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Hard skills make the difference in employment
Editorial by Christian Saint Cyr
National Director / Canadian Job Development Network
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Recently Statistics Canada released a survey titled, 'Analysis on Employee Skills Gaps,' exploring the challenges employers face in recruiting the workers they need.
Immediately, I saw this is an opportunity to better understand what employers are looking for but was startled to read that the number one skills gap is in workplace-based skills. In fact, the desire for skills to do the job was noted three times more often than any other single category.
Here's how it breaks down for skills that would have the most positive impact:
- Technical, practical or job specific, 30.7%
- Customer service, 10.2%
- Critical thinking, 9.6%
- Problem solving, 9.6%
- Team working, 6.0%
- Basic computer and digital skills, 5.4%
- Management skills, 5.1%
- Oral and written communication, 4.3%
- Basic math and calculating, 1.1%
- Work ethic, 0.8%
- Reading comprehension, 0.5%
In fact, as I review this list, I see that critical thinking (9.6%); problem solving (9.6%); team work (6.0%); work ethic (0.8%) were the only categories that could be defined as 'soft skills', or barely a quarter of responses. In most cases, employers are looking for 'hard skills' or technical skills based on experience and training that qualify the person to do the job today.
As I read the report, I thought to myself, employers are showing a preference for hard skills. Soft skills are still important but there's still a preference for hard skills.
It occurred to me that sounded really familiar but I wasn't sure from where.
Then I remembered a Bank of Montreal study from years ago where employers noted their number one factor for hiring candidates was personal fit. They wanted someone they liked and would be a good fit for their customers and colleagues.
This is like soft skills. The idea that the whole of who someone is is far more important than their technical skills.
But here's the problem. No one ever selects who to interview based on soft skills. They select candidates for an interview based on their collection of experience, qualifications, education and technical skills.
I would say, yes -- employers definitely hire based on personal fit. It's just not based on everyone who applied for the job but instead, the handful of people they interview.
So, how is this like the dichotomy between soft and hard skills? Employers will tell you they hire for personality, but they interview for consistent work experience. Employers will tell you they hire for soft skills, but they clearly hire for hard skills.
How many times have you been told I was someone who's ready to go on day one? How many times have you been told they want someone with Canadian experience? Whether you experience is Canadian or not, it shouldn't really matter if you're a hard worker, a creative problem solver or a team player.
Reading this I was both surprised and it completely validated what I've been thinking about employers all along.
What I wonder is, why does the entire career development sector make such a big deal about soft skills, or transferable skills, or essential skills, or life skills?
I believe, in life, when you're trying to convince someone of something and you have good deeds and good intentions, you sell yourself on good deeds.
If you don't have good deeds, you sell yourself based on good intentions: "I'll work hard. I'll learn. I'll really impress you."
We do this in work, in school, in relationships -- we want to demonstrate we're capable so we use examples of past experience.
What is the maxim we're all familiar with? What speaks louder than words? Actions! Actions speak louder than words. Put another way, "what have you done for me lately?"
Even Stephen Covey wrote in his pivotal 7 Habits book stating, "you're actions speak so loudly I can't hear your words."
Whether the actions are based on training, education or past work experience, this is what employers are using to decide who to hire.
In the career development sector, we often don't have good deeds -- or more specifically, relevant experience; related education and training; or consistent work experience. In the absence of this we're trying to sell people based on good intentions or more appropriately to this conversation, based on soft skills.
To use an extreme example, you wouldn't want to hire a brain surgeon who'd never performed brain surgery before, but he has a really good attitude, he's going to try really hard and he'll definitely learn as he goes along. You're going to want the best brain surgeon available and frankly, employers want to hire the best candidate in any situation.
It's not to say that soft skills don't matter, they just can't be our primary pitch. Here's a rule: everyone we pitch to an employer should be capable of doing the job. Maybe they're not going to be the best and maybe they have a lot of learning to do, but they can do the job.
If we're pitching people we know can't do the job, we're doing a tremendous disservice to the employer, your client and yourself.
Maybe you don't know if they can do the job, but that is very different than you know they can't do it.
If we know they can do the job, we sell them based on what they can do. They're familiar with Microsoft Office; they've done social media scheduling through Hootsuite; or they've worked with both arc and oxyacetylene welding.
Employers have been telling us for years that they want people ready on day-one. If we're telling them what a great addition to the team they're going to be and ignore the technical components of the job, we are unconsciously telling employers they're not ready.
You may be a little concerned your client isn't ready for day one and that is perfectly acceptable. We don't want to place them in the worksite. We want to get them an interview. Talking work skills is how we capture an employer's interest and then it's our clients opportunity to sell themselves in the interview.
Why is this important? Because, according to the Bank of Montreal, most employers will hire based on personal fit. If we can't get our clients to an interview, those soft skills won't ever come into play.
I believe there are a few lessons to take from this research. Any opportunity a client has to take skills training, they should.
A good friend of mine works as a painter in the film industry. He said to me once that he's gotten so much work in his career because he has First Aid and they need to have someone on set that has First Aid. He's never needed to apply anything more than a Band Aid, but it's always gotten him work.
Whether it's short-term training, a certificate, diploma or degree, increasingly employers are looking for people who are ready to work.
It's not a perfect system and you might get feedback about not valuing training but I believe training is a better alterative than pitching a resume without anything.
Speaking of resumes, soft skills on resumes have their place but the more prominent they are, the more noticeable the lack of hard skills are.
Have you clients sift through job postings, job descriptions, resume examples and skills profiles to include as many hard skills as possible. If people are proficient, experienced or skilled in a particular area, that's terrific, but it can still garner an employer's interest in saying a candidate is familiar with, has been exposed to or has some experience with a particular skill or task.
So often, job seekers are downplaying their skills and abilities and whether in a job interview or in a resume, candidates need to make the most of what they can bring an employer.
It's frustrating that employers place such a high priority on hard skills, as well as experience, education and other qualifications. This said, if we can get our candidates past those expectations, they can be judged based on their soft skills and what they can contribute.
We can look at a study such as this and be frustrated but it's also helpful to understand this is how employers really think and make decisions. This allows us to speak to what they value, make the best case possible and let candidates demonstrate their abilities when they get the opportunity for that face-to-face connection.
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We’ll be discussing the skills employers most value at our #MotivatingMondays meeting of the Canadian Job Development Network, Monday April 20th at 8:30am Pacific; 9:30am Mountain; 10:30am Central; 11:30am Eastern; 12:30pm Atlantic and at 1pm in Newfoundland.
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On the morning of Monday April 20th 'Click this Link' to join the session.
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JUST TWO WEEKS LEFT
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Canadian Labour Market Reports
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To learn more, email Christian Saint Cyr, at: csaintcyr@labourmarketonline.com
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