The Hard Truth About Soft Skills

Abstract

This article provides value to hiring managers and academics by positing a conceptual model that could potentially revitalize the methods employed to train, coach, interview and hire new college graduates. The model shows that success (measured as employee productivity) is the summation of education (hard skills) plus experience (time in one’s domain) plus soft skills. Each of the variables (employee productivity, education, experience and soft skills) is moderated by cost and organizational culture. Further, the author argues that these soft skills are the preeminent factor among the 3 independent elements for new employee success. It turns conventional wisdom on its head by declaring that it is soft skills development that is the single most important predictor of a new employee’s success in a world obsessed by hard skills.