TN Musician Vol. 71 No. 4

BY THE NUMBERS | VERBATIM
Lisa Burden
TOP 10
SOFT
SKILLS
Any music educator who has taught for
a number of years can recount former
students who have achieved many
successes. They can also share moments,
letters, emails, and phone calls with these
students who have said that they, as a
music educator, attributed to this success.
They won’t discuss the scale that was
taught or the technique of the voice or
instrument. Rather, they will talk about
the soft skills that they learned from that
educator in their class.
A 2016 LinkedIn survey of 291 hiring
managers in the U.S. revealed that 59%
of them believe that soft skills are difficult
to find.
LinkedIn also analyzed the soft skills
listed on the profiles of members who
changed employers between June 2014
and June 2015 to identify the most soughtafter
soft skills among employers. These 10
topped the list:
ORGANIZATION
ALWAYS
PUNCTUAL
SOCIAL SKILLS
INTERPERSONAL
COMMUNICATION
FRIENDLY
PERSONALITY
2 4 6 8 10
56.5% 55.9% 55.8% 55.0% 54.6%
1
COMMUNICATION
3
5 7 9
57.9% 56.4% 55.8% 55.0% 54.9%
TEAMWORK
CRITICAL
THINKING
CREATIVITY
ADAPTABILITY
Berger, Guy. Data Reveals the Most In-Demand Soft Skills Among Candidates. 30 Aug. 2016, business.
linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/trends-and-research/2016/most-indemand-soft-skills.
VERBATIM
“I think the most valuable thing
she (Beckye Thomas) taught me
was having a talent and a passion
for music is a beautiful thing but
having the work ethic and that
passion to match it is really when
you can find magic.”
-Kelsea Ballerini
on how retired Knoxville Central
teacher, Beckye Thomas, impacted her
“My high school band director,
Mr. Koch, pushed me to reach my
full potential. I knew all along that
I wouldn’t build a career around
playing the tuba, but he never allowed
me to think like that. As I slacked
and rebelled, he never let me forget
that I possessed a special talent. I
hated it at the time but now I’m able
to reflect — he taught me self-respect
and discipline in a firm but kind
way. I am forever grateful to him for
challenging me.”
-Gwen Schroeder
TED Post-Production Manager
“My high school band director, Virgil
Spurlin. . . seemed to instinctively
know. . . what questions to ask to
find out what was really going on
in their lives. He also was always
looking for things that young people
could do besides play music. We
put on the state band festival every
year, for example, and he let lots
of us help. And he taught us basic
organizational skills and how to
allocate resources and move things
around. But always he was trying to
find things that people were good
at. He thought that everybody was
good at something and if he just
looked hard enough he could find
it, he could convince them of it, and
he could raise their aspirations and
their hopes.”
– President Bill Clinton
10 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2019 | Volume 71, No. 4