Soft skills do not change as fast as technical skills. However, there is a major soft skills deficit in our region.

By Martín Padulla for staffingamericalatina

The Latin American middle class, stronger and more consolidated in some countries than in others, traditionally used education as the basis of its identity. Children’s access to education and the efforts they made used to be enough to ensure a good performance in the labour market. This dynamic used to generate ascending social mobility.

Technical knowledge has changed, and shall keep on evolving with the speed that technology has provided to productive processes and services development. Transformations in society and labour markets have leaded to the demand of another kind of skills or capacities which are not acquired in formal education.

This profound change has cast doubts on the paradigm that used to link education and progress. With the transformations experienced, those who graduated from formal education did not have the skills required and the dynamic was no longer a guarantee of social mobility.

An accurate analysis that validates the paradigm includes a question about the kind of education that is connected to progress. The key seems to be analysing the skills assimilated through the training process. Or in wondering when does this process end, and what is the role that every citizen plays. Are they passive or active students/learners?

The current situation shows a common denominator in every country of our region: there is a soft skills’ deficit. These skills are associated to a worker’s capacity of relating with others, of communicating, having an influence, sharing information, listening, generating empathy, toleration towards frustration, team working, motivation, and leadership skills, among others.

Interpersonal skills do not change as vertiginously as technical skills do. However, candidates find them rather difficult to learn and companies have trouble finding them in potential candidates.

Years ago, access to formal education used to assure professional development. Nowadays, a person will face serious difficulties in having a great professional development unless he/she handles soft skills. These abilities make a person resilient before change, enable him/her to efficiently face uncertainty and find solutions to new problems.

Why are these skills so hard to acquire? There are at least two possible explanations: on the one hand, formal education does not focus on these skills. On the other hand, citizens tend to underestimate their importance.

In the business world, several voices state that soft skills determine technical knowledge. The reason is that, in the current context, information is not as important as what can be done with it. And it is right there where a competitive advantage can be found.

There is a common idea that these skills are only relevant for positions that demand direct contact with people. Therefore, customer care, sales or general services positions demand these skills, even for jobs with low levels of complexity. Nevertheless, in technical jobs, where interpersonal contact is less frequent and hard skills are determinant, soft skills gain a strategic value for career development and due to the possibility of managing complex situations in higher level jobs.

Now, the interesting fact is that these skills can be acquired, trained and improved.

As in many other areas, the secret seems to be in achieving balance: updated technical skills based on demand and solid training in soft skills.

Workers who aim to plan their career development must know that they will need to acquire the capacity of facing the unexpected, manage emotions, listening, speaking, and pursue entrepreneurship (either inside an existing company –intrapreneurship- or by creating a new one –entrepreneurship-). Unlearning stuck concepts and habits and training empathy, listening capacity, tolerance to diversity, effective communication, creativity, interpersonal intelligence and decision making are key actions to undertake.

We are all social beings, but not all of us interact the same way nor contribute with similar intensity in the organizational area or in the market.

Every action that promotes relations and communication in the real world (non-virtual) is a great training field for millennials to learn these skills.

Latin America has huge potential but, in order to make the most of it, our active population must gain self-awareness, knowing their strengths and weaknesses regarding the labour market, in order to enhance those strengths and neutralize weaknesses. It is vital to inform the importance of lifelong learning, of communicating more and better. Being flexible, adapting to change, making decisions and efficiently managing time are strategic skills that are valued by every organization and every citizen must know this. Finally, proactivity, networking, knowing the digital world and team working can contribute to social and economic progress in our region.

We need to re-think and adapt our content. We must renew and innovate in technical training including learning and training of soft skills. Strengthening the strategic partnership between labour and education to be more competitive is key.

Undoubtedly a possible and challenging path to walk.

About Martin Padulla

Founder and Managing Director of staffingamericalatina. Martin Padulla is Sociologist (USAL), MBA (UCA) and labour markets expert. He published “Flexible Work in South America” and “Regulatory framework for private employment agencies in Latin America” two books about the new realities of work in Latin America.

@MartinPadulla

mpadulla@staffingamericalatina.com

About staffingamericalatina

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