Skills are understood as key issues in the labour market and conceptualised as individual attributes needed to perform competent work. The distinction between hard and soft skills is one of the most used theoretical conceptualization – hard skills being understood as technical skills, required of professionals, and soft skills being seen as personal traits which are not specifically related to the function. One hundred years after the publication of Mann's A Study of Engineering Education (1918), and as employers expect a new level of readiness from new hires, the focus is on bridging the soft skills gap. However, most of the literature delves into mismatched expectations of both industry and educators, and little documentation can be found regarding the skills that future employees believe their employers will require.
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Skills are seen as key issues in the labour market and conceptualised as individual attributes needed to perform competent work (Dixon, Belnap, Albrecht & Lee, 2010). The distinction between hard and soft skills is one of the most used theoretical conceptualisations - hard skills being understood as technical skills, required of professionals, and soft skills being seen as personal traits which are not specifically related to the function (Robles, 2012; Weber, Finely, Crawford & Rivera, 2009).
“Hard skills are the technical expertise and knowledge needed for a job.” (Robles, 2012, p. 453), they equate “technical skills” and, because they are often represented by subjects in educational curricula, they are narrowly associated with job qualifications. Hard skills “require the acquisition of knowledge, are primarily cognitive in nature and are influenced by an individual’s intelligence quotient source.” (Weber et al., 2009, p.354). Hard skills are job-orientated and job-specific; they are trainable, but not transferable. On their own, hard skills no longer guarantee employment or fast-track a career as employers seek for differentiating skills, and screen candidates for “interpersonal qualities, also known as people skills, and personal attributes that one possesses.” (Robles, 2012, p. 453). Although Lim et al. (2016) argue that “both hard and soft skills are equally important criteria especially in employability” (p.125), many examples in the literature identify a trend to attribute a lesser import to hard skills, to which the hospitality sector is no stranger (Baum, 2002; Chung-Herrera, Enz & Lankau, 2003; Fraser, 2019; Kim, 2008; Sisson & Adams, 2013; Spowart; 2011; Tas, LaBrecque & Clayton, 1996). This does not, in any way, mean that hard skills are being discounted, quite the contrary. Studies by Baum (2002), Christou (1999), Dupre and Williams (2011), Kay & Russette (2000), Raybould and Wilkins (2005), Sigala and Baum (2003) all stress that specific skills are very important for developing a career.