Durable skills vs. degrees: How coaching links the two for ultimate career readiness

What happens when you combine durable skills, degrees and coaching

For years, the debate between what’s more important — durable skills vs. degrees — has been simmering. Durable skills, also known as “soft skills,” are traits like communication, creative problem-solving or empathy. If you listen to one side of this debate, you’ll hear that durable skills are the only thing that matters in our fast-paced economy, because they’ll never go out of style — especially as AI becomes a permanent fixture in the workforce, making a “human at the helm” of technology more important than ever. Listen to the other side, and you’ll hear that a postsecondary degree remains the gold standard for long-term success, as it’s the best way to determine whether or not someone is truly qualified for a job. 

Even the “facts” aren’t in alignment on this topic. While one study found that 85% of employers believe colleges and universities are adequately preparing students for the workforce, another argues that only 54% of employers believe this. 

But here’s the truth that often gets lost in this discussion: these two paths are not separate. Higher education is inherently built to develop both hard and soft skills, and the journey to a degree is, in itself, a rigorous process of building the durable skills — like perseverance, time management and critical thinking — that stay with a learner for life.

No matter your opinion, the bottom line is that when we only talk about durable skills vs. degrees, we aren't telling the whole story. For learners navigating today’s complex workforce, it’s not one or the other — it’s the intentional development of durable skills along the degree pathway, influenced and empowered by coaching.

When we holistically support all students through their college journey, we help them build the durable skills needed for any career path and keep them on track toward their degree or credential. At InsideTrack, we’ve seen firsthand that when students have a dedicated coach in their corner, that coach can act as the essential bridge between both sides of this debate.

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The power of durable skills in a tech-driven, modern workforce

Whether or not you believe durable skills are more important than a college degree, what can’t be argued is just how important they are for career readiness. Seventy-six percent of job postings now ask for at least one durable skill in their description, and 8 of the top 10 most requested skills — communication, customer service, management, leadership, detail-orientation, problem solving, writing, planning, collaboration, and coordinating — fall into this category.

As AI and technical tools evolve faster than ever, the ability and agility to learn, unlearn and relearn is the ultimate career advantage. Technical expertise might become irrelevant in a few years, but the ability to collaborate never will. Roles that blend cognitive ability with social skills pay the highest premiums, and positions requiring high social interaction have grown by 12% in recent decades.

Higher education institutions have a unique responsibility here, as they are much more than just degree-granting bodies; they’re the primary environments where these lifelong durable skills are first tested and refined. When a student navigates a complicated group project or participates in a class discussion, for example, they aren't just checking off an assignment. They’re building the communication, collaboration and resilience they’ll use every day in the workforce. 

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How Success Coaching builds durable skills

Coaches differ from advisors, counselors or even mentors in that they don’t just focus on academic support or mental and emotional wellbeing. They are there to address all aspects of a learner’s life — both in school and out — while actively teaching and reinforcing the knowledge, skills and beliefs (KSBs) their students need to succeed. By building a learner's confidence and self-efficacy — two important durable skills — coaches can help them unlock their full potential.

Here are a few examples of how Success Coaching can empower students to build durable skills that will help them be successful in college and the workforce:

• When a coach encourages their student to practice framing a challenge as just a temporary setback and not a permanent failure, they're building the self-confidence needed to work through future work-related obstacles that will undoubtedly arise 
• When coaches help their students prepare for job interviews by asking and answering poignant questions, they’re enhancing self-advocacy as well as the ability to articulate concepts thoughtfully 
• When a learner collaborates with their coach to solve a scheduling conflict or navigate a difficult conversation with a professor, they’re practicing the exact initiative and problem-solving skills that employers crave

In these ways, coaches can help students see that, in addition to academic advancement, their time on campus is a direct, practical investment in their career readiness.

Take Bradley, for example — a real student coached by an InsideTrack coach. He was working in pharmaceutical quality testing but was stuck in a slow job search for a clinical research role. He knew he needed to network, but he felt like the process was disingenuous. 

His InsideTrack Success Coach, Sarah, helped him reframe the entire concept as relationship building instead. By practicing this durable skill with his coach in a safe space, Bradley gained the confidence to reach out to a former coworker. That one connection led to a job offer he happily accepted. 

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Why the degree remains a critical foundation for career success

Even as we see the necessity of durable skills, the degree still remains a powerhouse for social mobility. According to a Lumina Foundation-Gallup survey, 75% of employers believe a degree will be just as important, if not more so, five years from now. That same percentage of employers prefer candidates with associate or bachelor’s degrees — even when the job description doesn't formally require one.

The students see the value, too. Ninety percent of students are confident their degree will help them secure a job, and 80% of recent graduates land a “good” job within a year, which they believed was in large part due to their degree. Financially, the choice seems clear: a bachelor’s degree yields an annual ROI of about 10% over a lifetime — a number that outperforms the stock market’s average ROI of 6-7%.

While American voters recognize that changes are necessary to maintain this ROI of higher education, they still see the direct connection between a college education and a secure financial future. There are also many career paths where a degree is the only way in — think medical professions, engineering, law, education and specialized research.

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How Success Coaching helps students persist to degree completion

Coaches provide the human-centered, holistic support students need to overcome the friction — whether major or minor — that can often lead to stopping out. Many times, the biggest threat to graduation isn't academic ability — it's life. We know that 59% of learners face basic needs insecurity, such as housing or food instability, which can easily derail progress. When they have a coach in their corner who can point to resources to help them through challenging times, they are more likely to stay and persist. 

Coached students consistently show higher retention rates, particularly among underserved populations. When students receive timely career guidance and sharpen their durable skills, they don't just stay in school — they see a clear path that leads to where they want to go, and they obtain the degree required to do so. Having a coach who is present and genuine throughout their educational journey helps provide the stability and support all learners need to thrive.

As real student Derek explains: “I was in the same job, doing the same thing over and over, and I kept thinking, ‘I need to return back to school to help myself accomplish more goals and earn a better income.’ When I finally finish my degree, it will mean so much to me that I can look in the mirror and say that I actually did it, that I overcame the difficult obstacles, which I thought I couldn’t do.”

READ DEREK’S FULL STORY

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Peirce College: Integrating durable skills into the degree pathway

At Peirce College in Philadelphia, a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) serving adult and working learners, the mission has always been about ensuring students can thrive in the workforce and improve their lives. To do this, they embedded InsideTrack’s coaching methodology across both their advising and career services departments.

By training cross-functional staff to really understand the whole student, Peirce created a consistent departmental language that empowers staff to help students clearly see the long-term ROI of their degree and build the durable skills needed as they advance toward their professional goals — making the degree pathway the very place where these skills are refined and articulated. As Shannon Begley, Ed.D., dean of academic advising at Peirce, puts it: "Changing the way we ask questions has allowed us to dig deeper, ensuring we understand the real challenges and motivations that students have."

Read more about how Pierce College strengthened retention and degree completion through coaching.

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Bridging the gap with holistic support

Today’s students are confident that a degree will get them where they need to go, while employers remain on the fence when asked whether institutions are adequately preparing their graduates for the workforce. These realities don't fully align, and that’s where holistic Success Coaching comes in. After all, the rigorous work of earning a degree is exactly what forges durable skills like critical thinking, collaboration and resilience.

Success Coaching ensures that students don't just "get through" their classes, but instead recognize that every challenge they overcome in their degree pathway is a direct contribution to their career readiness. As Dr. Vincent Tinto, distinguished university professor emeritus at Syracuse University, says: “The point of retention and persistence is not simply that they finish a degree, but [that they] learn while doing so.”

InsideTrack’s coaching programs can help institutions implement this approach by coaching your learners directly or by training your staff to use our proven methodology. By addressing the whole person, we help learners navigate their journey and prepare for the complexities of the modern workforce.

Degrees and durable skills are two halves of a whole — and coaching is the bridge that helps learners secure the credential while mastering the skills they built along the way. It’s time to stop the debate and start focusing on the human at the center of the journey.

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