Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success Office of Disability Employment Policy

What is Skills to Pay the Bills? Skills to Pay the Bills: Mastering Soft Skills for Workplace Success is a curriculum developed by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) Focused on teaching workforce readiness skills to youth, including youth with disabilities Created for youth development professionals to use when working with youth ages 14 to 21, in both in-school and out-of-school environments The tool consists of modular, hands-on, engaging activities that focus on six key skill areas

Our Soft Skills Communication Networking Enthusiasm and Attitude Teamwork Problem Solving and Critical Thinking Professionalism *Source: ODEP’s Essentials Skills to Getting a Job Fact Sheet– these skills were drawn from ODEP’s Employer Network and ETA SCANs research Give concrete examples for the following: Oral and Written communication: is comprised of listening, speaking, and writing skills. Listening involves the ability to articulate ideas clearly and effectively, as well to receive, respond to verbal messages and other cues; ability to obtain clarify and verify information through questioning. Communicating in the workplace is different than in and academic setting. In the workplace they may assume that if they need to know something, you will bring it to their attention. The challenge of communicating in the workplace is learning how and when to share your ideas or concerns. Working with other: involves building collaborative relationships; having good teamwork skills to contribute to groups with ideas, suggestions, and effort. Networking involves talking with friends, family members, and acquaintances about your employment goals, interests, and desires. Critical thinking: involves the ability to identify problems, consider and evaluate alternative solutions, weigh their risks and benefits, and reach decisions logically. Professionalism: demonstrate business etiquette and work ethic. Attributes such as personal accountability and responsibility and effective work habits (e.g., punctuality, dressing appropriately, working productively with others, time and workload management, willingness to learn new things, working hard to become excellent at performing tasks by setting high standards, etc.) are all important. Now what does this all mean? How do we develop these skills? As youth service professionals, administrators, policymakers, and funders we need to start by looking beyond the immediate situation - Youth first, Employment Second, setting high expectations and preparing youth to succeed in multiple contexts (education, work, community) 3

Universal Design Activities were created to be inclusive and support universal design for all youth Instructors should adapt activities to fit needs of their students Strategies include: using technology, opportunities for collaboration, learning through multiple modalities

What Employers Say Businesses across the nation have identified soft skills as crucial to the hiring and employment success of all workers According to recent surveys, nearly three-quarters of employers indicated high school graduates were deficient in such basic skills as punctuality, verbal communication and working productively with others Building off these results, ODEP sought to create an inclusive and dynamic curriculum to address these deficiencies

They did what??? 71 percent said answering a cell phone or texting during the interview 69 percent said dressing inappropriately 69 percent don't like it when an applicant appears bored 66 percent said appearing arrogant 63 percent would rather you didn't talk negatively about a current or previous employer 59 percent said chewing gum 6

Communication Many forms including verbal, written, and visual Important to develop skills for both communicating TO others, and learning how to receive info FROM others Employers routinely list communication skills as top-rated “must have” skill Focus areas include information transfer and recognition

Enthusiasm and Attitude “I can” attitude is critical component of workplace success Smiling, punctuality, and desire to learn are traits of a positive attitude Positive attitude can mean the difference between getting hired and fired Focus areas include positive thinking and enthusiasm during interviews

Teamwork Each individual plays a role in team success Cooperation, responsibility, communication are key cogs in an effective team Employers value team players Focus areas include positive teamwork behavior and understanding roles

Networking “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” Essential strategy for career development and exploration Networking is key to unlocking “hidden job market” Focus areas include taking initiative and overcoming fear

Problem Solving and Critical Thinking The ability to use knowledge, facts and data to solve problems Process is as important as final answer Employers value ability to develop solution Focus areas include ethical decision-making and problem solving in a team setting

Professionalism Professionalism is a key to success, regardless of industry Employers value those who carry out duties in professional manner Quality work, honesty and integrity are key facets of the “total package” Focus areas include molding soft skills together

In Their Own Words “It was an experience going beyond my wildest dreams” - Brandon Pursley (student) “I can’t think of just one thing that we did because I enjoyed everything” - LaShondra Neely (student) “The Soft Skills activities are fabulous. They cover the five areas that are desperately needed in today’s workforce” - Virginia Dever (facilitator)

Thank You! If you have questions or comments, please contact: Jennifer Kemp - kemp.jennifer@dol.gov Michael Huberman - huberman.michael@dol.gov To download in English or Spanish, please go to: www.dol.gov/odep/topics/youth/softskills Tell us how you use the curriculum at softskills@dol.gov