Lesson 3 Slides

Lesson 3 Slides

Soft Skills and Technical Skills

1. What are soft skills? What are technical (hard) skills? Brainstorm a list of each.

2. What soft skills are Canadian employers looking for?

3. Do you think the soft skills valued in Canadian workplaces are the same as the soft skills valued in workplaces in your home country?

Discuss this quote about why immigrants are perceived as having poor soft skills:

“Why do we have low soft skills?...Well, ...because soft skills are measured by cultural standards. Some immigrants have amazing soft skills by their own country’s standards. Some have average … and some have terrible soft skills by their own country’s standards... But, no matter where you were on the scale back home, you end up on the low end of the spectrum when you get to Canada.“That’s exactly what happened to me when I came [here]. When I was in France, I was considered as having high soft skills. However, as soon as I stepped in Canada, my soft skills went from high to low,” he says. “I didn’t change, but what changed were the criteria that the people around me were using to measure my soft skills.”

Thinking of the previous quotation, discuss these questions with your group.

• Have you had an experience in which your own soft skills were not effective in a different culture? Explain.
• What is a situation in which someone from another culture might experience trouble if they had to work in a culture you are familiar with?
• What have you done to learn soft skills in a new culture?• What would be some effective ways to learn soft skills?