How to Help High School Students Develop Soft Skills

June 29, 2022 byConnections Academy

High school online student on her laptop

Did you know that 92% of employers say that “soft skills” like critical thinking and time management are just as important to getting hired as technical job requirements, or “hard skills,” like knowing a computer programming language?

The job market is constantly changing and, with it, employer expectations are shifting as well. While a resume that cataloged relevant work experience may have done the job previously, these days employers are looking for more on a resume. As such, it is critical that schools bake soft skills for students into the curriculum through various soft-skills activities and teacher-led lessons. When a school prioritizes developing soft skills in students, it helps foster your child’s ability to adapt and change far into the future.

What Are Soft Skills vs. Hard Skills?

Whether your student has dreams of becoming a CEO or working in a technical field, both hard and soft skills are core capabilities looked for in every profession. But what is the difference between the two?

Hard Skills

Hard skills are the abilities you gain through schooling, degrees, certifications, and similar education-based trainings. These are often baseline requirements to get you in the door at a company but won’t necessarily land you the job. These skills range from mastering specific programs like Photoshop to emergency response protocol.

Soft Skills

Conversely, soft skills are the traits and attitudes that allow you to succeed in the workplace, college, and life. They are what enable you to work well with groups, solve problems, manage your time, and take personal responsibility for your work. In college, they’re the skills needed to stay on top of your studies and, in today’s competitive job market, they are the skills that can set someone apart from other candidates.

How to Teach Soft Skills

Developing soft skills for high school students early is important, especially with many employers struggling to find employees with the soft skills they need. From lesson-driven projects to a learning experience infused with social-emotional learning, finding a soft-skills curriculum for high school students is key to helping them build these critical capabilities.

Here are the top 10 most in-demand soft skills and how to develop them in students:

Time-Management: Empowering students to take ownership over their schedule can be a powerful thing. Allow your student to manage certain routines and set their schedule.
Communication Skills: To become an effective communicator, students must first become active listeners. When conversing with family, friends, or teachers, guide your child to listen carefully, paraphrasing their comments back to them, and asking questions to clarify their meaning or draw them further into the conversation.
Strong Work Ethic: For a student, the ability to make meaningful choices around curriculum and their schedule empowers them to really take ownership of the journey. By allowing your student to establish some independence and responsibility over their work, it can help them build a personal worth ethic that will carry them through college and career.
Resiliency: Students with a positive, flexible mindset thrive in an ever-changing world. A tough skill to master, learning to persevere can be built by encouraging children to develop the attitudes and habits of a lifelong learner, ready for whatever comes next.
Creativity: Allowing students to pursue their passions and interests helps unlock creativity, maximize engagement and reach their full learning potential. Encourage your child to find what excites them and explore school programs that helps them flex that muscle.
Problem-Solving: When students confront obstacles and solve their problems, it teaches them to apply their talents, knowledge, and skills to any situation. Help your child build confidence and meet life’s challenges head-on.
Team Player: The ability to work in a group and accomplish tasks will never cease to be an important skill. Support your child in exploring group activities like sports or online clubs, taking turns, and learning when and how to contribute.
Leadership: Leadership skills demonstrate a student’s ability to take initiative, manage difficult situations, and support others around them. Practice leadership skills at home by giving your child chores to manage around the house.
Interpersonal Skills: Students learn a great deal from their peers. When students build social-emotional skills through their learning experience, they learn how to work well with others, make friends, and thrive.
A Keen Eye for Detail: Building attention to detail is an important skill no employer will turn down. When students sharpen their eye for detail, they produce more thorough and accurate work. Encourage your child to review their work after completion or take time and revisit their work later to check for any errors or potential for improvement.

An online student researches soft skill activities for high school students.

Soft Skills Projects for Students

If you’re struggling to find ways to encourage developing soft skills at home, explore these learning activities and resources:

TED Talk Resources: In “5 Ways to Listen Better,” TED Talk speaker Julian Treasure refers to this technique with the acronym RASA: Receive, Appreciate, Summarize, and Ask. Not only does this practice make others feel heard, but it also improves your child’s ability to retain facts and their understanding of others’ viewpoints.
Develop a New Skill: Help your child identify a specific new skill to learn and the steps required to learn it. Whether they want to learn to play the guitar or master a programming language, teaching yourself new skills builds your confidence and the habits of independent learning.
Learn, Learn, Learn: Attend free public events at local colleges, museums, libraries, or music academies with your child. Be intentional in your child’s television viewing and web surfing, “curating” their content to expand their world view or dig deeper into subjects that interest them.
Volunteer in the Community: Help your child find volunteer opportunities to help others in the community and build a sense of leadership, purpose, and responsibility.
Join Clubs: By participating in challenging club activities or contests, students learn to work with others and build key interpersonal skills.

Building soft skills is an important part of life and learning these skills early can set students up to be successful and thrive in the future. Connections Academy® delivers a unique and personalized learning experience that supports each individual student in finding their passion for learning and preparing for whatever comes next after graduation.