Monday, January 4, 2016

Directors Spotlight Series

The Label Can be Confusing, But the Value is Not
by CRTC Director Steve Rothenberg

It’s a highly competitive workplace out there and being an expert in your field will only bring you so far. Employers and college admissions counselors today are increasingly targeting the soft skills that help people to communicate, collaborate and innovate more effectively.

So while your hard technical skills may get your foot in the door, it’s going to be the soft skills that will open doors for you as you forge ahead with your college and career plans. One of our advisory board members, career counselor Bill Ryan, wrote an excellent blog post about soft skills called, The Hard Truths About Soft Skills, and the CRTC has made the development of soft skills a major component of all its programs.

The CRTC embraced a full soft skill model seven years ago, and our key set of five soft skills counts for 40% off our student’s total grade. Our industry partners support this version wholeheartedly and continually help us to refine our soft skill rubric. In fact, one industry partner, Acura of Boston, currently uses our soft skills rubric as part of its employee performance assessment model.

While teaching soft skills such as professionalism, determination, work ethic and social development can be a challenge, the CRTC has created an environment that recognizes, discusses, and develops soft skills at every opportunity. Our goal is to prepare students for future success, and developing student soft skills are a major component of that objective.

After all, becoming an expert in your field will only take you so far down the road. Employers faced with the tough decisions about who to promote, or who to keep during a layoff, are more likely to choose the employee who shows up on time, communicates well, and demonstrates the willingness and ability to learn and lead.

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