“Soft skills” isn’t just a buzzword phrase. These are the personal abilities that show who you are as a person, a team member, and an employee, not just a professional.
These are the top 8 soft skills to cultivate that will help you land your next IT role:
Communication
Problem Solving
Collaboration and Teamwork
Leadership
Adaptability
Emotional Intelligence
Time Management
Resilience
If your goal is to make a big career move in 2026, now is the time to think outside the technical ability sandbox. Candidates looking for their next role or promotion should actively work on these soft skills to elevate their appeal amid the stacks of resumes.
What’s The Problem With Hard Skills?
Hard skills demonstrate proficiency in your role and are essential. Soft skills show how effectively you add value beyond task execution. Both are significant to any role today.
With the onslaught of AI (in everything everywhere), the qualities that set humans apart and indicate a positive working relationship are more critical than ever. Candidates who are looking for a competitive edge in the job market need to cultivate and list these soft skills.
8 Soft Skills That Increase Hirability
Communication: This includes written, verbal, and interpersonal communication. It starts with your resume, then your interview, and will be noted in the early days of onboarding and working with a new team. This crucial skill is a key place to begin in managing a hireable candidate.
Collaboration and Teamwork: Teams are made of people, and your ability to be successful is unequivocally tied to your ability to play/work well with others. This means actively listening during interactions, being positive, sharing the load, supporting others’ visions, being considerate of time, being respectful, and communicating dissent without being abrasive.
Problem Solving: Someone good at problem-solving will see a challenge from multiple angles, with different hats on, and constantly evolve solutions to match. They will prioritize the best solution, not necessarily their solution.
Leadership: This is not always about “being the leader” but rather exhibiting leadership qualities, like integrity, empathy, empowering others, confidence, clear communication, vision, and more. These always add value to any team.
Adaptability: Tech is only ever one constant thing: changing. The ability to pivot and regularly reassess their approach to any challenge or new task must be a well-proven skill. The solution is rarely the same twice when it comes to tech.
Emotional Intelligence: A professional who is emotionally intelligent can maintain a professional demeanor and manage their own emotions without outbursts, cold shoulders, or toxic patterns. They can also recognize harmful patterns and vulnerability in those around them.
Time Management: Deadlines are like death and taxes; they are inevitable. How you manage your time to deliver the highest-quality output in the hours you’re available will be critical to moving projects forward. Hiring managers are looking for this skill to maintain or accelerate momentum.
Resilience: Not every day is a winner, but being able to learn from mistakes, identify opportunities, and bounce back from disappointment or failure is a skill that supports longevity and overall personal wellness.
Results/Proof
Recent reports from Statista show that problem-solving is the most sought-after soft skill for IT pros.[1] Additional research from NACE revealed that 90% of recruiters are looking for that same soft skill, while 80% seek out candidates with teamwork skills, and more than 75% are looking for evidence of good communication skills.[2]
Don’t neglect hard skills, but promote yourself (on your resume, online, in person, etc.) as a personable professional who would be an asset to the team.
Start actively cultivating these soft skills to be more hirable for your next role in tech:
Work with a skilled IT recruiter to help you polish your resume, build up the necessary skills, and land your next role.
We use cookies on our website to personalize your experience, analyze site usage, and improve our marketing efforts. By continuing, you agree to the terms of our Privacy Policy.
