The future of work in this country is unforeseeable. Problems that have plagued the job environment recently are only becoming worse and we need change. As I mentioned in my last post, the need to be proficient in “soft” skills is one of the biggest problem in the job market. Not having these “soft” skills is preventing recent college graduates from getting jobs and creating a never-before-seen rate of unemployment in this new generation of workers.
Investopedia defines soft skills as, “the character traits and interpersonal skills that characterize a person’s relationships with other people.” These types of skills are vital in the workplace as employers look at these as compliments to hard, technical skills. Without soft skills one would not work well in a collaborative work environment and as we move into the future, collaboration is becoming a very common and quite necessary practice.
In order to increase the amount of college graduates that get hired directly out of college we need to emphasize the importance of soft skills while students are still in school. My first solution that would do this would be to add a senior group project, something similar to a senior design project, as a graduation requirement. Senior design projects and theses allow for the individual to do research on something in the field they are studying. The student then either writes a paper or designs a project based on the research done. This is a great way to culminate all the technical skills learned throughout your college career, but completing this graduation requirement lacks the need for any use of soft skills. My idea would add a senior group project in which you do research and design a project as an assignment. You would work with members of the same major on a project that you come up with together. This allows for the technical skills you have learned to be put to use in a group environment where soft skills are necessary for success. A committee of professors and staff members from your specific major will do the final evaluation of the project as you display your presentation with your group members.
Now the senior group project will definitely help put together all soft skill necessary for a job in the real world, but I also feel we need more opportunities to learn these soft skills before the project. My idea for this would be to change speech class requirements in schools. It is common knowledge that one must take some sort of public speaking or speech class in order to graduate with any degree. I think that this class should be expanded, possibly given more required days to attend. With this extra time in class I think group presentations should be emphasized and focused on so that one may learn soft skills in a classroom setting. This would allow for one to gain the knowledge needed for the senior group project when it comes to working with others and would ultimately allow for better interpersonal skills allowing for better chances of being hired.
With the implementation of group projects and classes that focus on soft rather than hard skills the future of work can be saved for the recent college graduates that are looking for jobs. Many problems are arising regarding with the future of work, but if we understand the situation we are in, the problems can be stopped.
References:
http://www.usnews.com/education/blogs/college-admissions-playbook/2014/05/12/hone-the-top-5-soft-skills-every-college-student-needs
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/soft-skills.asp
This is a very well crafted solution. Before your post, I never know about these “soft skills.” I wholeheartedly agree that these interpersonal work relatable skills should not only be taught, by focused on in the later years of college. One of the main reasons that finding a career right after graduation is the issue of inexperience. One of the biggest inexperiences is the lack of exposure to a social community in the workforce. An experience like this, which focuses on community building and social interaction towards a specific goal, would be very helpful in preparing one for an upcoming career. However, I believe that professions should also be willing to train employees, especially new ones. It seems to me that colleges, which are supposed to provide the next level of education in order to get a career, provide so basic of an instruction, that they are not as viable in helping land a career. Employers now seem to be looking for employees that already have training, which is unfair to the millions of graduates who followed the system that was provided and expected at the time, and was then expected to do even more. Hopefully, experiences like this will help better their ability to land jobs.