why soft skills matter: 2010 job outlook

Why Soft Skills Matter:

2010 Job Outlook

Beverly Amer, Northern Arizona

University

BackstorySoft Skills are:

Traits, attitudes and behaviors rather than technical skills and abilities

More important than ever in today’s job market

A challenge to teach in “technical” courses!

What’s the Risk?

Why Do Soft Skills Matter?Job Outlook 2010

Annual Survey – National Association of Colleges and EmployersAcross all industries and regions of US

College Hiring:DOWN 7% for 2010 grads over last year

DOWN 37% in West

Take Out Your Phones!

Top Five Majors - West Mechanical EngineeringFinanceElectrical EngineeringAccountingBusiness Administration/Management

What Employers Are Looking For

Greater emphasis on GPA as an interview screen75% of employers use a GPA screenMost common cutoff is 3.0 GPA

On resume’ – choosing one candidate over anotherLeadership positionMajorHigh GPA (3.0 +)Extra-curricular activitiesVolunteer work

What About Work Experience?

76.6% prefer someone with relevant work experienceInternships count here

And Soft Skills?Communication skills top the

list of attributes employers desire mostOther attributes near the top:

Strong work ethicInitiativeInterpersonal skillsProblem-solving skillsTeamwork skills

Oddly Enough…Attributes employers list as MOST LACKING

in college graduates?Communication skillsFlexibility/adaptabilityTactfulnessInitiativeTeamwork skills

Note: Only 2.3% of employers reported that computer skills are lacking

Soft Skills Case Study:Communication Skills

Scenario: First research report assignment at workTopic: Workplace entrepreneurship

Decision: What should I include in my report and e-mail message?

Video from Soft Skills at Work

Meet Jill and Marcus

Video CritiqueTask

Review Jill and Marcus’ reports and e-mail messagesCorrect errors

How did they do?

In a CIS course, where could this be introduced as an assignment?

Results?Swap papers with another group

Assign a grade – how did we do?

Why I Teach Communication Skills & E-Mail Etiquette

“I submitted the wrong one, i will attach it to this file, oh and i put average next to the average cause it didnt make sence not to, and im sorry if i was just meant to tell you and you would forget about that one but i dont know if i will be here in the morning to check my email but ya i will just attach it to this file, well see you tomorrow”

Soft Skills & Your StudentsHow can you help your students start

developing their:Communication skillsInterpersonal skillsProblem-solving skillsTeamwork skills

Making RoomUse the technology you are already

teachingWord one-page written summaries

PPT presentation in groups

Excel spreadsheet analysis to accompany Word reports

Entire workbook integrated into course

What’s the Risk?

Resources to Help YouSoft Skills at Work workbook for

studentsWeb site from Cengage

www.cengage.com/ct/softskillsNew! “Pro Skills” incorporated into

New Perspectives Office 2010 First Course lab manual

Contact me!beverly.amer@nau.edu