Soft Skills Training for Job Readiness
Low-income individuals with limited exposure to the world of work may lack the "soft skills" needed to get a job, stay employed, and advance. Soft skills are the non technical skills, abilities, and traits that workers need to function in a specific employment environment. They include four sets of workplace competencies: problem-solving and other cognitive skills, oral communication skills, personal qualities and work ethic, and interpersonal and teamwork skills. Surveys of employers who hire entry-level workers reveal how important it is for job candidates to have soft skills. In Job Prospects for Welfare Recipients: Employers Speak Out, researchers found that a positive attitude and reliability are the two qualities that employers identify as most important when hiring someone for entry-level work (Regenstein et al., July 1998). Problems with interpersonal and other soft skills are a major barrier to employment that employers do not believe they can address on their own (W...