Soft skills are often touted as the real differentiator in hiring, but I've seen too many job postings that still prioritize hard technical requirements above everything else. In my 12 years recruiting for tech firms, candidates with excellent communication and teamwork consistently outperformed purely technical hires, yet managers kept asking for more certifications. Are we actually valuing soft skills in practice, or just paying lip service to them during interviews? I lean toward YES that they're undervalued in real decisions, but I wonder if that's changing with remote work demands.