Lavar Jamaall Watkins M.A., M.S.,PPSC

Workforce DevelopmentBusiness and Employer Services Coordinator

&Biotechnology/Life Sciences Sector Strategist

San Diego Metro Region Career Centers/Job Work’s, Inc.LavarWatkins@workforce.org

619-266-4247

ARE THEY REALLY READY FOR WORK?

SOFT SKILLS TRAINING AT

WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARDS (WIB)&

ONE STOP CAREER CENTERS

What Are Soft Skills?

Soft skills have more to do with how an employee communicates and interacts with others than her technical skills and abilities. Soft skills include personal attributes such as attitude, work ethic and oral and written communication skills. They are complementary to a person's knowledge and experience and enhance the overall contribution and effort an employee puts forth. For instance, an employee with poor soft skills may have trouble communicating with other employees, lack leadership ability and possess a negative attitude; however, he may rank ahead of others when taking aptitude tests. The goal for a small business is to find employees with a good balance of soft skills and aptitude.

Although building workforce competency is generally focused on first-time employees, human resource professionals say in Critical Skills Needs and Resources for the Changing Workforce—a poll released in June 2008 by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in conjunction with WSJ.com/Careers—that many workplace soft skills have become more important for experienced employees than for new workers. These skills include critical thinking and problem solving, leadership, professionalism/work ethic, teamwork/collaboration, and adaptability/flexibility.

There are different ways to provide soft skills training to individuals moving into the workforce. A job readiness curriculum that emphasizes employability skills is one approach. Soft skills training can also be incorporated into vocational training and other program activities. Agencies that provide employment-related services can structure programs to simulate the workplace. In addition, post-employment activities, such as case management, support groups, mentoring, and job coaching, provide opportunities to work on soft skills based on clients’ work-related experiences. One challenge for agencies is to assess and document soft skills. Agencies can market their soft skills training to employers and work with local employers to develop standards for job readiness. This is not the end because there are collaborations that exist to assist with this very need.

Statistic’s by TheLadders.Com

Survey of 500 Executive Recruiters identified these as the biggest job-seeker mistakes: Too desperate / Willing to take Anything

Target jobs that match your best skills Focus search on specific employers

Poor Interview Preparation Research the company and job requirements Attend the Interviewing Strategies workshops

Weak Résumés Customize the résumé to each targeted

position Attend the Resume & Cover Letter workshop

Growing Industries2006-2016

Industry Name

Annual Average Change

Infrastructure Construction

223,500 to 255,00031,500 or

14%

Healthcare1,338,000 to

1,645,100307,100 or

23%

Biotechnology

23,000 to 35,00012,000 or

13%

Industry Name

2009 Employment

Change

Green 1270 to 2080 810 or 39%

San Diego Metro Career Centerswww.metrocareercenters.org

San Diego Workforce Partnershipwww.workforce.org

CalJOBSwww.caljobs.ca.gov

Bureau of Labor Statisticswww.bls.gov

Occupational Information Networkwww.OnetOnline.org

America’s Career Info Networkwww.acinet.org

LEVERAGING SKILLS &

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AGENDA Skill Defined

a. The Many FacetsSkills and Employers

a. Job Requirementsb. What Employers Want

Transferable Skillsa. Types of Skills

Leveraging/Employer MatchingAccomplishments

a. Your Best Leverage Closing Thoughts

SKILL Defined

Skill is the learned or acquired capacity to carry out pre-determined results, often with the minimum outlay of time, energy, or both

Skill is the capacity to do something well as opposed to abilities, which are often thought of as innate

Skill is a measure of a worker's expertise

What about Skills?

Skills are often actions directed toward people, things or data and are classified accordingly

The average person has from 500 to 800 skills.

Relevant skills should be identified for each target job based on what employers value

Frequently-used skills may be difficult to identify as they tend to become second-nature and unperceived

Skills Define Your Performance

Skills are: Gained through life experience Developed with diligent practice Enhanced by vocational

education Applied to specific tasks Enjoyed in various hobbies Combined into job qualifications

Skills can define you!

Know Your Prospective Employer

Employers want more than a listing of work history, job titles and mundane tasks. What “value” do you offer?

Employers want more than just ‘business as usual’. How can you: Meet employer’s needs? Solve employer’s problems? Save employer money? Make employer more profitable? Increase employer’s competitiveness? Help employer deliver better products or services?

What Employers Want Employers want to know what you can do

for them and how well can you do it Presenting your skills effectively shows

the employer that you have the right skills for the job, and a clear understanding of the job requirements

Employers seek to eliminate learning curves and training periods

Hiring new staff can be risky and costly: Those most qualified reduce risk and cost.

Transferable Skills Existing skills that can be used to meet the

requirements of other jobs or kinds of work or can be applied to a wide range of activities, such as communication, organization & management

Transferable skills are universal in nature and are not generally bound to any job type or task

“You are defined not by your job title, but by the skills that you possess, which are transferable from, and to, any occupation you may happen to be involved in at the moment.”

(Richard Nelson Bolles, What Color Is Your Parachute?”

Transferable Skills ExamplesThe following is a list of 5 broad skills areas: Communication Research & Planning Human Relations Organization Work SurvivalYou can search jobs by skills sets through

O*NEThttp://online.onetcenter.org/skills/Assess your “motivated” or “key” skills here:http://www.stewartcoopercoon.com/jobsearch/freejobsearchtests.phtml

Transferring & Leveraging

Transferring your skills effectively can result in higher salary placement

Failure to effectively transfer and leverage your skills could result in loss of job hire as employers consider you less qualified

Take great care to accurately evaluate how each of your skills transfers to your “target job” then leverage, leverage, leverage!

Job Specific Skills Are those considered particular to a

specific job or occupation Job specific skills will transfer

effectively to other jobs requiring those same skills For example: A Volkswagen mechanic can

generally work in any Volkswagen service garage. However, before competing effectively at a BMW service garage, specific skills and knowledge relevant to BMW’s would be required.

But, if they like you, they’ll train you!

Innate Skills Are those typically considered personality

traits We use them in every area of our daily lives.

Are often used by those who know us best to describe us to others

Include elements not necessarily tied to specific jobs or occupations. For example: Honest Friendly Warm Considerate

Include work ethics, values, and personal traits and can be referred to as Personal Assets

Self Management SkillsA great attitude, an even temper, and a positive outlook while faced with adversity or difficult challenges are examples of self-management skills Other examples of self-management skills

include: Initiative Punctuality Reliability Organization Accuracy Efficiency

These are also considered Personal Assets

Skills: The basic elements A job function is a defined area of

responsibility, a duty or activity that requires a set of tasks. The function of Office Reception includes tasks

or duties such as greeting customers, answering phones, directing calls, providing information, performing data entry, etc.

Skills are used to perform Tasks Tasks, in turn, perform a Function. Functions define a Job A job can be labeled or identified by a Job

Title

Leveraging for New Jobs Decide on a target job. If unsure what

jobs are suitable for you, take career interest and work importance assessments at: www.cacareerzone.org

Examine skills used in previous jobs and compare them to skills required for target job.

To find complete descriptions of jobs, duties and skills, a very helpful website is:www.online.onetcenter.org

Match Your Skills to Employers

Employers want their needs met Find employers that will hire your skills Use the employer locator feature on

www.acinet.org Go through job announcements for

matches Network through family and friends, etc. Develop a structured job search action plan

Your best bet: Find jobs that match You!

The Art of Leveraging

Each job has two basic elements:1. Job Title: This is a descriptive name

given to a set of specific tasks, duties, or essential functions

2. Field: This is a realm of specialized work or knowledge within a specific industry

When changing jobs, consider changing Job Title or Field but not both at once to maximize the effective leveraging of job specific and transferable skills

Skills Not Leveraged

Clerk Original Job

Retail

Target Job

Assembler

Manufacturing

Changing both job title and field can result in entry level pay at the target job. Try to avoid this.

Job Title

________Field

Job Title_____________

Field

Leveraging Job Title

Original Job

Clerk

Retail

Target Job Clerk

Medical

Keeping job title can result in transferring most skills and higher pay at the target job

Job Title____________

Field

________

Field

Job Title

Leveraging Field or Industry

Clerk

Original Job

Retail

Marketing

Target Job Retail

Transferring industry experience and knowledge helps job transition & leverages for higher pay(Source-Richard Nelson Bolles -What Color is Your Parachute?)

Job Title__________

Field

Job Title

__________

Field

Skills Identification List your previous Job Titles in reverse order

List all activities, tasks, duties & skills involved Previous job descriptions, O*NET Online or

personal recollection are all very helpful List the skills you most enjoyed using and

your level of expertise as well as those not enjoyed

Next, list jobs you would enjoy doing and compare the required skills using their job announcements with your preferred skills

Repeat the process for each job in which you are interested, then research the labor market for viability, outlook, pay, etc.

Leveraging Your Skills is Essential

More complex, job-specific skills usually place you in a higher step of the salary scale rather than entry-level pay

Complex skills require more initiative, creativity and problem solving abilities

Higher skills complexity usually means less competition and higher pay

it is imperative that you carefully evaluate how your best skills relate to your “target job” opportunities and that you effectively communicate this to prospective employers!

Accomplishments Accomplishments are powerful statements

that speak louder than skills or words alone Consider accomplishments you achieved in

each job or in each job duty, if possible Tell Employers:

How, when, and where you used skills relevant to the position at hand

How you excelled and saved the company time, resources, or money, or improved on services or operations, or increased revenues

How those skills and your initiative are valuable to his or her success

Highlight Your Accomplishments

The most relevant accomplishments are those from past employment activities directly related to the target job title

Job-related accomplishments that show what you can do are also effective

Use achievements in your personal life experience that show you are an “achiever”

Include accomplishments resulting from your own personal efforts as well as those achieved as part of a team. These can also showcase your teamwork abilities

Measure Your ResultsWhen stating an accomplishment, showing measureable outcomes adds power. For example:

Increased efficiency in operations by 10% saving thousands of dollars in production costs

Exceeded sales goal at an average of 25% per quarter and named salesman of the year in 2009

Named as “most friendly” Customer Service Representative based on independent customer satisfaction survey during last two quarters 2009

Using the STAR method can be highly effective

Leverage Résumés & Interviews

Customize each résumé and personal commercialQUALIFICATIONS – “I have…”

Experience / Job KnowledgeEducation / TrainingCredentials /Accomplishments

SKILLS – “I can…”Job Specific Skills / Transferable Skills

PERSONAL ASSETS – “I am…”Innate Skills / Self-Management SkillsWork Ethic / ValuesCharacteristics / Qualities

Closing Thoughts Confidence comes from knowing what

employers want and how you are uniquely qualified for the job

Take note of any new skills acquired and how to leveraged them with new job opportunities

Update and customize your résumés and personal commercials for each job to include new skills or accomplishments acquired

The right attitude can compel an employer deciding to hire and train you!

QUESTIONS?