Article: Employers, Students May Both Be To Blame For Soft Skills Disconnect.

Familiar themes: Employability. Oral and written communication skills. Making connections. It's not enough to have these skills but being able to articulate what you know to other people.

Employers, Students May Both Be To Blame For Soft Skills Disconnect.
http://www.cityam.com/city-focus/pbj1ca62vs.html

The UK's CITY A.M. (9/24, Barber) reports, that both in the UK and internationally businesses are bemoaning the lack of soft skills in new hires. Yet some schools do offer training in this area, and offer opportunities such as "small consultancy projects" that give students real-world experience. "So if students know that soft skills are valuable, why do employers complain that they don't have them? The fault, perhaps, is on both sides." Students, on one hand, "can be bad at recognizing and articulating the skills they have," and for that reason "PricewaterhouseCoopers launched an employability skills clinic last year, to help students identify skills picked up in part-time work or extra-curricular projects – and learn how to put them in words that employers understand." A PwC official said that "employers also have to clarify what they require from graduates," noting "a disconnect where employers have said grads don't have the skills we need, and students say 'we don't know what you're looking for.'"

From ASEE First Bell