Soft skills in high demand in labor market and higher education
Soft skills, often referred to as “people skills” or “interpersonal skills,” are nontechnical abilities that affect how individuals interact and collaborate with others.
As technology evolves and artificial intelligence gains ground in the workplace, soft skills are growing in demand and are now showing up in college and university curricula.
In a study, conducted by BusinessNameGenerator (BNG), 84% of employees and managers said that new employees must possess soft skills and demonstrate them during the hiring process. Among companies with more than 500 employees, 90% said soft skills were the most important. In addition, 71% said soft skills will be as important or even more important in the future.
The study found that newer technologies, such as AI, have accelerated the demand for nontechnical skills that influence how people work and interact with others.
According to the study, the most valuable soft skill for recruits is communication, while leadership is the most valuable skill for advancing in a career. The most common reasons for perceiving soft skills as important were that they can make or break a hiring decision (22%); they are essential for career development (18%); and they can help differentiate similar candidates (17%).
Results varied across industries, with respondents in IT (99%), finance (89%), education (89%), human resources (88%) and law (83%) seeing a greater need for soft skills.
Another study, a survey of talent professionals and hiring managers conducted by LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends Report, found that 80% of respondents believe soft skills are increasingly important in today’s business world; 92% said human capabilities and soft skills matter as much or more than hard skills; and 89% said that when a hire doesn’t work out, it usually boils down to a lack of soft skills.
Soft skills, also known as “people skills” or “interpersonal skills,” are nontechnical abilities that influence how individuals interact and work with others. Unlike hard skills, which are specific, teachable abilities (such as coding or accounting), soft skills reflect how people work rather than what they do.
In Puerto Rico, soft skills are particularly valuable and coveted in the tourism sector, Melissa Rivera-Roena, general manager of ManpowerGroup Puerto Rico, told News is my Business.
“Puerto Rico has five-star hotels and resorts that must meet the highest quality standards and provide world-class service. Jobs in hospitality require soft skills such as communication, attention to detail, multitasking, and the ability to self-manage and make strategic decisions,” she said.
Soft skill education
Despite their importance, soft skills typically are not taught in school. Rivera-Roena is working to change that and has been meeting with academic leaders and students to promote the inclusion of soft skills education in local colleges and universities.
“It has been a year of many positive advancements. We’ve had many productive conversations about what’s moving Puerto Rico’s economy, how we’re educating the population, the curricula universities offer, and how we can bridge what exists today with what we’re going to need more of in the future,” she said.
As a result of these meetings, one of the largest private university systems on the island introduced a soft skills curriculum starting in the 2024-2025 academic year, which began in August.
“We sat with them and told them that it’s no longer about resumes and 500 years of experience. Now, in addition to experience, it’s about maximizing talent in areas that are not typically studied in school, in soft skills,” she said.
Rivera-Roena noted that while people need an education in their chosen career fields, they also need soft skills to enter the workforce successfully, be of greater value to employers, and adapt to changes.
When asked why it took this long for schools to incorporate soft skills in their curricula, Rivera-Roena said: “Because there was no talent shortage before. We used to have more resumes than job vacancies. Now we have more vacancies and not enough qualified talent to fill them.”
Like academia, employers are growing more receptive, she added. “They have started using skill assessments … when interviewing job candidates to identify what soft skills they have.”
