Wanted: Grads with “soft skills”

If you were in charge, how would you have our education systems operate to best prepare today's students for all their tomorrows?

A recent national survey by CareerBuilder (an online employment search and application service) revealed interesting and informative data about what major employers believe too many of today's college grads are lacking.

The survey of 2,175 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes was conducted online by Harris Poll earlier this year. Their responses confirmed the belief that today's graduates are knowledgeable about technology, but may lack 'soft skills” - interpersonal, problem-solving and communication skills.

Fifty-two percent of hiring managers and human resource professionals responding to the survey expressed concern about a lack of interpersonal skills. Those hiring authorities also expressed concern about young workers lacking the following skills: problem solving (46 percent), oral communication (41 percent), leadership ability (40 percent), written communication (38 percent), teamwork (37 percent), creative thinking (36 percent) and project management (26 percent).

When asked where academic institutions fall short, 38 percent of respondents targeted a need to blend technical skills and soft skills gained from liberal arts curricula.

The survey report concluded, 'One in five employers feel colleges do not adequately prepare students with crucial workplace competencies, including soft skills and real-world experience that might be gained through things like internships.” Based on survey results, the report's authors predicted that recent college graduates who can demonstrate a good mix of technical and soft skills will have the best prospects.

That doesn't mean technical skills aren't coveted. Quite the contrary. In the survey, 38 percent of employers named business graduates as their most sought-after candidates. Other college degrees in high demand were: computer and information sciences (27 percent), engineering (18 percent), math and statistics (14 percent), health professions and related clinical sciences (14 percent).

Know who would agree with those results? None other than the late Steve Jobs (1955-2011), electronics pioneer and co-founder and former CEO of Apple Inc., before he died at age 56.

Jobs is quoted saying, 'It's in Apple's DNA that technology alone is not enough. It's technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing.”

Clearly, college grads with degrees in technical areas are in great demand. But skills in communication, teamwork, interpersonal relationships, and leadership should not be undervalued or ignored.

To me, the importance of a strong liberal arts education accompanying high tech competencies is obvious. One dimensional people, no matter how technologically skilled, too often lack abilities to interact productively with others in our increasingly complex world.

' Bob Elliott, of Iowa City, is a member of The Gazette Writers Circle. Comments: elliottb53@aol.com