Soft Skills for Success

There are two types of skills we all need to be successful in life: hard skills and soft skills. Most people understand the importance of hard skills like budgeting money, locating housing, or writing a resume, but soft skills are often overlooked.

Think of soft skills as those skills that we learn over time and use every day. These include:

• Navigation of interpersonal relationships
• Communication skills
• Social skills
• Problem-solving
• Decision-making
• Goal planning
• Stress management
• Anger management

Think for a moment about how often you use these skills. You will find that you use these skills in many different ways. At your job you may use many hard skills that are part of your work, but your ability to manage stress, problem-solve, and/or navigate relationships with co-workers may be the key to your success.

In the Professional Development Program (PDP) training, “Motivating and Engaging Youth”, participants complete an activity called the “Y” of Youth Services. In this activity participants explore “Hard Skills” and “Soft Skills” and identify how each skill can assist youth towards successfully transitioning into adulthood. Additionally, this training assists participants in understanding how youth may best learn these skills.

For more information and support about this topic, reach out to the Youth Engagement Specialist (YES) in your region and check out the PDP training “Motivating and Engaging Youth”.