The value of soft skills.

Despite being "hard to teach" and "hard to quantify" these skills are still considered "soft." They have been employed at a premium price since the before days of yore when Carnegie first wrote How to Win Friends and Influence People, so why are they still so hard to find?

Want To Keep Your Job Safe? Beef Up Your Soft Skills (InformationWeek)

I'll go so far as to say that these "soft" skills are just as important to getting a new job, too. I know they're critical to success as a consultant, which is why I spend a larger amount of time "testing fresh meat" (interviewing prospective new hires) on their soft skills. If you don't have mastery of basic conflict resolution or can't communicate your thoughts clearly, you won't get a "hire" recommendation from yours truly.