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#JobSearch : Employers Want – And Will Pay For – Soft Skills. Are You Focusing On Them Enough? Got Kids? MUst REad!

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Gallup and Amazon Web Services recently completed a study that assessed workers’ job satisfaction based on their digital skills, including information technology, coding, data analytics, and search engine and social media marketing. The survey showed that workers with digital skills experienced higher job satisfaction, increased wages, and felt safer from layoffs or firings. The pay bump was particularly pronounced: those with advanced skills could expect about a 65 percent premium in compensation over those without digital skills.

The importance of having some technical skills in a world where technology advances at exponential rates means that much press is given to the importance of learning these skills. And indeed, it is important to have – at some level – a firm grounding in technical topics. But far less attention seems to be given to the other side of the skills coin: the soft skills.

This Forbes article points out that employers rank soft skills higher than technical skills when hiring new employees. Knowing how to code may be critical if you’re a software developer, but those skills won’t matter if you can’t do the soft things: work well on a team, lead a project, communicate clearly, and think critically. Soft skills are particularly important if you want to take on more responsibility – they are the grease that allows you to successfully move from an individual contributor role to a leadership one. Indeed, in an article talking about the importance of soft skills to career advancement, the author references this LinkedIn survey, noting,

“Technical capabilities can only take you so far in your career. To really soar, you need skills that are harder to measure but critical to success. In LinkedIn’s … report, 89 percent of recruiters say that when a hire doesn’t work out, it usually comes down to a lack of soft skills.”

Here at Harvard Business School, our faculty have produced thousands of pages of research on the importance of soft skills. And the portfolio of online certificate programs we offer reflects this sense that while accounting and finance skills are important to a modern business, they are nothing without the more human skills. Courses centered on leadership, power dynamics, management, and negotiations are examples of those that teach “pure” soft skills. But even those courses that are geared toward the more technical skills regularly touch on the soft ones as well.

 

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What Skill Sets Do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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We here at FSC want to thank each of corporate partners in the opportunity in serving & moving each of their transitioning employee(s) rapidly toward employment !

 

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You can find plenty of free content online regarding soft skills development. But learning about leadership in any meaningful way through a Google search is much harder than learning how to code in Python. To be effective, online soft skills educational content needs to utilize features like self-assessment tools, complex interactive simulations, and real-world stories to ground learning. Producing such courses can be difficult and expensive.

Even then, many are skeptical that soft skills can be taught – either online or in person. Some evidence suggests that they can. But that prompts a question: even if they can be taught, do employers pay for soft skills as they might for easier-to-quantify technical skills? There’s surprisingly less data on this. But with my years of experience as a manager and leader, I would unequivocally say “yes.” And a recent study we did at HBS Online provides evidence that soft skills do indeed translate into better economic outcomes.

In a survey of 2,000 past HBS Online learners conducted by research firm City Square Associates, 42 percent experienced an increase in salary, with an average bump of $17,000 in additional annual income. Twenty percent saw a bonus increase that averaged $14,000. That means that over the roughly eight-year history of HBS Online, the population of those who have taken one of our programs have collectively realized about $700 million in economic value. Admittedly, not every one of the respondents took a soft skills focused course; but many did. Even if only 50% of that $700 million in value could be attributed to soft skills, the numbers are meaningful and a strong indication you shouldn’t ignore soft skills development at any career stage.

A final thought: I recently sat in on an in-person executive education case discussion comprised of senior leaders from a financial services firm. The case study they were addressing related to a dysfunctional leadership team at a fictional company. The professor closed the discussion by recounting something he learned as a doctoral student after reviewing nearly 1,000 pages of research focused on leadership. He said that when he finished his review, he noted that there were ultimately only two things that matter for those aspiring to become effective leaders: hold those who report to you accountable for meeting ambitious goals and do it while demonstrating that you care.

That’s a compelling argument for the importance of soft skills.

 

Forbes.com | October 28, 2022 | Patrick Mullane

#CareerAdvice : Exactly How to Find (or create) an #Internship that Doesn’t Suck…This Founder Asked her Own Company’s Interns to Share their Wisdom on Finding & Making the Most Out of Internship Experiences. Here’s What they Said.

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Most students think it’s crucial to find the “right” internship, otherwise they’ll be saddled with the “wrong” experience on their resumes for applying to full-time jobs later on. It’s not that simple, and that’s a good thing.

Since I run my organization’s fellowship program for students, I recently asked our fellows–many of whom have interned at other places, too–to weigh in on the experience: Why intern? What differentiates a good internship from a crappy one? And how do you make the most out of any internship experience, including one that might not be ideal? These are a few of their tips and insights.

DON’T WAIT

Start in high school! Some of your peers will spend four years studying something in college that they decide they don’t want to pursue after earning their degree. One summer internship could save you from taking the “scenic route” toward a career you want (which, however, isn’t the end of the world).

The high-achieving behaviors that tend to work in high school (talk a lot, give teachers what they want, play by the rules, etc.) don’t necessarily work in business. There are no right answers when your intern manager asks you to build the company’s first artificial-intelligence sentiment analyzer–just ask our three high school fellows. One of them, Liam, told me he’s more often judged by what he accomplishes than by how he does it. His AP computer science class was hard, not because of the problems he had to solve, but because the teacher wanted them solved in prescribed ways. Internships will liberate you from an education built around “right” answers, and the sooner you can get started on that, the better.

FOCUS ON WHAT YOU CAN LEARN (ABOUT YOURSELF)

If you’ve been playing the I-want-to-look-impressive game, stop. Internships are for trying career paths on for size. They reveal what you like and don’t like, how you work, and with whom you collaborate well. Internships are ways to learn about yourself–at least as much as they are about picking up skills and knowledge–and to meet the people you could become.

Sahar, our fellow who works on user-interface design, notes that internships take you to depths that college classes can’t. Whereas you and your classmates are trying to balance five courses and get good grades, full-time employees are focused. They’re invested in the mission of the company but also work to raise families, pay mortgages, care for parents, and live comfortably. By getting to know them, you can better envision how you want your life to look in the years after graduating.

 

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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THINK CREATIVELY ABOUT OFFSETTING DRAWBACKS

A few potential risks and downsides can be mitigated. For example, many internships require some degree of grunt work, but you don’t want to take one where that’s the main event. If some of your responsibilities involve crucial yet boring tasks, make sure the majority of the experience will function like an apprenticeship or fellowship. Great internships embed you in the workflow of the company and make you accountable for something more important than administrative duties (at a different company, one of our fellows recalled handling so much paperwork that he developed a coffee habit just to stay awake).

WATCH OUT FOR RED FLAGS

Other red flags are a lot easier to spot. For starters, find out whether you have a designated manager. If not, you’re probably going to be passed around and lost. Second, note how much or how little the internship coordinator scrutinizes you. Bad internship programs just need a warm body in the room to do rote work, so the interview tends to be pretty fluffy. Ask the interviewer about how many people applied, how many were offered interviews, and how many the company will hire.

Third, when you tour the office, scan the culture. Do you see a room of jaded, bitter faces? Can you imagine them taking your input and offering insightful critique? Always ask to speak with former interns during the interview process. If the program is legitimate, there will be references ready and eager to speak. You can check Glassdoor, but nothing compares to a conversation with someone who actually did the job.

Our doctoral fellow Kevin adds that it’s important to look at the moral fabric of the company: What does the organization do and why? If you have ethical qualms about the work, the prestige of the job probably won’t counterbalance them.

SHOW WHAT YOU CAN DO, AND BE UPFRONT ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN’T

On day one, ask your manager about the expectations. You need to establish goals, deadlines, and intended outcomes. If there’s not already a system for check-ins and feedback sessions, ask for one. Likewise, if you’re asked to do something you aren’t prepared to do–like code in Python–be honest. If you have the rudimentary skills, go for it and push your comfort zone, but try to avoid getting in over your head.

And for high schoolers, don’t be afraid to bother adults. Robert, one of our high school engineering interns, stresses that it’s actually crucial to ask questions and bug people. Consider how much more time they’re going to spend fixing your mess if they don’t help you succeed!

Finally, as your internship unfolds, keep asking yourself this question that our fellow Sima recommends: If you did this full-time, what would your life look like? Unless you take an internship that challenges you and demands your full commitment, you won’t be able to answer it. Building your career is an experiment, and internships provide the best data you can collect.

Ximena Hartsock, PhD, is the cofounder and president of Phone2Action.

 

FastCompany.com | July 7, 2018 | BY XIMENA HARTSOCK 5 MINUTE READ

Your #Career : The 5 Best Ways to Network While You’re Still in College… When to Start Looking for a Career/Job? Today, IF you start your Junior Year, your Late!

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Thinking about the real world can be intimidating as a college student (I’ve been there!)… So it’s no surprise that our team gets questions from hundreds of students each month about how to network effectively in preparation for a career.

College Graduate

The connections I made in college have been instrumental in my post-grad life, including in starting my own company, WayUp. Below are five ways I suggest networking as a college student. Anyone can and should use them to build an effective set of relationships that will support you throughout your career.

Armed with these strategies, you should walk away feeling excited about the network, and future, that you’re building.

1. Use part-time jobs and internships to your advantage

Warren Buffett started as a paperboy, Madonna as a Dunkin Donuts worker, and Oprah worked at a grocery store. Working during school is the perfect way to gain experience, figure out what you love / don’t love, and make money. But regardless of what you choose to do, you’ll likely meet people who will go on to do bigger and better things, and you never know how they’ll be able to help you.

Today’s barista is tomorrow high-powered ad executive, so don’t discount anybody along the way. Use your time at work to get to know people and ask questions. Stay in touch after you leave a job or internship, even if it’s just a quick email update every couple of months.

 

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2. Cold email people you admire

I love cold emailing people (“cold emailing” means reaching out to someone you don’t know). Every college student should take advantage of how easy it can be!

Students are often intimidated to message someone to whom they have no connection, but in my experience, most people in the world really want to help others, and it’s even more special when a person gets to help a college student. So be sure to cold email people you admire, or even people at your own school who you just haven’t been able to meet.

Cold-emailing helped me plenty in college. I got one internship through it (back then, we didn’t have WayUp!), and I even relied on a cold email to a role model so I could get their advice on which career path to take after graduation. Here’s a video (at 49-seconds) of me telling that story:

A couple big tips here: always be respectful and genuine when cold emailing, definitely make sure that you show that you respect their time, and most of all, be sure to use the “I’m a college student” opening while you still can!

3. Take advantage of professional networking groups and clubs on campus

Many colleges have groups, clubs, and associations that you can join to expand your opportunities and meet amazing people, both on and off-campus. There’s never going to be another time quite like college where you’re surrounded by thousands of amazingly smart and interesting people, so get to know the people you think will change the world someday.

At college, you’re exposed to some of the most brilliant academic minds in the world, so why wouldn’t you take advantage of that? If there’s a subject area you’re interested in, don’t be afraid to go to professors in that field; they love talking about their work and meeting young people who are just as interested.

You never know which professor will end up being the professor who changes your life trajectory. For example, the professor who taught my “Entrepreneurship” class helped me work on a business plan that ended up being the inspiration for WayUp!

5. Reach out to everyone you know in your personal network

The best way to figure out what you might be interested in is to talk to absolutely everyone about your interests. You’d be surprised at how many people your friends and family know.

Pro-tip: don’t forget to take advantage of winter and spring break. It’s the perfect opportunity to reach out to folks at home about connections they may have that are relevant to your interests!

No matter where you attend school or what you choose to study, building a network now will make life so much easier after graduation. Good luck!

Liz Wessel,    CONTRIBUTOR – I write about how to level up your career while in college

Forbes.com | September 7, 2016