There is a saying that says, “Hard skills get you hired, but a lack of soft skills can get you fired.” Hard skills are the technical skills that are needed to do a job, i.e., to be a phlebotomist you need to know how to draw blood; to be a software developer, you need to know how to code. Hard skills are usually taught or learned on the job. Soft skills, on the other hand, are intangible, harder to measure, and are usually developed through our life experiences although they can also be learned in the classroom. Examples of soft skills are problem solving skills, communication skills, and emotional intelligence. Honing soft skills can turn an employee from great to stellar.
Soft skills, now called employability skills, are as important as hard skills. While their value cannot be measured the same way you can measure hard skills, they can provide a return on investment (ROI) that can be measured. Take for example a barber or stylist. While their skills with their tools and knowledge of the products that are best for their client can attract new clients, the rapport they create with the client will be the reason why they will keep returning. Another example is car salespeople. If the salesperson does not have good customer service skills and a client feels they are not being heard or allowed to express their needs, or that their needs are being ignored and forced into other options, the client may decide this is not the place they want to buy from. In both cases, skills like empathy, emotional intelligence, and relationship-building will be necessary for success.
Word of mouth/referrals are an important marketing tool for any business. Unhappy customers mean less referrals. Soft skills can make or break a business. Even when a customer has a bad experience, the right handling afterwards can allow a business to salvage the relationship. These skills are an important part of any employee development planandare not limited to relationships with clients, but also other stakeholders, both internal and external, like vendors, coworkers, and supervisor/employee relationships. They can also be necessary outside of human-to-human interactions, for example, critical thinking skills, problem solving and creativity, which are also soft-skills that can be necessary to perform well in a job.
Workforce development professionals are tasked with creating plans to address those needs, be it for specific employers via contract training, or for the public in general, as part of continuing education offerings. Including these within your career-training programs can help your students be more successful during their job search and after, by helping them maintain their employment. It can also provide them with the foundational knowledge needed to hone these skills. An example of this would be to embed leaderships, communication, cultural awareness, and conflict de-escalation skills for careers that will lead a student to manage other employees. Or including cultural awareness and communication skills in healthcare trainings.
Here is a list of employability skills that I like to incorporate within training modules whenever possible. I have also created them as separate workshops that can be taken on their own. There are plenty of other skills that can be incorporated, these are a preference of mine based on an analysis of job requirements and I may include one or more, depending on the program I am working on.
- Leadership
- Emotional intelligence
- Cultural awareness
- Communication skills
- Conflict de-escalation
- Problem-solving
- Critical thinking
- Creativity
Closing
Workforce Warrior is an education blog, created by a workforce development professional with 20+ years in all areas of workforce development and college programming, including admissions, advising, career services and program development. The goal of Workforce Warrior is to pass on the knowledge collected over the years to fellow workforce and college professionals.
Look for upcoming content on topics within this post, as well as nuggets of wisdom in our Instagram and Facebook pages. Enhanced YouTube postings will be coming soon, with added content to these blogs.
Workforce Warrior Blog 