DATA, conteXTUALIZED Soft Skills Sought After by Employers
In a recent LinkedIn survey of employer’s most sought-after soft skills in 2018, “57% of leaders say soft skills are more important than hard skills”. Globalization and innovation have drastically increased the need for cross-functional, diverse teams in tech, which are exactly the types of roles that require individuals with non-traditional business backgrounds and education: queue the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by 2022, 1 million more Americans will enter the workforce as educators and another 1.1 million newcomers will earn a living in sales. Each wave of tech will create fresh demand for trainers, coaches, managers, and salespeople. By contrast, software engineers’ ranks will grow by 279,500 or barely 3% of overall job growth. According to Michael Chiu, a partner at McKin- sey Global Institute, “narrowly defined technical roles will not be the answer for long-term employment growth” (Forbes). If you add up the jobs held by people who majored in psychology, history, English and the like, they quickly surpass the totals for engineering and computer science.
The World’s Top Economists just Made the Case for Why We Still Need English Majors
Quote from “We Need More Arts & Humanities in Tech” by Jonas Taylor The Startup Jan. 1st, 2019
The Washington Post , On Oct. 19th, 2019, by Heather Long
"This insightful article discusses the role of storytelling in Economics. It argues that narrative drives our beliefs and the science behind economic outcomes in public life. For instance: Philip Lowe, head of Australia’s central bank, urged his colleagues to spend a little less time on numbers and more time on being good storytellers. One economist pointed out that Jamaica’s central bank is employing reggae artists to explain that ‘high inflation is a wicked ting.’ The Federal Reserve doesn’t have anything quite like that, but it is searching for a senior speechwriter who can help top central bank officials speak ‘to a wide variety of audiences. Stefan Ingves, the governor of Sweden’s central bank said: “I am expected to be, and I am, a storyteller. I tell stories about the future. We human beings simply love stories about the future. That’s part of my job."
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Arts & Humanities
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