Soft%20Skills

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Soft Skills

• Jessica BurnsMike Baker
• John Klinger

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Definition

• Soft Skills- refer to the cluster of personality
  traits, social graces, facility with language,
  personal habits, friendliness, and optimism that
  mark people to varying degrees

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Definition

• Hard Skills- the technical requirements of a job
  (assembly, labor, etc)

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American Businesses

• Beginning to adopt soft skills as a major
  component of required skills for a job
• Blue collar jobs are moving overseas due to lower
  costs
• America moving more towards service industry

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Customer Service and Orientation

• Focusing more on people than processes
• Todays service economy and ascendance of work
  teams in large organizations puts a new premium
  on people skills and relationship-building Lori
  Kocon- human resources expert
• Soft skills People skillsStreet Smarts

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Soft

• Comes from European Social Fund project
• Soft outcomes-outcomes from training, support or
  guidance which are unlike traditional outcomes,
  for instance, qualifications and jobs which can
  not be measured directly or tangibly
• Balanced Scorecard (virtually impossible to
  attain numbers)

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Soft continued

• Soft indicators- means by which we can measure
  whether the outcomes have been achieved
• Indicate acquisition of progress towards an
  outcome, how we can put a number on measurement
  of accomplished goals

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Common Soft Skills

• Strong work ethic
• Positive attitude
• Good communication skills
• Time management abilities
• Problem-solving skills
• Acting as a team player
• Self-confidence
• Ability to accept and learn from criticism
• Flexibility/adaptability
• Working well under pressure

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• Strong work ethic-Are you motivated and dedicated
  to getting the job done, now matter what? Will
  you be conscientious and do your best work?
• Positive attitude-Are you optimistic and upbeat?
  Will you generate good energy and good will

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• Good communication skills- Are you both verbally
  articulate and a good listener? Can you make your
  case and express needs in a way that builds
  bridges with colleagues, customers and vendors
• Time management abilities- Do you know how to
  prioritize tasks and work on a number of
  different projects at once? Will you use your
  time on the job wisely?

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• Problem-solving skills-are you resourceful and
  able to creatively solve problems that will
  inevitably arise? Will you take ownership of
  problems or leave them for someone else?
• Acting as a team player- Will you work well in
  groups and teams? Will you be cooperative and
  take a leadership role when appropriate?

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• Self-confidence-Do yo truly believe you can do
  the job? Will you project a sense of calm and
  inspire confidence in others?
• Ability to accept and learn from criticism- Will
  you be able to handle criticism? Are you
  coachable and open to learning and growing as a
  person and a professional?

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• Flexibility/Adaptability- Are you able to adapt
  to new situations and challenges? Will you
  embrace change and be open to new idea?
• Working well under pressure- Can you handle the
  stress that accompanies deadlines and crises?
  Will you be able to do your best work and come
  through in a pinch?

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Conclusions

• More and more businesses are considering soft
  skills as an important job criteria
• An increase in service industry emphasizes the
  need for soft skills
• Soft skills are used in personal and professional
  life

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• Questions