‘Soft’ skills hard to master, easy to undervalue

Lives are not transformed with an equation, writes.

I recently conducted a series of job interviews, and the phrase “soft skills” appeared a number of times — occasionally from the candidates themselves, but mostly in written feedback from committee members.

One respondent noted: “I’m delighted that candidate X has clearly demonstrated soft skills. She appears able to listen to others, to communicate effectively.”

When I first read through the feedback, I accepted this without a second thought. After all, as a professor of English and as president of a liberal arts university, I frequently rely on such labels to define the importance of the work we do in the humanities.

“Hard skills” are often

described as job-related tasks: woodworking for a carpenter, coding for an IT professional.

Job ads for these hard skills are usually supplemented with a request for other skills that might improve an applicant’s desirability — the soft skills such as interpersonal abilities, communication skills, creative thinking and work ethic.

Liberal arts institutions often — indeed, almost always — make a point of celebrating these soft skills as a mark of distinction to prove the worth of their degrees, especially in an age that tends to diminish the importance of the arts. And I have been a part of the soft skills bandwagon, until now.

It occurred to me recently, in writing my speech for the recent St. Mary’s University convocation, that the very thought of labelling interpersonal or communication skills, creative thinking and an ability to collaborate with diverse groups — the very thought of labelling any of this as “soft” is misleading, if not condescendingly wrong.

There is nothing soft about listening well and bringing diverse viewpoints together. And there is definitely nothing soft about an ability to think creatively and outside the box by drawing on complex philosophies, theories, theologies and cross-cultural perspectives.

On the contrary, these are the hardest skills to master.

As I said to our graduates, you will never transform a child’s life in the classroom with an equation. You won’t create dialogue for divided

groups with a formula. You won’t solve crisis with a wall.

But a depth of understanding — the hard skills that a rigorous liberal arts education can provide — will equip you to make a difference. Indeed, it is only diplomacy and communication that connect a divided world, and we see all too often the result when these are lacking.

Eric Berridge, in a recent TED talk on why tech needs the humanities, puts it this way: “While sciences teach us how to build things, it is the humanities that teach us what to build, and why to build them. And they’re equally as important, equally as hard.”

So the next time someone uses the phrase soft skills, remember how very hard these are, and never let them be undervalued again.