COLLEGE GRADS NEED BETTER SOFT SKILLS.

The price of a college degree continues to creep higher across the country, but has the value of that degree kept pace? Students expect their investment in college to pay off in the form of meaningful employment. However, a report by Mursion, San Francisco, Calif., found that while the hard, technical skills ingrained throughout traditional academia are critical to career success, these skills may not be enough to stand out in a highly competitive job market, as 44% of HR professionals would hire an applicant with superior people skills over an applicant with superior hard skills.

Some 65% of HR professionals believe teamwork and collaboration are the most foundational people skills--and 40% believe these skills are the most lacking in new hires. Just 37% of recent graduates believe they need to develop better teamwork skills, instead putting their focus on presenting (41%) and negotiation (40%).

The pandemic and sequential shift to remote work are only widening this skills gap. Before the pandemic, HR professionals rated the people skills of existing employees as average or below...