Lack of Soft Skills
Helping Students Cultivate Soft Skills
By Aricia E. LaFrance
Schools do a good job of teaching reading, writing, science, math and other "hard" skills that are both essential and valuable to performing well on the job. They also help students acquire the practical skills needed to find jobs. Schools also provide assistance for students in learning how to write a resume, how to interview for jobs and may even provide internships so students can learn more about various fields of work. However, with all of these highly skilled, knowledgeable adults, many come to career counseling because they are unable to find work. Many have an impressive resumes, flawless cover letters - and they interview well. However, they are uncertain about why they can't hold on to a job. What these career seekers often lack are soft skills.
Soft Skills Defined
"Soft skills" is a simple term for a complex system of traits and habits commonly sought by employers. Examples include confidence, flexibility, honesty, and integrity, the ability to see things from different perspectives, optimism and common sense. The most sought after and popular soft skills include problem solving, thinking inventively, the ability to compromise, negotiate and persuade, the ability to mentor, teach, communicate, network and perform public speaking. Other skills include the ability to follow directions - even when they are unspoken; understanding what needs to be done and doing it, having good manners and being courteous, seeking out opportunities for continuing education, doing a job thoroughly and correctly and an ability to admit and correct mistakes.
Certain soft skills appeal to employers across the board and are often more critical to finding (and maintaining) employment than hard skills. Employers often admit, "I can teach my employees how to do just about anything but I can't teach them to have a good attitude or common sense." The problem with soft skills is that there is a basic assumption that
By Aricia E. LaFrance
Schools do a good job of teaching reading, writing, science, math and other "hard" skills that are both essential and valuable to performing well on the job. They also help students acquire the practical skills needed to find jobs. Schools also provide assistance for students in learning how to write a resume, how to interview for jobs and may even provide internships so students can learn more about various fields of work. However, with all of these highly skilled, knowledgeable adults, many come to career counseling because they are unable to find work. Many have an impressive resumes, flawless cover letters - and they interview well. However, they are uncertain about why they can't hold on to a job. What these career seekers often lack are soft skills.
Soft Skills Defined
"Soft skills" is a simple term for a complex system of traits and habits commonly sought by employers. Examples include confidence, flexibility, honesty, and integrity, the ability to see things from different perspectives, optimism and common sense. The most sought after and popular soft skills include problem solving, thinking inventively, the ability to compromise, negotiate and persuade, the ability to mentor, teach, communicate, network and perform public speaking. Other skills include the ability to follow directions - even when they are unspoken; understanding what needs to be done and doing it, having good manners and being courteous, seeking out opportunities for continuing education, doing a job thoroughly and correctly and an ability to admit and correct mistakes.
Certain soft skills appeal to employers across the board and are often more critical to finding (and maintaining) employment than hard skills. Employers often admit, "I can teach my employees how to do just about anything but I can't teach them to have a good attitude or common sense." The problem with soft skills is that there is a basic assumption that