In an increasingly rapid and evolving job market, technical abilities will get you in the door, but it is soft skills that keep you in the room. The post-COVID world, combined with digital transformation and globalization, has wholly redesigned what it means to be a “qualified candidate." Employers today are seeking candidates who not only possess technical capabilities but also emotional intelligence, adaptability, and communication skills. Soft skills are no longer an accessory; they are comparable to hard skills. Moreover, they are rapidly becoming the new hard skills. At SkilTrak, we see the differences in students who not only have soft skill experience but have also mastered soft skills in work and industry settings. We have witnessed firsthand how students begin to thrive or continue to merely survive based on their proficiency in soft skills. Let's take a closer examination of the rise of soft skills and what makes them important in today’s employment experience. Let’s also look at how educational institutions and placement providers, like SkilTrak, are responding to the new reality of soft skills.
What Are Soft Skills?
Soft skills pertain to non-technical, interpersonal skills related to how you work and engage, and respond to others. So, what specific soft skills exist? Here are examples:
• Communication
• Problem solving
• Critical thinking
• Time management
• Leadership
• Adaptability
• Teamwork
• Empathy
• Work Ethic
While hard skills refer to specific knowledge or skills (e.g., programming, accounting, nursing procedures), soft skills are applicable across every industry and every job.
Why Are Soft Skills So Important in 2025 and beyond?
1. Automation & AI are Replacing Repetitive Tasks
As industries continue to automate repetitive and task-based work, uniquely human skills such as emotional intelligence, judgment, and negotiation will continue to grow in value. You can teach someone some coding or using a CRM tool, but teaching empathy or critical thinking skills is a different conversation.
2. Remote & Hybrid Work Require Greater Communication Skills
With global teams working across different time zones, soft skills such as clear communication, self-discipline, and collaboration have become the foundations of success in remote work. Whether it’s a Zoom call or a Slack thread, communicating our ideas and understanding others' ideas and thoughts is critical to productivity.
3. Customer-Facing Roles Are Growing
Customer-facing roles in any industry, be it health, technology, education, or logistics, call for patience, empathy, and listening. Employees are expected to provide solutions, but are also expected to make clients feel understood.
What The Data Tells Us: Soft Skills in Demand
According to a recent Global report:
• 92% of talent professionals and hiring managers say soft skills are more important, or just as important, as hard skills.
• 89% of hiring failures are due to a lack of soft skills, not related to technical skills.
Top 7 Soft Skills Employers Want in 2025:
1. Communication. Not just speaking, but active listening, clarity in emails, and a professional tone on calls.
2. Critical Thinking. Analysing information objectively and making an informed decision.
3. Adaptability. Being comfortable with change and agile in new situations.
4. Teamwork. Collaborating with other teams, understanding the value of diverse opinions, and responding accordingly.
5. Problem-solving. Taking initiative to solve problems and get on with things without waiting for someone to tell you what to do.
6. Time Management. Prioritising tasks and meeting deadlines, as well as balancing workload.
7. Emotional Intelligence. Recognising your own emotions and those of others, managing your reactions, showing empathy, and building positive working relationships.
Embedding Soft Skills into Education and Placement
In this section, we're going to look at how SkilTrak helps students develop the necessary soft skills to succeed in industry placements and beyond.
● Placement Soft Skills training
Soft Skills relate to communication, professionalism, and collaboration, working well with others. We support students through practice mock interviews, workplace communication, and feedback acceptance simulations.
● Soft Skills tracking and indicators
SkilTrak shows progress not just technically in skills and capability, but recognises behavioral indicators of soft skills in the placement context of students, such as piloting behaviour around punctuality, teamwork, and initiative, supported with real-time situational observations of student behavior. This allows for all parties to holistically track improvement and growth at the time of evaluation.
● Structured industry feedback loops
We track detailed employer feedback from students' observations given by employers concerned about the students' behavior, professionalism, and communication. We don't have to ask employers to provide written feedback to the students; we draw upon the emails that were sent. SkilTrak processes and the observations of the students as tools to coach students more effectively.
Soft Skills across industries
Students in various industries have different emphases on distinct soft skills:
● Allied Health / Community Services
Empathy, active listening, and cultural sensitivity are essential to serving vulnerable populations in our community.
● Business / Administration
Client-focused and operational roles require communication, time management, and problem-solving as core competencies.
● Trades / Technical roles
Even though trades and technical jobs involve an intensive technical component, communication, accountability, and team collaboration are considered important skills on job sites and in workshops/brands.
Ways for Students to Build Soft Skills
✅ Volunteer or Intern
Get into actual environments as early as possible. Even short internships or voluntary work develop applied skills.
✅ Join Group Projects or Groups
University or TAFE students can develop teamwork and leadership experience in low-risk situations.
✅ Seek feedback
Receiving constructive feedback from mentors, educators, or placement coordinators allows practice in resilience and adaptability.
In conclusion: The Future is Human.
As AI and automation widely adapt into our standard practice, it is the human-centered skills that will differentiate job seekers and professionals from each other. The new currency for careers and our job seekers is no longer ‘knowledge’, it is ‘empathy’. ‘Not nutrients’, it is ‘wisdom', ‘Not capacity’, it is 'adaptability'. SkilTrak is proud to be in this shift. By supporting our placements, mentoring, and workplace readiness to develop the next generation not just for jobs, but for dynamic human-centred careers.
