The importance of transferrable skills. There can be no doubt about the importance of a

degree and a solid academic background but it’s not the only thing that employers will be

interested in. Especially where there is strong competition for entry to a job, employers have to

find a way to choose.

FIVE MISCONCEPTIONS

ABOUT SOFT SKILLS

BY DIANE SHAWE M.ED

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FIVE

MISCONCEPTIONS

ABOUT SOFT SKILLS

BY DIANE SHAWE M.ED

MISCONCEPTION ONE.

ONE OF THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT MAN

OF THESE “SOFT SKILLS” IS THAT STUDENTS CAN

LEARN THEM ONCE AND HAVE THEM AT THEIR

DISPOSAL FOREVER.

However, all of these interpersonal, intellectual, and communication

skills are learned through practice over time. Thinking, analytical,

and writing skills communication instruction need to be learnt and

practiced because students learn many of the other “soft skills” this

way.

MISCONCEPTION TWO.

THAT STUDENTS BY DEFAULT SHOULD KNOW HOW

TO WRITE FOR THE WORK PLACE BECAUSE THEY

HAVE LEARNED TO WRITE IN SCHOOL

In fact, most of the writing instruction in universities is geared

toward teaching students to write in academic environments.

Academic writing is not the same as professional writing.

The skills one learns by writing academic papers do not necessarily

transfer to the ability to write workplace documents. Issues of

purpose, audience, context, politics, diversity, and ethics change

significantly from academia to the workplace. Students often enter

the workplace without any significant sense of the communication,

interpersonal, and intellectual demands of this new environment.

We are building the “bridge” with professional writing courses that

will help students learn to transfer their academic skills into

workplace skills.

TESTS THAT

MIS-MEASURE

SOFT SKILLS

Soft skills complement

hard skills (part of a

person’s IQ), which are

the occupational

requirements of a job and

many other activities.

So why does

contemporary society

place great value on

standardised achievement

tests to sift and sort

people, to evaluate

schools, and to assess the

performance of nations?

Despite the widespread

use of standardised

achievement tests, the

traits that they measure

are not well-understood.

Cognitive ability like IQ

the important skills that

achievement tests miss or

mis measure, are now

being recognised as the

skills that also matter in

life.

Achievement tests miss,

or more accurately, do not

adequately capture, soft

skills— personality traits,

goals, motivations, and

preferences that are

valued in the labour

market, in school, and in

many other domains.

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2

MISCONCEPTION THREE.

Is that these “soft skills” are defined the same from

culture to culture

In fact, the influx of international students and the lack of knowledge of

cultural differences compounds the difficulty of students learning all

these “soft skills.” For example, the ways in which other cultures exhibit

and interpret “soft skills” is much different than our Western culture’s

definitions of effective teamwork, leadership, communication, decision-

making, etc.

MISCONCEPTION FOUR.

IS THAT IF SOMEONE UNDERSTANDS SOMETHING

INTELLECTUALLY THROUGH READING, DISCUSSING, AND

TESTING, THEY SHOULD BE ABLE TO APPLY THAT

UNDERSTANDING TO THEIR OWN BEHAVIOR

Learning about playing the violin does not teach one to be a violinist.

Additionally, the manner in which students are taught may be antithetical

to learning these “soft skills.” Many of these skills are most easily learned

and practiced in active learning environments that blend both individual

and team responsibilities and assignments. However, the vast majority of

teaching still occurs through lecturing (passive learning) where students

have little to no opportunities to practice these “soft skills.”

MISCONCEPTION FOUR.

STUDENTS BELIEVE THAT TO BECOME

SUCCESSFUL IN ONE’S CAREER, THEY NEED ONLY

LEARN THE TECHNIQUES, STRATEGIES, ETC. OF

THEIR TECHNICAL COURSE.

They do not understand that these “soft skills” often are what make the

difference between being hired, being promoted, and being successful in any

profession. Therefore, they tend to avoid (unless required) courses in the

personal development and interpersonal sector. Reading literature, studying

philosophy, understanding history, and exploring different views are all

opportunities to develop critical thinking, ethics, cultural understanding, etc.

MEASURING

DIFFERENT

SKILLS

MATTER

The larger message is that

soft skills predict success

in life that they produce

that success, and that

programs that enhance

soft skills have an

important place in an

effective portfolio of

public policies.

Measurement of cognition

and educational

attainment has been

refined during the past

century. Psychometricians

have shown that cognitive

ability has multiple facets.

Many social scientists—

even many

psychologists— continue

to use IQ tests,

standardised achievement

tests, and grades.

Even though scores on

IQ tests, standardised

achievement tests, and

grades are positively

correlated with each

other, recent literature

shows that they measure

different skills and

depend on different facets

of cognitive ability.

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CONCLUSION

Once upon a time we all thought we could get a job for life or

always be in work. Every entrepreneur thinks that his/her

product, services will change the world.

Soft skills alone won’t make you successful either. They have to

be balanced with having the management and entrepreneurial

skills with right hard/professional skills, to compete in this market

place. Investing in yourself means ‘you’ become the ‘human

capital’ and you will begins to reap positive and sustainable

dividends because you have become an asset.

There are now Internet based soft skills training courses that

allow you to work with simulations, what-if scenarios and

adventure games to learn soft skills. Of course face to face

training could be more effective if you can find trainers who can

customise their courses to suit your needs and more

importantly having the evidence that you have attained a

transferable skill upon the presentation of an accredited

certificate. Finally, focus on long term development approach

for developing soft skills rather than event based approach will

add long term value.

What most people, employers, entrepreneurs and even some

educational institutions do not have in today’s current

environment is time the necessary resources and the

infrastructure they need to support and achieve their learning

objectives. Both our online and workshop based courses are a

cost effective way to deliver and up-skill a wide cross section of

our society. Designed to be student (user) centric and time

sensitive.

AVPT is the only UK Globally Accredited online and workshop

based provider of over 390 Soft Skills courses using a cutting

edge, proprietary online Learning Management system all

supported by a Virtual Tutor Facilitor. We also deliver via fast

track workshops designed to up-skill you in 1, 2 or 3 days.

Visit our website and tell us what information you would like us

to send you. www.expresstrainingcourses.co.uk or call 0203

551 2621.

THE LIFE

CYCLE OF

SOFT SKILLS

There is no tape measure

for perseverance, no

caliper for intelligence.

All cognitive and

personality traits are

measured using

performance on “tasks,”

broadly defined. Different

tasks require different

traits in different

combinations. Some

distinguish between

measurements of traits

and measurements of

outcomes, but this

distinction is often

misleading.

However, traits are not set

in stone. They change

over the life cycle and can

be enhanced by education,

parenting, and

environment to different

degrees at different ages.

It is my opinion people

try harder when

doing achievement tests

so you can scores and

capture both cognitive

and personality traits.