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SOFT SKILLSConnecting Classroom to Careers
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Last Time We Met

• Soft Skills Are

• Soft Skills Are Not

• Skills, abilities and traits that pertain to
  personality, attitude, and behavior

• Formal or technical knowledge

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What Industry Thinks

• Technical skills and computer literacy are
  assumed!

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What Industry Wants

• Skill sets that include
• Oral and written communication skill
• Critical thinking ability
• Problem-solving resourcefulness
• Ability to work productively on a team

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What Our Students Want

• Meaningful employment
• Competitive advantage in todays economy
• Help with soft skills

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One Solution Soft Skills at Work

• Workbook and Video Package
• Published by Cengage
• Contains practical guidance with videos and
  personal reflection callout boxes

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Our Experience at Northern Arizona University

• Implemented Soft Skills at Work
• Used in Intro CIS course
• Close to 1,000 students Fall 08
• Topics covered
• Resumes, attire, online persona management,
  written communication, team dynamics and
  generational differences, presentation basics

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CIS Course Implementation

• Course Coverage
• Part lecture, part lab (Office 2007)
• Soft Skills Integration
• Replaced some critical thinking cases
• Covered all 5 workbook/video chapters by spacing
  them out over 15 weeks

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What Did the Students Do?

• Completed the in-text personal reflection boxes
• Example
• Watched and critiqued the accompanying
  videos
• Submitted end-of-chapter exercises

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For Example

• Chapters 4 and 5
• Chapter 4 Exercise Planning the Next Training
  Meeting (in teams)
• Had to research locations
• Created a Word document with summary
• Prepared an Excel worksheet for all locations
• Required team coordination on formatting, data
  collection and reporting

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Then

• Chapter 5
• Teams selected and presented one location to the
  class
• Had to dress the part
• Submitted Word, Excel and PPT documents

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Moment of Truth Student Survey

• Student majors
• Business
• Accounting, Finance, Advertising, Marketing,
  Management, CIS
• Hotel and restaurant management
• Elementary education
• Forestry, geology
• Entrepreneur /own business
• Health professions
• Dental, speech, medical, PT

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• Students were asked to rate topics in terms of
  how helpful it will be in the future.
• Resumes and interviewing skills
• 97
• (Somewhat to very helpful)

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• Online persona management, identify theft and
  cyberstalking
• 88

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• Written communication skills, e-mail/cell/text
  message etiquette
• 90

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• Team dynamics and generational differences
• 89

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• Presentation skills
• 94

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Some of the Comments Related to the Chapter
Contents

• I need to clean up my online persona I have
  pictures out there Id rather not be public!
• It helped me fix what was wrong with my resume
• I found things when I googled myself that
  surprised me!
• Made me realize that everyone on a team has a
  different personality but can still contribute
• These are life skills I will use all the time
• It reminded me how important basic grammar and
  etiquette are!

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• Students were asked to evaluate how much they
  learned from each chapters video episode.
• Resumes and interviewing skills
• 72
• (Moderate to tremendous amount)

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• What the recruiter does back at the office
• 83

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• Preparing for the first big writing assignment on
  the job
• 81

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• Working with a dysfunctional team
• 83

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Moment of Truth Student Feedback

• Making an effective presentation
• 86

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Some of the Comments Related to the Videos

• I noticed how people acted what worked and what
  didnt. I dont think I would have caught it if
  I didnt actually see it.
• As soon as you walk in the building, you are
  being evaluated on how you present and carry
  yourself.
• I need to be prepared do my research, dress
  appropriately, and act professionally if I want
  to get and keep my job.
• I need to speak up and not assume that people
  will know I am qualified just by looking at me or
  reading my resume.

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Students Enjoyed

• The resume and interviewing skills chapter and
  videos the most
• (but the others received votes as well)

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Would We Do It Again?

• Yes! We are!
• What we observed (besides what the students said
  in their comments)
• E-mail messages were written with more care
• Not everyone knows what an executive summary is
• Professional business casual attire does not
  include sneakers, jeans and t-shirts

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Career Connection

• Students caught on pretty quickly
• Recognize need for advantage in todays
  competitive job market
• Recruiter feedback is positive

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Wrap Up

• The workbook and videos are available now see
  your sales rep!
• Questions?
• beverly.amer_at_nau.edu