Helping Adults Gain Complementary Skills

Personal and Social Skills and Interactions

"It's more important to be a "people person"…. People skills are more important than technical skills, because even in technical jobs, you have to work with someone."           Adapted from The Career Advisor,          William S. Frank

In today's workplace, employers are looking for more than just someone who can "do" the task.  They are looking for employees who can be a part of the team. The National Skill Standards Board (NSSB) has been working with employers across the country to identify the skills that employees need to be successful on the job.  What keeps coming back over and over again is what is normally called Workplace Readiness Skills.

The Workplace Readiness Skills that have been identified by the NSSB include:

• Pre-employment - career development skills, such as writing resumes and cover letters, completing applications and job interviewing
• Work maturity - skills that include punctuality, regular work attendance, work habits/attitudes/behaviors, personal appearance, interpersonal skills and the ability to complete tasks
• Employability - skills that include listening, speaking, using basic computer tools, problem solving, organizing and planning and working as part of team
• Academic - basic skills in reading, writing and mathematics
• Occupational/Technical - skills that include customer service, telephone etiquette and basic safety procedures

As a VPI instructor, you will need to help your students gain skills in all of these areas.  In this section you will focus on two of these areas:

• Work maturity
• Employability