'Soft skills' help recruitability

Fri 15 Aug 2008 at 5:21 PM

So called 'soft skills', such as communication and teamwork are of real value to employers, the head of recruitment at PricewaterhouseCoopers has said.

Sonia Stockton told the Financial Times that, at 18, skills are just as important as qualifications.

"Students need to look more widely at their skills," she suggested and described soft skills as "icing on the cake" when it came to getting a job.

Recent A-level results have demonstrated the difficulty recruiters face when comparing candidates based solely on their qualifications – the national pass rate is now 97 per cent.

Increasing numbers of applicants now have top grades on their CV's. Figures from the exam boards showed more than one in four achieved passes at the highest level.

Schools minister Jim Knight said: "This year's results are a tremendous tribute to all the effort that has gone into achieving these qualifications by students, supported by parents and teachers."

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