You can do anything you set your mind to, but it requires action, perseverance, and facing your fears. Gillian Anderson There has always been the strong argument that you cannot teach an old dog new tricks. However, what if I told you that you can with a little more dedication? Even though soft skills are something you can potentially be born with, hard skills can be more important, because soft skills can also be taught.
In today’s day in age, employers are met with a more difficult challenge. They are hiring people from college who possess the hard skills needed for the job, however, they do not necessarily have the soft skills needed to carry out certain detrimental challenges for the job at hand that you cannot necessarily teach easily. So, the obvious question an employer needs to endure on is the fact if an applicant has people skill, strong problem-solving skills, and good communication skills because it is not so black and white. Roy Saunderson states in his article titled Sharpening Soft Skills With Situational Learning that through situational learning an individual can develop their soft skills as if they were on the job. Types of situational learning are mentoring, apprenticeships, group activities, and game-based learning.
Soft skills most oftentimes is something you can potentially be born with. Some people are born with stronger social skills than others. Some individuals have social anxiety or other types of interpersonal disabilities which oftentimes makes it a harder obstacle to obtain stronger soft skills. These soft skills mentioned can consist of but are not limited to accountability, strong communication skill, respect, creativity, leadership, etc. Soft skills are often learned through a personal experience or during employment. They cannot be measured or evaluated such as hard skills. Soft skills are taught in schools and as early as daycares.
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Speaking from personal experience, I remember a time in elementary school where we had the character boards. We were awarded each month on respect, responsibility, dependability, communication skills, leadership, and honesty. I consistently got awards for strong dependability and responsibility. Everything we are taught in our day to day lives from having to wake up to get children ready for school, going to work, and down to going to bed at a reasonable time to repeat is all a strong demonstration of responsibility. We have these soft skills that structure our very lives and I could not find a solid argument opposing the fact that we have to practice these things daily.
Hard skills on the other hand can be evaluated through various measures such as degrees, licenses, certifications, or relative experience an applicant has. Hard skills are skills obtained through education or through training relative to the career being applied for. Examples of hard skills are but are not limited to computer programming, a physician, a veterinarian, construction, etc. Colleges are becoming more aware of the challenges that graduates face after having an entire educational platform that ensures their success with a hard skill, that they lack soft skills.
“Although other skills–negotiation and critical thinking skills–needed improvement, they were not as crucial at the entry-level status suitable for the community college students. In addition, a professional development training program where proposed to help students enhance their soft skills before entering their future careers. Another study by Radermacher et al. (2014) indicated that recent graduates struggle communicating with co-workers and customers. Therefore, their study proposed that that the academic community should make sure that students will have effective problem solving and effective communication skills.” (Patacsil & Tablatin 2016)
In conclusion, you can teach an old dog new tricks. This is merely for the fact that situational learning can showcase what you would do if you were put in the exact situation as you would be on the job. It allows you to learn the necessary way to carry out a task and how to apply interpersonal skills needed to do an efficient job.
References
- Patacsil, F., & Tablatin, C. (2016). Figure 2f from: Irimia R, Gottschling M (2016) Taxonomic revision of Rochefortia Sw. (Ehretiaceae, Boraginales). Biodiversity Data Journal 4: E7720. https://doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.4.e7720.
- EXPLORING THE IMPORTANCE OF SOFT AND HARD SKILLS AS PERCEIVED BY IT INTERNSHIP STUDENTS AND INDUSTRY: A GAP ANALYSIS,347-368. doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f
- Saunderson, R. (2017). Sharpening soft skills with situational learning. Training, 54(5), 62-63. Retrieved from https://search.proquest.com/docview/1940841467?accountid=41759
