May 9, 2023

Soft skills, people skills, human skills: whatever you call them, they’re essential to career success. Traits such as interpersonal communication, curiosity, ambition, reflection, critical thinking and collaboration are what employers are looking for when hiring their future leaders.  

That’s why Seneca Polytechnic is launching this initiative to prepare students with the transferable human skills to thrive in their current, or future, careers.

“Building these skills into our curriculum is the number one request we hear from industry and we're responding to ensure needs are met on both sides – for our graduates and the employers who will be hiring them,” said Marianne Marando, Vice-President Academic & Students. “While our programs include many of these skills already, this initiative will incorporate them in a holistic way right from day one. It will uniquely qualify our graduates to meet the needs of employers and contribute meaningfully to society.”

Chris McCracken, Dean, Faculty of Continuing Education, and project lead for the initiative, says human skills are always changing.

“The pandemic, to a certain extent, reshaped the definition of traditional ‘soft’ skills,” said Mr. McCracken. “For example, computer-mediated skills are rather new because of remote work. Many students entering the workforce may never work in an office environment.” 

This reality, he says, requires a new set of skills, such as the ability to communicate remotely, build virtual relationships and manage time effectively. In addition, the arrival of artificial intelligence in many workplaces means teamwork, empathy and creativity are more important than ever for students to learn as they work alongside machines.

“Students have to learn about the world around them so they can communicate and collaborate across different cultures and work environments,” said Mr. McCracken. “They also need to develop dynamic skills that can be cultivated and enhanced over a lifetime of learning and working.”

Seneca’s first phase of this human skills initiative was developed in partnership with Future Design School. Sandra Nagy, Managing Director, explains how cultivating, measuring and helping students narrate their own development of human skills requires meaningful self-reflection and feedback from faculty. 

“The Seneca professors involved have been incredible at embracing the unknown and diving in to try new approaches,” she said. “They are keen to learn from successes and listen to students about their needs and are always thinking about how to scale the learning across Seneca.”

Informed by interviews with alumni, professors, program coordinators, chairs, deans and industry partners, this new initiative is at the core of Seneca’s new Strategic Plan. The Next commits to an education without boundaries – one that delivers career- and work-ready graduates for the workplaces of today and tomorrow. 

“Traditionally, students laser focus on the outcome of what they learn and the grades they receive,” says Mary Pretotto, Professor, School of Marketing & Media. “By having them consciously consider the ‘how and why’ of the skills they’re developing, the long-term benefits of what they are being taught begins to resonate with them in a more concrete way.”

Stefen Hakim, a graduate of the Public Relations - Corporate Communications program, and now Communications Manager for SE Health, stresses the importance of leadership and management skills.

“Coming out of school, not everyone’s going to walk into a managerial role, but everyone has an opportunity to be in a leadership role,” Mr. Hakim said. “Leadership is found at all levels of seniority in an organization and in every department.”

Results of the initiative have shown that with the right kind of feedback and reflection, most students are motivated by practising their human skills and learning what they can do better and differently — studying to learn rather than just to ace a test. And with newfound confidence and mastery, they can effectively communicate to peers, professors and future employers, as they enter the workforce with polished human skills.

“Human skills have a fluidness that’s situational,” said Mr. Hakim. “The individuals, collective team, goals and tasks can all require different skills at any given time.”

Seneca Polytechnic will present the human skills initiative later this month at the Polytechnics Canada conference, held at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary. The initiative will be phased-in over the next year and will be in place for all students by fall 2025.