Soft skills requirement for quantity surveying graduates / Nurul Anis Afifah Marzuki, Puteri Sidrotul Nabihah Saarani and Zailawati Khalid

Soft skills, also known as interpersonal or people skills, are personal attributes and qualities that enable individuals to interact effectively and harmoniously with others. They play a crucial role in various aspects of life, including social interactions and work performance. Soft skills complement and enhance an individual's hard skills, which are specific technical abilities related to a particular job or task. Hard skills, or the technical prerequisites for a profession, are complimented with soft skills. Moreover, soft skills like creativity, leadership, critical thinking, communication, time management, teamwork and problem solving are crucial in the workplace, especially in companies that deal with people directly or involve teamwork. They are highly valued by employers when they are hiring new employees because possessing strong soft skills can significantly contribute to an individual's success and overall effectiveness in the job. However, the employers appear hesitant in hiring graduates that lack generic characteristics such as solid communication skills, leadership and teamwork. Therefore, this study conducted to identify the soft skills requirement for quantity surveying graduates. 186 questionnaires survey were distribute via google form to the quantity surveyor graduates and 178 respondent were collected. Then, SPSS version 29 was used to analyse the data and produce the outcome. Based on the findings of the research, it suggests that "responsibility" is a crucial soft skill that graduates in quantity surveying need to possess. This finding highlights the significance of being responsible for every decision and action made by quantity surveyors in their professional roles.