Are University Students Ready to Work? The Role of Soft Skills and Psychological Capital in Building Sustainable Employability

Soft skills are increasingly viewed as essential personal resources for sustainable employability, yet their combined role with Psychological Capital (PsyCap) and proactive career behaviors among university students remains insufficiently understood. Grounded in the Job Demands–Resources model, this study examines whether soft skills predict PsyCap, employability, job crafting (seeking challenges) and active job search behavior, and whether these relationships differ between STEM and non-STEM students. A sample of 501 Italian university students (mean age = 22.7) completed validated measures of soft skills, PsyCap (resilience and optimism), employability (employability, networking, social networks), seeking challenges and active job search. Structural equation modeling revealed that soft skills significantly predicted PsyCap (β = 0.57), employability (β = 0.45), seeking challenges (β = 0.61) and active job search (β = 0.25). Multi-group analyses showed configural invariance across STEM and non-STEM groups and generally comparable relationships, with slightly stronger effects of soft skills on PsyCap and employability for non-STEM students. These findings extend prior work by testing an integrated JD–R-informed employability model that links soft skills to both psychological resources and proactive career behaviors within the same SEM and across academic domains. Overall, findings highlight soft skills as foundational resources that enhance students’ psychological functioning and proactive career behaviors, ultimately supporting readiness for work and the development of adaptive, sustainable career paths.