Reboot training Date and Time Module 0 Introduction
Reboot training Date and Time Module 0 – Introduction to Soft Skills Name of the presenter, Name of the organisation
Soft skills are where the human being is
Agenda of the Session • • • Introduction Reflection on Self-test 1 What are soft skills and why are they important How soft skills manifest in work life; and Soft skills helping to find employment How to detect soft skills Break How to develop soft skills in general and at work How can soft skills be proved Exercises of the module Presentation of MODULE 1: About Me: How I Work Conclusions and end of the session
Reflection on the Self-Test 1 • How it felt? • What was difficult and what was easy? • Did you learn something new about yourselves? • Was something empowering? • Did the test confirm something to you? • Did the test change your perspective to soft skills and to training? • Which skills do you want to develop? • How do you feel about soft skills?
Module 0 Introduction to Soft Skills • With open education resources and the self-test, have your idea about soft skills changed? • Have you applied them without realising? Where and how? • How could you benefit from them? • Other thoughts?
What are Soft Skills Definition of soft skills: Soft skills are a set of attitudes, thinking patterns, interpersonal skills, character traits, skills and knowledge that develop through experience, including for instance cultural awareness, teamwork, problem-solving, creativity, critical thinking and leadership. They can be similar to emotions. As sector-agnostic, they are needed in every sector, profession and area of life. Soft skills are usually considered opposite to hard skills. Hard skills are sector-related and specific, learnt in educational institutions and easily measurable. Whereas, soft skills are much harder to measure and learn, at least in a traditional education. Soft skills evaluation is also more challenging as they are individual traits related the social and emotional side of a human being.
Why are Soft Skills Important? • Soft skills are required in work life, even opposing soft skills • E. g. Planning, time management and creativity, but also people- and user-orientation with understanding of profitability, or sophistication and breaking rules in the fashion • Soft skills help to deliver the work and tis content, the substance and hard skills. • For instance, an engineer needs problem solving skills to deliver the work • For instance, a psychologist also needs people skills besides theory. • Soft skills are sector agnostic and they are needed in every sector. • Soft skills make an employee more adaptable and flexible for an employer and hence more valuable, but they also protect an employee in a constantly changing work life. • Soft skills help in adapting to changes in the society. • They help to transfer between jobs and positions as one brings them to the new occupation or position.
How Soft Skills Manifest in Work Life Examples: 1. An employee with good time management skills knows how to prioritise tasks to meet deadlines. 2. For a junior position, it is normal that employers look for candidates with a “willingness to learn” and an “adaptive personality”, as opposed to hiring an expert. 3. When two candidates have a similar academic and professional background, the one who’s more collaborative and flexible is more likely to be hired. What kind of examples you have?
How Soft Skills Manifest in Work Life Workshop/ brainstorming on good and bad soft skills manifestation and the impact. 1. Select soft skills, e. g. 3 -5 1. 2. Self-awareness, Understanding change, Openness, Resilience, Adaptability, Selfefficacy, Motivation, Curiosity Teamwork, Interpersonal skills, Tolerance and culture, Negotiating skills, Networking, Mobilising others, Interdisciplinary skills. Taking initiative, Creativity (spotting opportunities), Learning from experience, Planning, Time management, Change management, Problem solving 2. List for each selected skill how these manifest in work life: 1. In a good way 2. In a bad way 3. Write consequences for both. 4. Look at the results and discuss about them. X
How Soft Skills Can Help to Find Employment • Soft skills help you in the process of applying for a job, for example: • resilience to stay focus and keep continue. • Creativity to spot opportunities. • Communication skills in job application and interview situations. • What else comes to your mind? • Employers choose the ones whose resume matches the specific professional skill set they need it is important to understand own soft skills and showcase them • Study which soft skills company and the job position require, and which could be helpful and highlight those. Include them in your application. • The skills required for a particular job are known as job-specific skills.
How to Detect Soft Skills? • A good starting point: • We all apply them on daily basis and in all our activities • We can detect them from everything what we do, from work to where we have lived. Two avenues to detect soft skills: 1) Self-reflection: use past situations, experiences and narrations to identify soft skills 2) Others’ reflection on your skills: ask family, friends, colleagues, and even former employers which soft skills come to their mind when they think of you.
Methods to Detect Soft Skills • • Stories Self-narration Discussion with peers Let the others tell you (feedback from others) Participate in activities Keep journal of events and analyse your soft skills from them Observation and reflection You can use these also for detecting personality traits, passions, and experiences
Example Areas to Detect Soft Skills • Mapping your own history, events and experiences in life, both good and bad. • Hobbies and interests tell what you like and can do. • Positions etc. for example, a responsible role in the student union. • Feedback from others, feedback from assignments, co-workers… • Previous and current work experiences • Emotions, reactions and personality can tell a lot about you. • Learning from others. • Family and skills passing from the family. • Finding the plot, the common factor underneath your skill character. • Work situation analysis: Mind map and categorise situations at work • What else comes to your mind?
Workshop: What Soft Skills Could the Characters Have? Identify soft skills and experiences to the following characters and turn them into opportunities: • Young graduates. Use all opportunities to get more experience in your field, for instance, volunteering, hobbies, practical training… • Unemployed graduates with a long experience and who are over 45 -year old. They have plenty of work outcomes and situations to showcase. • People from certain sectors with precarious employment. Could multiple jobs turn into opportunities? What is common in them? What different tasks? Do they cover different areas of own field? • Underemployed. What soft skills and sector-related skills have been applied in the underemployed position? Can the current position bring something to own sector? • Returners, for instance women who return from the maternity leave, long-term unemployed. Can your experience give you competitive advantage? How to demonstrate that you are up-to-date with your sector? • Migrants. Living between two different cultures opens up new viewpoints and skills. • Career changers. Which skills can eb transferred to the new sector?
Lifeline Exercise for Soft Skills Identify high and low points of your life or otherwise meaningful experiences, and think what kind soft skills those provided to you. Write the event, explain it and mind map soft skills gained for it. Your template for the lifeline should look like this:
Break
How to Develop Soft Skills? Soft skills develop and improve throughout life. • The starting point is to recognise them and own level of them, what to develop, which one is good at. • Different emphasis of skills from different backgrounds • Unexpected and ‘silly’ hobbies and skills, e. g. video making a virtual psychotherapist
How to Develop Soft Skills? • In order to develop them further: • Get into situations where you will have to use those skills. • Develop soft skills in hobbies and other free time activities. • Study how soft skills can be developed. • Get out from your comfort zone, take action and risk. • Practice with a friend the soft skill, for example negotiation, you want to improve. You can practise by roleplaying. Give also feedback. • Participate in a course, for instance, the Reboot online training. • Get a coach who can help you develop soft skills effectively.
How to Develop Soft Skills? Develp soft skills at work: • Ask for feedback and mentor new staff. • Grasp new opportunities to learn new skills. • Keep studying to become an expert in your field. • Network inside and outside your organisation. • Observe and learn from your peers. • Willingness to keep learning not only develops ourselves but also enriches our working environment.
How to Develop Soft Skills? Exercise How could the characters of the previous exercise develop their soft skills: • Young graduates • Unemployed graduates with a long experience and who are over 45 year old • People from certain sectors with precarious employment • Underemployed • Returners, for instance women who return from the maternity leave, long-term unemployed • Migrants • Career changers
Develop Your Soft Skills Further With the Reboot soft skill unit modules: • Module 1 – About me +LINK • Module 2 – Context: How We Work +LINK • Module 3 – Into Action: Get to Work +LINK
How Can Soft Skills be Proved? Soft skills need to be proved so that the potential employers can identify them. As words may not be enough: 1. How would you prove your soft skills? 2. How would you be able t identify other person’s soft skills?
How Can Soft Skills be Proved? Ways to prove soft skills: 1. Demonstration and illustration with examples and cases, work, studies, life and extra-curricular activities, situations and networks using for example a portfolio. 2. Recommendations and references from previous employers, peer reviews and feedback, internship, and by providing feedback of individual roles and skills in practice. 3. Through performance, attitude, enthusiasm and behavior in different settings, including job interviews and work. What else comes to your minds?
How Can Soft Skills be Proved? How could our characters prove their soft skills? Generate c. 3 -5 ideas for each. • Young graduates • Unemployed graduates with a long experience and who are over 45 year old • People from certain sectors with precarious employment • Underemployed • Returners, for instance women who return from the maternity leave, long-term unemployed • Migrants • Career changers
Exercises of the Module 0 – Introduction to Soft skills Link to the training platform: http: //reboot-project. eu/ • How can you use the session discussions to go through the exercises?
Presenting Module 1 About Me: How I Work Module 1 – About me: How I Work focuses on enhancing eight person-specific soft skills which can be beneficial for succeeding in the workplace. Self-awareness, Understanding change, Openness, Resilience, Adaptability, Selfefficacy, Motivation, Curiosity Have you applied these skills? How could you apply these skills?
Conclusions and Homework • Reflections about today’s session? • Did you gain new insights and ideas? What did you learn? • What did you understand of your soft skills? • Any other thoughts? • Homework • 2 exercises of soft skills introduction module • Theory and OER of the Module 1 – About Me How I work • Continue writing the learning journal • TAny findings related to soft skills and what you think of them. • What was easy, what was difficult? • Observations of others and soft skills, and any other findings.
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