Soft skills for the 21st century workforce
Keywords:
Soft skills, personal attributes, Requirement, working marketAbstract
Soft skills are personal attributes that make the difference between one professional and another, regardless of their disciplinary area. The key differentiator is that these competencies are not related to the work that is done, but to how it is worked. For this reason, they are not specific to a single job and leave the new workforce well prepared for a rapidly changing landscape, where adaptation to new environments is essential. For this reason, employers are currently looking for a workforce that has both soft and hard skills. In this context, this study seeks to identify the 10 most important soft skills for good performance in the Chilean labor market. The sample corresponds to 45 executives from medium and large companies. The information is collected through a Likert scale questionnaire, self-administered online. The results show that the industry places great value on effective communication, problem solving, critical thinking, teamwork, adaptability, creativity, coordination, time management, work ethic and negotiation (M = 4,080).
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