industry & reform
Softly , softly
Colleges and universities simply aren ’ t doing enough to prepare their students for the realities of the working world .
HR professionals push for greater emphasis on people skills in higher education .
By Wade Zaglas
When any government boasts about relatively low unemployment rates , the public knows that this can change very quickly and is underpinned by a range of economic assumptions .
And , as many Australian workers experienced in 2020-2021 , being ‘ employed ’ looks very different for a lot of people and underemployment is rife in some industries .
Given such challenges and vagaries in the workforce , logic dictates that our situation may improve if we listen to what the experts are saying .
US workplace skills provider Mursion decided to look at this issue in depth , conducting a dual survey of more than 400 recent college graduates and more than 425 HR professionals . The survey ’ s aim was to gauge the importance of people skills in workplaces , and explore “ how HR and emerging professionals want this gap to be improved ”.
The report , titled From Skill to Instinct : How Higher Education Can Bridge the Gap Between Classroom and Career , explains the mistruths that often relegate talented , job-ready people to the unemployment queue .
In a similar vein to the discourse in Australia that focuses on being ‘ jobready ’ with the ‘ right skills ’, the report
found that hard , technical skills picked up throughout academia “ may not be enough to stand out in a highly competitive job market ”.
“ In fact , the data revealed that 44 per cent of HR professionals would hire an applicant with superior people skills over an applicant with superior hard skills ,” the report said .
Further , the report questioned whether the steadily increasing prices of college degrees across the US lived up to the value they purported . As the report asserts : “ Students expect their investment in college to pay off in the form of meaningful employment .”
“ However , according to data released , both recent grads and HR managers believe that the absence of ‘ people skills ’ training in higher education indicates an opportunity for colleges and universities to partner with students and employers in closing a critical skills gap .”
KEY HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE DATA While the importance of so-called people skills in the workplace remains generally “ uncontested ”, the study found a high level of divergence regarding the extent to which people skills existed between parties .
Put simply : “ HR is looking for high levels of collaboration , while recent graduates are focused on individual skills .”
• 65 per cent of HR professionals believe teamwork and collaboration are the most foundational people skills – and 40 per cent believe these skills are the most lacking in new hires .
• Only 37 per cent of recent graduates believe they need to develop better teamwork skills , instead putting their focus on presenting ( 41 per cent ) and negotiation ( 40 per cent ). Another significant finding in the report is that the pandemic and remote work are contributing to this “ new skills gap ”:
• Before the pandemic , HR professionals rated the people skills of existing employees as average or below average – close to half ( 47 per cent ) believe that the pandemic has made these skills even worse .
• Recent graduates reported missing out on traditional in-person facilities or events that may have acted as a launching pad for their careers . “ It may seem natural to assume that recent college graduates and other emerging professionals will ultimately learn how to navigate challenging office personality types and advance their careers ,” said Mark Atkinson , CEO and co-founder of Mursion .
“ But we can ’ t afford to assume that all recent graduates are autodidacts when it comes to foundational human skills . To learn any new skill and make it instinctual , people need practice , guidance and reflection .
“ They need the opportunity to fail in a psychologically safe space so they can pinpoint their mistakes and try again until mastery is achieved .”
One idea is to specifically address people skills within the higher education sector .
“ The majority of HR professionals believe that under-developed people skills are due to a lack of practice . With an increasing number of applicants lacking social instincts , HR is passing the buck to higher education , saying colleges and universities simply aren ’ t doing enough to prepare their students for the realities of the working world , and that they ’ re focusing too much on implementing jobspecific ‘ hard skills .’” ■
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