Soft skills for employability: the worker of the future
Posted: Wed Dec 11, 2024 9:29 am
Article created by Ignacio Pi Corrales, global head of Mediapost. Originally published in September 2019, we offer you this issue of Las Raíces del Marketing, the Mediapost initiative to share knowledge through the prism of relational marketing.
As we approach the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we cannot help but frequently wonder what its consequences will be in terms of job losses. While it is true that we must remain optimistic – since new needs and responsibilities for workers can certainly be expected – it is essential to pay attention to what skills will facilitate the development of a career in the near future.
Employability is defined as the sum of knowledge, skills, attitudes, experiences and values that a professional has and that he or she puts at the service of the work task he or she performs. The so-called soft skills —as opposed to the skills specific to each amazon phone number data position and that have been acquired through formal training or the worker's own experience— are nothing more (or less) than a series of emotional and social faculties that allow professionals to function successfully in different work environments. Given the situation of uncertainty in practically all sectors of the economy, soft skills are currently making more sense than ever before in history.
Given this definition, it is difficult to define a specific number of qualities that fit into this concept of soft skills or power skills , and on the other hand, we can expect the emergence of new aptitudes and attitudes that respond to this classification. For the moment, the most notable qualities are creativity, active listening, critical thinking, adaptation to change, optimism and a positive attitude, curiosity, emotional intelligence, problem-solving skills, empathy, the ability to work in a team and autonomy.
At a time in history when we are constantly talking about the Robot Revolution and witnessing great advances in its development almost daily, it is to be expected that the destruction of employment that more and more people and sectors are unequivocally predicting will begin with those jobs that are more repetitive and in which humans contribute little or no added value. Therefore, qualities intrinsic to human social capacities such as empathy or creativity will be some of those that make the difference in those tasks that continue to be performed by people.
According to multiple studies, these soft skills can be responsible for up to 90% of a person's success in their work environment. Traditionally, in the selection process for people, these so-called soft skills are valued as well as the technical skills required by the position; perhaps it is time to review the proportionality or level of importance of one over the other at the time of selection. Without a doubt, it is the performance of the job itself that contributes most to the employee acquiring and perfecting the skills specific to a specific position, whose relationship with the employee's training is always limited since the specific characteristics of the job will have more to do with the company and its clients. However, soft skills are often intrinsic issues of the personality, emotional development and social construction of each individual, resulting much more complex to acquire.
As we approach the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we cannot help but frequently wonder what its consequences will be in terms of job losses. While it is true that we must remain optimistic – since new needs and responsibilities for workers can certainly be expected – it is essential to pay attention to what skills will facilitate the development of a career in the near future.
Employability is defined as the sum of knowledge, skills, attitudes, experiences and values that a professional has and that he or she puts at the service of the work task he or she performs. The so-called soft skills —as opposed to the skills specific to each amazon phone number data position and that have been acquired through formal training or the worker's own experience— are nothing more (or less) than a series of emotional and social faculties that allow professionals to function successfully in different work environments. Given the situation of uncertainty in practically all sectors of the economy, soft skills are currently making more sense than ever before in history.
Given this definition, it is difficult to define a specific number of qualities that fit into this concept of soft skills or power skills , and on the other hand, we can expect the emergence of new aptitudes and attitudes that respond to this classification. For the moment, the most notable qualities are creativity, active listening, critical thinking, adaptation to change, optimism and a positive attitude, curiosity, emotional intelligence, problem-solving skills, empathy, the ability to work in a team and autonomy.
At a time in history when we are constantly talking about the Robot Revolution and witnessing great advances in its development almost daily, it is to be expected that the destruction of employment that more and more people and sectors are unequivocally predicting will begin with those jobs that are more repetitive and in which humans contribute little or no added value. Therefore, qualities intrinsic to human social capacities such as empathy or creativity will be some of those that make the difference in those tasks that continue to be performed by people.
According to multiple studies, these soft skills can be responsible for up to 90% of a person's success in their work environment. Traditionally, in the selection process for people, these so-called soft skills are valued as well as the technical skills required by the position; perhaps it is time to review the proportionality or level of importance of one over the other at the time of selection. Without a doubt, it is the performance of the job itself that contributes most to the employee acquiring and perfecting the skills specific to a specific position, whose relationship with the employee's training is always limited since the specific characteristics of the job will have more to do with the company and its clients. However, soft skills are often intrinsic issues of the personality, emotional development and social construction of each individual, resulting much more complex to acquire.