July 30, 2020
In our 18 years in business, I have experienced in my work & in my interaction with teens, they are more prepared with career or academic skills but no hire-ability skills. This is a priority problem that I see in many teens. The reality is: teens are raised to create a great transcript for their academics, even service and extracurriculars. Think about it, during this period of lockdown of educational institutions, what are your teenagers up to? You can get them learn basic work etiquette and the other soft skills that help them to:
- Build confidence
- Work in a group
- Lead and follow
- Show appropriate respect in various circumstances
- Network
10 necessary skills that every person needs.
- Non-verbal skills. When teens learn some basic skills for managing their body language, they will inspire confidence in themselves and others will have more confidence in them. It’s a pretty amazing thing to switch up the way you stand and your facial expression and see the change in the way others react to you.
- Communication skills. Teach teens: active listening (waiting for others to finish/not interrupting, repeating back what others have said when clarifying), speaking positively (avoiding gossip and complaining), giving and receiving compliments, assertiveness, using please and thank you.
- Self-awareness skills. Teens need to be in touch with their feelings, so feelings don’t manage them. The need to be non-judgmentally in touch with their own strengths and weaknesses.
- Other-awareness skills. Teens need to practice perspective-taking and reading other’s non-verbals. They need to practice the skill of respect (for other’s needs, personal space, feelings, safety).
- Motivational skills. At the root of motivation is values. Teens need to be clear on their values and know how they must accept or reject other’s values (family, friends, work, groups.
- Teamwork skills. Teens need to understand the importance of a group’s cause or project and how to respectfully pull their weight. They need to learn to give credit where credit is due.
- Leadership skills. All teens will be leaders somewhere, sometime.
- Creative thinking skills. Teens need to know that the ability to think creatively is one of the most hire-able qualities. Many teens think that they aren’t creative. However, if they are created in the image of God, who is a creator, they have creativity. What they need is to discover their creativity. They need to do some creative writing assignments, have a brainstorming session, do a progressive story.
- Problem solving/critical thinking skills. Teens need to be willing to work on a problem until it has a solution, to talk things out looking for solutions, not vindication. They need to be able to learn discernment of facts and truths.
- Trustworthiness skills. Teens need to be able to say, “I’m wrong”, to do what is asked and more, to honestly handle time and resources. They need to be able to understand confidentiality and the limits thereof. (This is important when dealing with fragile friends.
