If there's one thing Terry Petzold knows about how to stand out in the job market and get hired, it's that in-demand technical skills can come and go.

Petzold has 25 years of experience in recruiting and is currently a managing partner at Fox Search Group, an executive recruitment firm for tech leaders.

Take the rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, for example. "Just two-and-a-half years ago, everyone was saying, 'We need to hire coders,'" Petzold tells CNBC Make It.

"I was even talking to my own children about, 'Oh, maybe we need to go the crowd coding route,'" he jokes. "Not six months later, ChatGPT comes out, and now coding is not the future."

To be sure, having up-to-date digital skills is important for workers across industries and career levels, Petzold says. "If you're in marketing, or if you're in a warehouse, you need to understand technology."

But because companies can train workers on learning developing tech to serve their business, Petzold says leaders are most interested in hiring people with a different set of skills.

"I'll tell you where the future is," he says. "It's not even necessarily in technology space. It's in soft skills. It's in emotional intelligence — that is what we're noticing is the future for talent."

The soft skills companies look for in successful workers and leaders

Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is the ability to manage your own feelings and the feelings of those around you, which can make you better at building relationships and leading in the workplace.

For Petzold, job candidates with great technical skills really succeed when they can demonstrate high EQ.

It's good to be specialized in an area of expertise, like data, security, infrastructure or enterprise solutions, for instance, "but it's really those with strong EQ and those soft skills and business skills — those are the future IT leaders," he says.

By hiring professionals with high EQ, Petzold says companies are really looking for people who can do crucial things like:

• Handle and deliver constructive feedback
• Manage conflict
• Have critical conversations with urgency
• Work cross-functionally by persuading peers and other leaders
• Effectively present ideas to leaders above them

"The general EQ skills we're noticing really have to do with communication [with] others and the ability to push through challenges and come out unscathed," Petzold says.

He adds that some companies are getting better at helping leaders develop stronger EQ skills, especially around managing effectively and navigating challenges or conflict.

Good employers can further develop their workers by offering mentorship programs and facilitating networking, Petzold adds, so people can see what good models of leadership and high EQ look like.

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