The list of Soft Skills.

There is no universal list of soft skills: their number varies according to standards and business approaches.

Rising Up built a scientific framework of 18 core skills, structured around three main families:

• Operational efficiency: scheduling, monitoring, rigor, effectiveness, responsiveness, perseverance.
• Innovation & communication: divergent reasoning, logical reasoning, synthetic reasoning, reasoning under uncertainty, curiosity, speaking.
• Leadership & collaboration: emotional regulation, empathy, assertive influence, positivity, taking initiative, mental flexibility.

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This classification draws on more than 10 years of research in cognitive science and on thousands of situations observed in academic and professional environments. Read more about the 18 core skills to master at work.

Recent studies converge: the most sought-after competencies in 2026 are:

• Adaptability and mental flexibility, in the face of the rapid transformation of jobs.
• Clear and assertive communication, essential in hybrid management.
• Critical thinking and problem solving, to manage uncertainty.
• Collaborative leadership, to bring people together without hierarchy.

These skills are cross-functional and affect performance in every sector: tech, finance, education, healthcare or the creative industries.

The Rising Up Scan never asks about the skill itself: it places the person in concrete professional situations and analyses their responses, combining several assessment formats.

The Rising Up soft skills test measures 18 core skills, adapted to each profile (student, employee, manager, etc.). The framework behind the measurement is published and open to review; the assessment mechanics remain proprietary.

The results take the form of scores (0 to 100) and concrete action plans for progress.

It is not a personality profile, which describes stable dispositions, but a measurement of trainable skills.

Soft skills allow you to Make the link between knowledge and know-how.

In the professional world, they improve collaboration, decision-making and the ability to adapt.

In education, they promote success, employability and orientation.

Schools and businesses are now integrating them into their competency frameworks and certifications, often with mastery thresholds per degree or position.

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Hard skills are technical know-how: mastering a piece of software, a method, a language or a tool.

Soft skills concern behaviours and attitudes: how a person puts their skills to work.

Example:

• Hard Skill → “Mastering Excel.”
• Soft skill → “Knowing how to collaborate effectively on a shared project.” Soft skills make technical skills count and underpin collective success.