Abstract
With the advent of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, the lack of soft skills among engineering students, engineering technologists and engineers (collectively called engineers) has become one of the most disturbing topics. When engineers do not possess the 18 soft skills, namely; problem-solving, communication skills, decision-making skills, teamwork, ethics, interpersonal skills, leadership, self-management skills, organization skills, innovation and creativity, confidence, flexibility, lifelong learning, entrepreneurial skills, emotional intelligence, empathy, mentoring and coaching including conflict management they are plagued by various forms of deficiencies, robbing them of prosperous careers. Scholar critics point the finger at universities for engineers who are unschooled in the soft skills required by employers, resulting in unemployed engineers. However, they fall short of practical remedial actions. On the other hand, this academic piece not only delves deeper into the significance of 18 soft skills. But most importantly, it brings to the fore guidelines and a roadmap designed to facilitate the vital partnerships between government, universities, businesses, and engineers themselves in filling up the engineers with 18 soft skills. Engineering and human resource managers from built environment firms were interviewed for this study. By virtue of being a transcendental phenomenology means that this qualitative research is trustworthy because the researcher's bias did not pollute it. This academic project was constructed to reach a wider audience by making it easy to read for engineers and for those outside the engineering industry.
Keywords: 4IR, soft skills, engineers, mentoring and coaching, conflict management, emotional intelligence, South Africa, government, engineering management, engineering students.