Unless you attained a job directly through nepotism or networking, you usually have to provide a resume prior to even getting interviewed for a position. As a coordinator of a work readiness program, I often have participants who have never written a resume and some who have one they wrote a long time ago. But whether you're in a program, school, poor, or rich, in that resume, you'll usually have a skills section. What I usually find when it comes to preparing these resumes is the difference between hard skills (what you can use or do) and soft skills (qualities you provide as an employee) aren't clear to everyone. I think although they're both important, the latter needs to be emphasized differently.

In any work readiness program, a curriculum is usually developed to help participants assess themselves and get a gist of the work world. However, how they should perceive the relationship between their behavior during an interview or even in the workplace they are interning at isn't necessarily part of it. Most of it talks about how you should be on time, wear a suit and tie, look alive and write the right things. I think soft skills aren't something to be written down but expressed.

Hard skills are called as such for a reason; being able to use Excel, being bilingual or knowing multiple computer languages are things you can prove on the spot. It is concrete knowledge that's extremely helpful depending on what you're applying to. But with soft skills, anyone can write down that they're organized, a people person, or a good team player, with little way to prove it to an interviewer. I say this to note that it's easier said than done, but you have to develop these characteristics in workplaces to legitimately display them. Soft skills are just as essential as hard skills, but not on paper.

Obviously, schools don't directly teach this, but they provide a different realm for teens to develop such traits, which I think should be encouraged in these programs. Whether in school or trying to get back to it, you have to understand that being in school, just like work, has its benefits, and just like work, it requires you to act differently than you normally would at different times. The idea isn't about 'selling out' or not being yourself, but timing when to be what.

Being organized comes with realizing how important the things in front of you are and that it's better to keep it in a certain order so you get your job done more efficiently. Being a team player or having good communication comes with getting out of your comfort zone and speaking to those around you in a way that you can all work together to get things done the best way possible. Just telling someone to write it all down, or that it's what they should be is what makes these qualities "soft skills" to begin with, because there's no foundation to make it seem legitimate.

Plenty of programs like the Summer Youth Employment Program, Young Adult Internship Program, and the Opportunity for Youth Program need to develop stronger ways to present this to their participants because they help many attain jobs whilst in the program but not afterward. Having developed the characteristics jobs want from an employee is just as important as learning the skills they'd need you to be able to perform since one gives off the vibe of how well you can really do it. If I show you I have the attitude of a pro, you'll think I know what I say I do more so, than if I wrote it down and fail to back it up. A resume is your stat-sheet and the cover letter is the highlight package to get a job to gain interest in you. But once you have that interview, actions speak louder than words, and we have to show the youth that soft skills are indeed those actions.