When hiring managers comb through resumes, they are looking for a variety of hard and soft skills in each candidate. Hard skills are gained by experience in the specific industry, but soft skills are forged in jobs of every kind. Those in demand most in 2025 are known as transferable – useful no matter the position, industry, or experience level.
As you consider hiring in the new year, we’ve compiled a list of transferable skills to watch for. Employees with these useful soft skills in their arsenal can become valuable members of your team.
Communication
The ability to convey ideas, listen to others’ ideas, and translate those into actionable items is a vital skill in a collaborative work environment. Good communicators exhibit patience, know how to ask relevant follow-up questions, and can synthesize information from one group and pass it along to another. Work communication requires an appropriate tone, clarity, and punctual response time. Modern employees skilled in communication should be proficient in all types: written, in-person, and in video calls where needed.
Dependability
The pandemic introduced a new, more flexible work environment for many companies, which gives employees some leeway with remote work and scheduling that accommodates their lives. Within that paradigm, workers can set themselves apart with their dependability. This skill goes beyond just showing up when scheduled; dependable employees complete assignments without constant oversight, they communicate issues that arise along the way, follow company policy, and promote company culture.
Organization
Dependability is fed by good organization. Well-organized people keep careful notes, calendars, to-do lists, or utilize company project management software in a collaborative environment. They are able to gather information quickly when questions arise. Good organization helps people meet deadlines with a system of goal-setting, task prioritization, delegation, and attention to detail.
Adaptability
The rapidly-changing landscape of new technologies demands adaptability in modern workers. Flexible employees demonstrate they can work with new hires, accept reorganization in departments and management, and learn new systems. Many people work best when they feel comfortable, so some patience is warranted with big changes, but adaptable people demonstrate they can make new situations work just as well. Adaptability is also a valuable skill for handling a new project assignment or pivoting from an expected course. Lots of work projects change along the way; flexibility can help people produce good work in any circumstance.
Empathy
Empathy is the ability to emotionally understand what others feel by imagining yourself in their point of view. Far from just a therapy buzzword, its value in the workplace extends from entry-level to leadership positions. Empathic workers will be better communicators, more able to compromise, able to offer support to others, and show willingness to help in a crisis.
In the workplace, research psychologist Jamil Zaki explains: “A lot of our social norms reward people based on their individual performances. But it’s also important when we see somebody acting compassionately or empathically to call that out in a positive way, emphasizing empathic behavior and helping it to become normal behavior.”
Collaboration
Most jobs require some level of collaboration with co-workers, managers, customers, or clients. To be a skilled collaborator takes a little bit skills like empathy, communication, and adaptability to another level. Collaboration requires active listening skills; nonverbal cues like nodding and eye contact along with verbal cues like repeating back or asking follow-up questions. Good collaborators accept feedback and make adjustments to their work or behavior, and can effectively communicate feedback to others. They are willing to engage in conflict resolution when necessary, and look for ways for all members of a team to contribute.
Initiative
Initiative refers to the ability to assess a work task and proceed without direction from someone else. Within the parameters of any work assignment, there are likely to be requirements or deadlines that are firm, but often the detail work is up to the employee. Those with initiative will find efficient and effective ways to complete work assignments without a constant need for counsel or oversight. They can solve problems, resolve conflicts, troubleshoot tech problems, make decisions quickly, and pivot when something isn’t working out.
Critical Thinking
In the workplace, critical thinking doesn’t refer to finding faults in others. It refers to the ability to carefully analyze an idea without favoring personal feelings or opinions. Critical thinkers can approach problems objectively. They research using unbiased and reputable sources, ask thoughtful questions, and effectively synthesize data to provide reasonable answers and help solve problems.
The workplace is a great classroom for developing soft skills that are useful in a wide variety of jobs. The most in-demand skills are those that encourage open-minded cooperation and problem-solving. Employees who bring their skillset and look for opportunities to develop others will be great contributors to your business.
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