Soft skills – the ability to manage yourself, manage others, and the tasks you perform – are increasingly seen as essential for success in the labour market. Traditionally, soft skills have been considered transversal competences, i.e., competences required in a wide range of occupations and activities. However, there is little evidence to assess the extent to which this is true. This article presents evidence of the degree of transferability and transversality of soft skills in the labour market using data from 1.7 million online job offers in Catalonia. This data covers a broad segment of the labour market and captures the demand for different skills from companies with a high level of granularity. Our results indicate that soft skills are not highly transversal, except for a small subset of broadly demanded and transferable skills. Our results point to the need to stop treating the terms soft skills and transversal skills as synonyms. On the contrary, soft skills should be considered specific skills, the need for which and their relevance vary significantly between different occupations and sectors. Identifying these specific competence needs and prioritizing their teaching will be essential to building an effective and prepared workforce.
This paper is part of the study on the validity, after a decade, of the transversal competences included in the design of the new degrees of the EHEA. It is based on a survey conducted among students, graduates and employers and on depth interviews with four CEOs of head hunters companies involved in the area of administration and management. The main resulting views are: there is a general consensus in considering the evaluation of all transversal competences as the axis of selection processes. Experts agree with considering both the teamwork and the development of international skills as predominant. They also show skepticism about the role of universities in the development of these abilities. Finally, they were particularly receptive to the importance of online learning, not only because of its advantages in terms of accessibility and compatibility with the profession, but also because it includes the development of skills, such as autonomy, the ability to critically analyze information, to organize work and for time management