Employers Increasingly Value Soft Skills: Hays 

Nearly all, or 96%, of employers in Australia consider soft skills to be either more important or equally important to a candidate’s hard or technical skills, according to research from Hays Australia.

Based on findings from Hays, 81% of the nearly 3,500 employers surveyed say teamwork is the most important soft skill they require in their permanent staff today. 

This is followed by skills in problem solving (79%), communication (74%), adaptability (70%), critical thinking (63%), time management (60%) and emotional intelligence (53%).

“Soft skills are those crucial personal attributes that relate to how you work and behave,” Nick Deligiannis, Managing Director of Hays in Australia & New Zealand said. “While technical capabilities ensure you can do a job, it’s soft skills that allow someone to function well in a workplace. For example, soft skills ensure you can share and discuss ideas, forge effective relationships with stakeholders, work with others to solve problems and accurately look at information to come to the best conclusion.”