Soft Skills: Old & New

Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning, 2018

Postsecondary educators and policymakers are increasingly focused on ensuring that college students graduate with the skills demanded by employers, especially the so-called “soft skills.” In this position piece we argue that this Soft Skills Paradigm be rejected, given its simplistic and de-contextualized conception of human competence and lack of attention to teaching and learning and power dynamics. Instead, we support a view, which we call the Cultural Capital Paradigm, that portrays skills as complex forms of skill and aptitude that are differentially defined by different professions, acquired through socialization processes and skilled instruction, and normatively conceptualized by those in positions of power. In order to better serve the interests of students and society, we argue that it is time for a paradigm shift in how the field views skills, college, and careers.

Seattle Jobs Initiative (SJI) is a nonprofit organization that creates opportunities for people to support themselves and their families through living-wage careers. SJI offers low-income individuals training that leads to college credentials in growing local industry sectors. A hallmark of SJI's program is the integration of soft skills into our training curriculum. This grew largely out of early and ongoing communication to SJI by our employer partners that soft skills are the most important attribute -and the most difficult to find -among entry-level job applications. Outside of this evidence, however, SJI has only a limited base of research supporting the importance of soft skills to local employers.

Scientific Papers of Silesian University of Technology Organization and Management Series​

The purpose of the conducted research was to identify the soft competences that students develop during their studies, relevant from the perspective of the requirements of the modern labor market. Design/methodology/approach: The research, the results of which are presented in the article, was carried out in January 2023 at the Faculty of Management and Command of the War Studies University in Warsaw. The study involved 336 civilian students studying three majors. The research method used was a diagnostic survey carried out using a questionnaire technique. Findings: As a result of the research, a list of soft competences required on the labor market was established and the scope of developing these competences at the university was examined, which allowed to show the competences formed at the university, as well as those on which more attention should be directed. Research limitations: Research on soft competences shaped in the university, and required in today's labor market, was conducted at a single university, which limits the ability to make inferences on the entire population of students in Poland. The research sample was not representative. The study was of a pilot nature. Practical implications: The obtained results of the research allow to infer which soft competences are not developed by students, and are required in the modern labor market. The discrepancies revealed provide a basis for modifying educational programs, with the aim of introducing classes aimed at developing those areas of competence that are considered competence gaps and limit students' ability to enter the labor market efficiently. In addition, the measures indicated in the research that students desire to improve the educational process would also affect the image of the university and the university graduates. Originality/value: The article describes the results of the 2023 survey, thus a new empirical research on the development of soft skills required in the labor market.

Universal Journal of Educational Research, 2020

Nowadays, as a result of economic changes, employers are eager to look for employees with applied skills rather than cognitive skills. Diplomas are not being considered as a definitive indicator of students' professional intelligence as it used to be before. Fourth Industry Revolution has dramatically changed labor market and knowledge is now acknowledged as strength of productivity and economic growth, and information technology has acquired great importance. In such a situation, whether employees start their career or change a job, they can show successful performance, if they can change and update themselves continuously, build positive interpersonal relationships in the workplace, learn and win in the unpredictable challenges of the work place. Accordingly, today the graduates of Higher Education need to master not only professional skills of their job, but also various soft skills, including the ability to communicate, coordinate, work under pressure, and solve problems. The purpose of this article is to provide literature on the connection of soft skills with employability and world labour market, the role of soft skills in career success for future professionals. The article also examines the definition and selection of the most demanding soft skills from the perspective of different literature. The role of Higher Education in forming and developing soft skills will then be discussed. The article illustrates the results of survey carried out with the aim to analyze the degree of integration of soft skills in Study Skills program that is taught for bachelor students in Uzbek State World Languages University and academic curricula.

Journal of Education Culture and Society, 2021

Aim. Based on similar studies, this research work aims to investigate the perception of students and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) of learning about the importance of soft skills for their education and employment since these skills are increasingly sought-after by potential employers. Methods. The Kendall Tau b test and Mann Whitney U test have been applied to show the relationship between soft skills and job preparedness for students. This study investigates a selection of 100 students from a private HEI (UBT College) and 100 students from a public HEI (University “Haxhi Zeka”), both in Kosovo. A total of 200 valid responses were collected from July to September 2020. Goldsmith inventory for 15 soft skills has been distributed as a questionnaire has been distributed to the students of these universities. Results and conclusion. The research results indicate that in soft skills development of the UBT College students is significantly higher than the soft skills developed of ...

Muma Business Review, 2017

This article provides value to hiring managers and academics by positing a conceptual model that could potentially revitalize the methods employed to train, coach, interview and hire new college graduates. The model shows that success (measured as employee productivity) is the summation of education (hard skills) plus experience (time in one’s domain) plus soft skills. Each of the variables (employee productivity, education, experience and soft skills) is moderated by cost and organizational culture. Further, the author argues that these soft skills are the preeminent factor among the 3 independent elements for new employee success. It turns conventional wisdom on its head by declaring that it is soft skills development that is the single most important predictor of a new employee’s success in a world obsessed by hard skills.

American Journal of Business Education (AJBE), 2012

The paper measures the soft skills needs of companies and industry to technical oriented academic graduates, especially coming from IT course programs like business informatics, computer science, or information management. Therefore, between March and September 2010, two groups of researchers at the University of Applied Sciences (UAS) Technikum Vienna analyzed job profiles and the intended denotation of certain keywords. Primarily, one group worked on the statistical content analysis of job offers which could be found in Austrian newspapers or were provided by online job platforms. The other group developed a survey to be sent to several companies in Austria and was addressed to human resources departments. The paper explains the evaluation results in details and discusses its necessary implication on academic curriculum design.

The main function of Higher Educational Institutions (HEIs) is to produce skilled and knowledgeable workforce who are able to not only function with minimal guidance but also to contribute effectively to the hiring organizations. Many studies have indicated that most HEIs have somewhat similar course content and thrived at producing students with good academic achievement. But what differentiated them from one another is their ability to develop knowledge workers with the right employability skills or 'soft skills' such as communication, problemsolving, interpersonal and other skills deemed important as the foundations by which they require to function at work regardless of the nature of employment. This paper reports findings of a large-scale study looking into the soft skills attainment of Malaysian HEI graduates. A quantitative survey design was employed whereby data were obtained through the administration of an instrument called the Malaysian Soft Skills Scale (My3S). My3S consists of 180 items covering seven elements namely Communications, Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Teamwork, Moral and Professional Ethics, Leadership, Life Long Learning and Entrepreneurial aspects. The mean scores for the seven My3S subscales were found to be between 6.3 and 7.8 from the maximum possible score of 10. Specifically, comparisons were made between graduates of public and private institutions with respect to the seven elements. Findings of the study suggest that, in general, students of public HEIs scored higher in all seven skills. With respect to gender, male students scored higher than female students in all elements except for teamwork skills and moral and professional ethics. A comparison between fields of study showed that for both types of HEIs, technical students scored the highest in all skills except for moral and professional ethics. Based on the findings of this study, it is suggested that in addition to offering specific courses to improve soft skills attainment, HEIs need to embed soft skills in their academic curricula.

Journal of Teaching and Learning for Graduate Employability

There is a need for improved skills development within the UK’s Higher Education Institutions (HEI) stemming from the disconnect between the expectations of employers of the skills graduates have and the skills graduates have gained during their degree. It is well-known now that there is a clear skills gap. The present study aims to explore the effect of graduates and students' perception of skills development in HEI in the UK. A total of 420 participants completed an online survey to explore their perception as well as their confidence of skills development by rating each skill on a Likert scale. The paper discusses the results in light of pedagogical strategies developed to teach soft skills in HE. The paper concludes with recommendations for teaching practice.