IT professionals need to develop their softer skills because IT has developed into a core business function, according to Sunil Duggal, a director with recruitment and training business Just IT.

Duggal told Recruiter that candidates needed to able to communicate "in a business sense" as organisations look to functions such as IT to add value to the bottom-line.

"If these guys cannot communicate why they are there in a business sense, then they just won't survive," Duggal explained.

Soft skills can be defined as those skills which do not have a technical background, such as the ability to communicate and motivate.

Duggal's company recruits for entry-level and senior staff. It also provides three-month 'blended learning' training courses, a mix between on-site tuition and web-based learning. The company, which was established in 2001, is based near Liverpool Street in London.