Why does every job require PEOPLE SKILLS?

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Well it requires people skills because you need to learn how to communicate and get along with others in order to get your job done, in order to get your results at the end.

I hate to say it, but the only reason a job position is a job is because someone is willing to pay for what you do. Every job requires people skills because you need to ask them for their money. I learned that the hard way. Now that I have accepted it, life is much better for me.

Hello,

Penny07960, Fnord and d00d, you're definitely right that more and more jobs are being automated (and/or outsourced).

Penelope Trunk, a well-known career blogger, has pointed out that technical skills are never enough. Increasingly, employers are realizing that problems that can be solved from across the hall...can instead be solved from across town, across the country - or across the Pacific Ocean.

Wrt government jobs and people skills, it's a bit like college-level teaching. For one thing, many institutions emphasize customer service, so you need to please the people who "sign" your employer's paycheck and hence ultimately yours. You may eventually get protection against dismissal even if you tick off some customers, but it can take a year or two or even longer...long enough to weed out socially-challenged people.

For another thing, even with job protection/tenure you still have to get along well with your colleagues and bosses. In fact, in large bureaucratic organizations your social skills (may) need to be greater since you have to work with a wide variety of people on short notice, work collegially to get anything done (there are few segmented tasks you can do alone) and/or work under people with arbitrary authority and enough political skills to make your life miserable without your being able to prove a thing.

For example, if you're in the military you're expected to be an interchangeable member of a vast organization. You can be required, on short notice or no notice at all, to work and live in close quarters with people you don't know from Adam, under conditions of minimal privacy.

GenesisFan75, I'm sorry your selling auto insurance didn't work out.

Keep in mind that one of the most important reasons people skills are important is precisely so you can charge higher prices and earn more. As a former salesman - and current entrepreneur - I can tell you that customers are willing to pay quite a bit more to deal with people they like and identify with.

I've commented elsewhere on social skills and employment.

What do you think?

My current job seems easy. I am just a freelancer often hired by an outsourcing company, all online, you would think it does not require people skills, right?

However, I had basically to befriend the person that assigns the jobs that you will get. Else I would not be getting them frequently enough. In fact, even being able to get the possibility to be in the group of people that can be offered these groups required some skills. The ability to insist to be chosen for the next project without sounding pushy or annoying... it is HARD... Basically, I don't think you'll ever be able to get a pay without dealing with people, of course that sucks, but that happens to be just one of the very things that suck about working...

If you manage to become your own boss by some incredibly hit of luck, you will eventually need to hire someone that you will have to delegate stuff to. Even if (s)he was your sibling, you will have to use some people skills.

Of course, the good news is that some jobs require less people skills than other. If I didn't have an online job I would be death by now :/

The fastest growing economic sectors are the service and medical industries. Both require working with fellow employees and interacting with customers. This is, by the way, why being an aspie is considered a disability. A lack of these skills can be crippling from a professional perspective.

it really didn't used to be this way so much...it's only in about the last 20 years that the work force has shifted so much to customer service. It's a vexation, to be sure.

F-16, If you into any medical setting beware! I got an IT certificate from a local college and thought I would have a dream job. Well, as it turns out when you enter the entry level position you're either right in the middle of a mess or, the poeple there will leave you be to your work. I've had both and am re-thinking my career path.
If I had to do it all over again, I should of kept my CDL. I think driving is going to be the last career with minimum communication. IMOP

JC.

I have more problems answering the interview questions "Are you able to work
under pressure?" and " do you have good organisation skills?"
Most jobs require these and I can see why they would be important
but I have always had difficulties trying to convince people I am
good at something that I know very well that I am not, and I know I am
not very good at working under pressure because I am slow and if I have
to juggle too many tasks at once, especially under time pressure I get
even worse. If a particular skill/s is very important and I can actually manage
to convince them in the interview that I can do it, then once I am on the job if I have
continued difficulty with it, then I am still likey be be let go. I had troubles
keeping jobs due to this in the past.

The thing is you dont always know beforehand if the skills they are asking about
are vitally important to the job or if it is possible to get away without being
really great in it. Eg if you are able to get away with letting other people do these
partular tasks most of the time or they are willing to give you alot of help. THis
depends both on the type of job and nature of people you are working with. Some
people are lot more laid back and patient than others.

Maren

I am slow too, in my field (web development) they don't like it and generally let me go so i lose my self esteem, i don't mind working with people but it takes me time to integrate and talk into a crowd although i do try, i have often been labelled as strange, in fact i find i do better when i am in educational institutions or large companies but I am looking to switch field as its too boring now, i was unemployed for 6 months and it nearlly killed me i like being around people so i hate this recession as i have been out of jobs so many times, im actually going to a librarian interview tomorrow although somewhat lower than what i can do as i have a university degree and have a good IT background. I read somewhere you need a mentor if your an ASPIE in regards to what you like to do as a job and need to do the right degree.

If i get it then ill probably try and study at the uni so im hoping I actually worked in a college for a contract and I found it brilliant, it brought me out of myself, i was there for 3 months nearlly and within less than a month i was talking whereas other jobs it takes me time to warm upto the environment.

I don't like being like this as because I am dependant on people to do well in life and some people in do this world only do things for themselves. When I was young I never thought about it however thought would it affect me when I am older like my other problems (epilepsy and asthma) in fact it has proven more difficult than either of them.

We seem to have a lot in common, I too dont mind working with people and I find that I even need a certain amount of people contact in a job, although I prefer it to be other work colleagues, not customers, although a small amount of customer contact is ok. It is not so much my teamwork skills which are bad, but my communication skills in general. Basically I like being around people, I am just no good at it. I am also no good in groups. Most of the time in a team I just stand back quietly and let the other people figure out what is going to be done and how and then do what they want me to do.I know that is not exactly what they mean by teamwork but it seems to work for me.

I also have a university degree (in science) and am now about to start studying Library Studies. I have previously applied for library jobs and traineeships but have not been accepted.

In general I am better at study than I am at finding and keeping jobs. At study you know what is expected of you and you have more time to get your head around the information before doing an assignment or writting a report. Its not like you have to think on your feet as much and respond instantly. ALso at my university it was quite easy to organise extensions and the lecturers were frequently willing be flexible when it comes to handing things in. One of my lecturers let me hand in half of my practical reports late. I ended up emailing them to him after I went home during my holidays at the end of the year. At my university as long as a lecturer sees that you were trying and that you've made a start on something they would give you an extension.

Good luck with the librarian interview.

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All jobs require people skills because in all jobs you have to deal with people, whether that be the public, or other co-workers.

The crap jobs require them more as you have to deal with customers which no-one wants to do. Your best bet is to train yourself in a job where you won't have to as much, and only deal with co-workers.

They say jobs require people skills, but take that with a grain of salt granted the huge number of people out there with none whatsoever who manage to get jobs.

This is my take on having people skills. I would probably have blown up just like this guy did, lol.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti53kjHsAas[/youtube]

Yep, that's exactly it.

A lot of office workers do very little in the way of 'work' unless you consider endless phone calls and meetings 'work'. If they bring in somebody who is different, it upsets the little game they've set up for themselves. If you can't talk endlessly or say the right things you will never be allowed to earn a living by working in an office.

For 'normal' people, talking is everything. If they have to go for more than five minutes without talking to somebody they go insane. talk talk talk talk talk all day long ... until the day they die, 70 odd years of talking non-stop.

'People skills' is what is known as a EUPHEMISM. If a job advert states that you need good communication skills it is code for, 'Whether or not you get the job depends on whether we like you; the rest of the job spec is just there as a filler.'

This is why you see so many truly talentless people going around in nice suits, who never make anything of any value, who do nothing but talk all day long, and yet earn so much money. Meanwhile some person in China who is making chips for our computers earns 50p an hour, because his 'people skills' aren't very good.

My first impression is that this all does not make any sense and makes the business worthy of bashing.
But I am going to do some research and then get a second impression.

I have found this and other things that lead me to believe job interviews are a necessary evil.
Like washing.

When I finished HS and started job hunting, I found the same thing. I don't have the strongest people skills, and back then I didn't have much at all. Fast-paced was not something I would've thought to be exciting, and I was almost terrified of answering phones being something that would be part of my regular job duties. I would say try it before you back away from it, because a lot of jobs will say they require these things, but it's not nearly as bad as you'd expect. For example, my 'people skills' I would've thought to be a problem with my job, but I've yet to find a dilemma. I've actually gotten better at answering calls, relaying messages, making pages, etc. It's still not something I am very comfortable with, but I am better at it than when I started, and who knows where I'll be ten years from now? My point is, if I didn't try it out, I would still be shying away from it, and not improving with these things like I am. Don't let the little details on job descriptions steer you away!