Israel's high-tech employers prioritize soft skills, such as independent learning and problem-solving, over previous experience and a relevant academic degree in their search for talent, and display a stronger affinity for such skills than employers in other sectors, according to a new study commissioned by Tel Aviv-based Afeka Academic College of Engineering and Israel's leading daily business newspaper The Marker.
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As part of the survey, 150 managers in the high-tech industry and 155 managers in other sectors were asked to weigh in on what they deemed most important during three different stages of a professional role: recruitment, addressing challenges in the workplace, and opportunities for advancement: a relevant academic degree, previous work experience, or soft skills.
On a scale of 1-10 high-tech managers gave soft skills an average 7.5 for recruitment, 8.0 for advancement and 8.1 for addressing challenges – with 7.8, 6.8 and 7.9 respective ratings for previous experience, and 6.8, 5.5 and 6.4 respective ratings for relevant academic degree. For managers from non-high-tech sectors, soft skills were rated slightly lower in importance across all three categories, but still high in comparison to previous experience and much higher in comparison to relevant academic degrees.
"The importance of soft skills, even for engineers, is increasing each year. The exponential rate at which technology is advancing and the explosion of Artificial Intelligence solutions makes them a forerunner to the constantly changing knowledge base that is now readily available anywhere at any time," Prof. Ami Moyal, president of Afeka College, said. "That is why academic studies should incorporate developing these skills in students as part of the educational process, in addition to the concrete knowledge that today's professionals need to succeed in the workforce."
