Teach your students what 2,500 employers consider to be the 11 attributes employees must have for advancement.

This six-module unit will teach your students necessary job skills and that its not only what you do, but the way that you do it that count, especially with the two most important people in the workplace: the customer and the boss. In 1990, the Secretary of Labor appointed a commission to determine the job skills our young people need to succeed in the world of work. This commission was known as the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS). The commissions fundamental purpose was to encourage a high-performance economy characterized by high-skill, high-wage employment. Although the commission completed its work in 1992, its findings and recommendations continue to be a valuable source of information for individuals and organizations involved in education and workforce development.

In 1995, the New York Association of Employment and Training Professionals (NYATEP) conducted a survey (the New York Employer Survey of Workplace Skills) of over 2,500 employers throughout New York State to identify the workplace job skills and competencies that employees must either have prior to beginning employment, or will need to advance in their occupation. They found that there are eleven soft skills essential to success in the workplace: (1) Trustworthiness, (2) Cooperativeness, (3) Appearance, (4) Language, (5) Sociability, (6) Tolerance, (7) Self-Control, (8) Self-Esteem, (9) Focus, (10) Customer Friendliness and (11) Responsibility.