Soft skills
The soft skills are the things I try to make the young learners understand. Know what your doing isn't worth much if you don't show up on time and apply them.
James,
Great point and one that really needs to be hammered home to students. Their soft skill development is as important as their specific skill development. One without the other leaves the students in a situation where they are not totally prepared for the workplace.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
we all need soft skills in all work fields and it does help learners understand. i agree you could have all the skills in your field, but if you dont show up on time or apply your soft skills then you will not exceed in your field.
Jack,
This is something our students often overlook. I make soft skill development a part of my course as well as the technical content because a person cannot as you mention be successful without both.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
For my students soft skills is at least 50 % of the content and in fact I have had employers say to me "I need you to teach them the soft skills as I cannot teach that I can always teach them a task". To begin with that idnt make sense but know I understand more, if they are not professional, in attendance and punctual they are no use to the employer.
Rachael,
Right you are about the need to teach soft skills in our classes. Our students need to see that the soft skills are critical to their success in the workplace. The more we can help them in this area the stronger their chances are going to be for career success.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
On a regular basis, I receive the following feedback for employers...The hard skills will come with experience and being in the environment. They are mostly looking for soft skills, those are harder if not impossible to teach. The first step is making that person realize their faults and having the desire to change!!
I have a professor who used to say, "are you going to be late all the time when you become a care provider?" Of course not, because this is one of the soft skills that will greatly affect our job.That is why I am always emphasizing to my students from the very start of class to make a habit to come on time. The rest of the soft skills are equally important and the students has to develope them while in school.
Maria Estela,
Key point that seems to be hard for students to grasp. They have to be dependable and that means on time every day. If they are serious about their career they will develop the needed soft skills that go with their specific skills of the field. If they don't they are not going to have career success.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I feel that soft skills are not stressed enough in classes these days. In my class, especially lab, I do emphasis being on time for class. We talk about how we should work in relation to our work spaces that have nothing to do with the technical skills. At the end, we discuss how these soft skills could improve and what affect it would have the work day and your co-workers.
Joseph,
I am with you on this most important need. Soft skills need to be a part of every student's skill set. They need to be able to see how soft skills will make or break their career.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Soft skills are very important specially in the healthcare field because the customer is the patient and a good attitude is crucial.
Beatrice,
Right you are. They are the core upon which the rest of the course is built.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
Agreed and to me this is one of the most important pieces. I always associated course material with appropriate soft skills as if the patient was their relative or friend to help them understand and care.
I think in other word, Soft Skill means that you have knowledge and ability to complete your job or work, but you are not able to apply it in right ways and right time.
Chhayaben,
This is a key point for students to understand. They need to know what it takes to be successful in the workplace as well as be able to provide the technical skills required to do the job.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
For me teaching soft skills are the most difficult part of my job. If the career field I teach there is a lot of client interaction and a lot of team work on the job. It is so important to work on these skills as well as academics.
Jenny,
A successful career cannot be built without both being present and students need to realize this. So we need to promote the development of both as we move our students through our courses.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I teach dental hygiene at a hygiene school and I am apalled by the soft skills my students have. I spend so much of my time instructing on soft skills that I run behind in teaching dental hygiene skills. Where are the paretns?
Michael,
I hear you loud and clear. My students do not or will not willingly dress appropriately, conduct themselves in a professional manner nor adhere to timelines when I first get them. It is like running a boot camp at first because they have to meet a soft skills standard in order to move forward in their education. Tough sell for sure! Sad that with adults I am using up valuable instructional time teaching basic behavior when I should be sharing the technical aspects of my field.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
