With a new year ahead of us, many wonder what 2023 will bring us – perhaps a renewed passion 🔥 for work or energy to put ourselves out there to network more?

More members of Generation Z are joining the workforce this year and taking the initiative in their careers. According to Gartner, social skills among Generation Z are eroding across the spectrum in the workplace.

You may be wondering why this generation? 🤔

According to a recent survey, 51% of Gen Z employees said that their education systems had not effectively equipped them in terms of soft skills, such as networking, negotiating, speaking convincingly in front of audiences, and acquiring the social stamina and attentiveness required to work long hours in a physical environment.

Meanwhile, 46% of Gen Z employees said the epidemic has made pursuing their educational or career ambitions more difficult.

Businesses in a competitive market may need more experience and preparation.
It's not just Gen Z; everybody else's social skills have also taken an impact since 2020.

Burnout. Career Uncertainty. Exhaustion.
During the pandemic, these are intensified, which harms performance.

Additionally, our already nonexistent social skills worsen as we become more dependent on technology. According to a McKinsey study that examined the jobs most susceptible to automation, jobs utilising a worker's soft skills are the least likely to be automated.

So, how do we reduce the erosion of soft skills?

As change comes from within, we can first acknowledge that we lack social skills and start finding ways to improve.

For a start, we can go to more events, meet up with friends to socialise and even pick up the phone more frequently to increase that human interaction and get more face time with others. Other methods, such as courses and resources on improving social skills, are also widely available. (psst check below!)

Remember that you are not alone in improving your social skills, but what makes us more relevant and desirable nowadays is the constant drive for improvement and to speak out for change.

If you’ve read this far, thank you!
We hope you’ll pick a few learnings from this newsletter and slay 💅 in your careers this 2023!

With Love,
The Wantedly Team ❤️