It is no question today that human capital is one of the most important corporate assets that employers need to manage wisely and in line with the company's objectives. Businesses are seeking to employ people with the skills that best match employers' expectations. In the past, companies focused primarily on hard skills, but today there is also a growing focus on the soft skills of employees, which are not easy to acquire or develop. The present study deals with the soft skills that employers expect from their employees, and what employees would do to develop such skills in line with the employees' and the company's goals. Our research results show that, based on a questionnaire survey of 416 Hungarian enterprises, firms, based on size, ownership structure or knowledge orientation, do not differ significantly in terms of their perception of the soft skills of their young employees. Furthermore, the survey also revealed that employers are aware of the need to develop the soft skills of their employees, and that most of them support such efforts even financially.