engineer candidates: What professional background/experience do you look for in each? Are there skills needed for SRE that stand out to you?

For a SRE, I'd check out the candidates Software development background if any as well as their knowledge of Cloud Architecture, focusing on optimization and managerial skills.

When hiring SRE and platform engineer candidates, I look for the following:

SRE candidates should have experience with system administration, DevOps, and cloud computing. They should also have experience with monitoring and alerting, incident response, and root cause analysis.
Platform engineer candidates should have experience with software development, system architecture, and infrastructure design. They should also have experience with testing and deployment.
There are a few skills that stand out to me for SRE candidates, including:

Troubleshooting skills. SREs need to be able to quickly identify and solve problems.
Communication skills. SREs need to be able to communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
Collaboration skills. SREs need to be able to work effectively with other teams, such as product engineering and security.