Paradigm shift in youth development: Development of “soft skills” in adolescents

Abstract

In the manufacturing economy, young people are expected to learn “academic” or “technical” knowledge, which enables them to contribute to industrial production. Generally speaking, the term “hard skills” is used to describe knowledge that is “prescribed” in one's formal qualification. An example of hard skills is how one can produce a car through the assemble lines. However, with a shift from manufacturing economy to service economy, young people are expected to gain skills that are nontechnical and widely transferable to different settings, including work and non-work settings [1, 2]. Such skills are often termed “soft skills”, which are basically related to the qualities of an individual [3]. The term “soft skills” has been used interchangeably with other terms such as “generic skills”, “skills of employability”, or “people skills”. While some researchers regard “soft skills” as interpersonal skills or people skills that include communication, conflict resolution, and cross-cultural relationship skills, others have argued that “soft skills” go beyond interpersonal skills to include intrapersonal skills and personal qualities, such as personality, likeability and self-management skills, and virtues such as loyalty, honesty, integrity, and resilience [4, 5]. In short, soft skills include both intrapersonal and interpersonal relationship attributes.